The official Denver Nuggets thread.

[darryn16]

Glad to see they proved my pessimism wrong and didn’t get swept. Still going to be hard for this young team to win in the Spurs environment.

But at least they get another game at the Pepsi Center.

Agreed. I knew the way they played at the end of the season that they would get bounced in the first round. They won last night, but I don't see them winning the series. What a waste of a great season.......

[beastlyskronk]

I would’ve benched Murray for that 4th but kudos to him for turning it around and for Malone sticking with him. Also kudos to Malone for pulling Barton and keeping Beasley in, he’s the X factor off the bench.

[johnlimburg]

I still think my Corey Brewer/Will Barton comparison is dead on, he has to have his minutes reduced, surely. He has started the series 7-25 from the field, and as much as he loves to shoot contested jumpers, he passed up a great look from 3 at the end of game 1 which was one shot he probably should of taken.

The turning point in that win last night was when he missed that 3 from the corner, the one that hit the side of the backboard, when he was benched the team looked different from that point on. Surely with Demar DeRozzen killing us from the mid-range, increasing Torrey Graigs playing time for his defense and rebounding is more valuable than having Will Bartons all over the shop offensive play. We have enough offensive weapons to sit him down in my opinion, he is too unreliable.

[DenverBlood]

Extremely annoyed that back to back Nuggets games are on NBa TV which I don’t get in my directv package. I’m actually off tomorrow and don’t have to worry about the game going too late. Yet still can’t watch it.

[beastlyskronk]

Malone is sticking with Barton in the starting lineup. I hope it pays off but I really think Barton would benefit from being the go to option off the bench. That’s what got him his new contract. Let Craig play his 10-15 early and let Beasley play SF down the stretch with the starters.

[beastlyskronk]

Yet another slow start but our MO has been clawing back into games. Malone has a small ball lineup with Morris, Murray, Beasley, and Craig out there with Plumlee. I thought this might be a strategy to go after Bertans but they’re killing us on the boards and no one really has an answer for Rudy Gay. Jokic and Milsap would be better when Bertans is out there (dare I say Lyles or Hernangomez ) if they want to attack him.

Spurs took Aldridge and Bertans out for Poetl and Derozan and now we’ve gone up 7 with a big run.

[beastlyskronk]

No answer for Derrick White.

He’s a 34% 3 pt shooter on about 2 attempts a game, for the life of me I have no idea why we’re closing out so hard on him. I’d say if we stop doing that he’d stop scoring so much and we’d win but the rest of their team isn’t going to continue shooting this poorly.

Also the refs are killing me with these calls/no calls. Jokic gets shoved in the back on a rebound and Millsap gets tackled in the post and they don’t call a foul but Aldridge initiates slight contact spins off, flops a bit while shooting and then they call the foul after the miss. Idk if they feel bad for giving Derozan that technical or what but this is absurd

[johnlimburg]

How can Malone justify keeping Barton in the game ? What has he offered the team this post-season. Everytime he touches the ball, something negative happens.

[beastlyskronk]

How can Malone justify keeping Barton in the game ? What has he offered the team this post-season. Everytime he touches the ball, something negative happens.

He looks like he’s auditioning to have his skills taken away in the new space jam movie

[DenverBlood]

Nuggets are the 2nd team in nba history to lose a playoff game when shooting 50%+ from the field and 50%+ from 3 point range.

That’s what happens when you don’t play defense. Absolutely pathetic.

[DenverBlood]

Jamaal Murray is so overrated. For someone who thinks he can be the best player in the world. When have LD, LeBron or Curry ever been held to 6 points in a playoff game? The man has always shrunk under big game pressure. Going all the way back to Kentucky.

He is probably an above average player. But definitely not elite.

[OurHouse]

Jamaal Murray is so overrated. For someone who thinks he can be the best player in the world. When have LD, LeBron or Curry ever been held to 6 points in a playoff game? The man has always shrunk under big game pressure. Going all the way back to Kentucky.

He is probably an above average player. But definitely not elite.

I believe he only took 6 shots. When have those stars only taken 6 shots in a game? Probably never. Murray will be fine, just needs some plays for him early to get him going as he gets streaky.

[DenverBlood]

I believe he only took 6 shots. When have those stars only taken 6 shots in a game? Probably never. Murray will be fine, just needs some plays for him early to get him going as he gets streaky.

It seems you are trying to counter my point. But that just more proves my point that he shrinks.

[beastlyskronk]

It seems you are trying to counter my point. But that just more proves my point that he shrinks.

He definitely gets in his own head when his shots aren’t falling. Most players start attacking the basket but Murray shies away from contact so he doesn’t draw a foul and makes his layups a lot harder so if he isn’t hitting his shots he struggles to get in a rhythm. The whole team seems scared of contact in general, not sure if that’s who they are or they see how teams beat up on Jokic without drawing a foul and they start to think the refs won’t call it.

I won’t blame the defense on the loss aside from how hard they closed out on White at the 3. Other than that our defense was good until the bigs got in foul trouble. The bigger issue is that we don’t get to the line enough and when we do we’re missing way to many free throws. That and on offense we let our sets start way too far out too often which cause us to not get a good look. There was also a horrid stretch where we just jacked up shots as soon as we got down the court. This let them kill our momentum after building a 10 point lead.

[OurHouse]

It seems you are trying to counter my point. But that just more proves my point that he shrinks.

I'm not trying to counter it, I'm just trying to say that you stating he shrinks in big game pressure is a bit extreme as the man dropped 21 points in the 4th quarter in game 2. He isn't necessarily the reason we started the comeback but he is the reason we won that game as without him going 8/8 before missing a shot, we lose the game.