The official Denver Nuggets thread.

[GMTD]

Sure they are. Without Joker the record would be flipped and they would be 34-48 or worse. They aren’t very good at home this year which is rare.

I’d predict at best 1 win out of 5 against the Warriors and wouldn’t be a bit surprised at a sweep.

Well at least Game 1 was competitive for one and a half quarters...

[Bronco51]

Sweep incoming. And Murray will deservedly get some flak for not playing. Sucks to end the year this way.

[GMTD]

Sweep incoming. And Murray will deservedly get some flak for not playing. Sucks to end the year this way.

It's hard to criticise Murray. It must be very hard psychologically to come back from a long term injury.

[Bronco51]

It's hard to criticise Murray. It must be very hard psychologically to come back from a long term injury.

He's been cleared to play, been offered to play, and was given a 170 million dollar extension. He will get criticized. He has to play sometime.

[famicommander]

Whether Murray plays or he doesn't play, we're not going to win this year.

If he comes back before he's ready and hurts himself again like Rose or Leonard our entire franchise is tanked.

Absolutely stupid to ask him to come back now if he doesn't feel ready. Screw the doctors.

Simple truth of the matter is that guys like Facundo Campazzo, JaMychal Green, Jeff Green, Vlatko Cancar, and Austin Rivers have no business on a contender's roster. Some of them have no business on an NBA roster. period.

[beastlyskronk]

This will likely be a short series, the warriors were the one team I didn’t want to see in the playoffs. We simply don’t have the shooting to be able to keep up. Barton appeared to have a good game on the stat sheet, but he probably gave up 40-50 by himself not being able to fight through screens and falling asleep in off ball defense and over committing in on ball defense. He plays defense like a slow CB against a fast WR, as soon as the player takes his step to drive he flips his hips and gives them a two way go instead of shuffling his feet to stay in front. He’s too light to stop from getting bumped off if they go in his chest and he can’t flip his hips quick enough to recover if they end up going the other way.

Jokic can keep the team afloat but there has to be a point where someone else steps up when he’s either off the court or running out of gas on the court. Gordon has to be able to take some of the scoring load off of Jokic and Barton. Bones will probably catch fire and steal a win for us at some point but it won’t be enough to win the series.

The problem is defensively we just don’t have guards that can defend their trio of Curry, Thompson, and Poole. Gordon should probably stick on Thompson while Barton takes Wiggins. Reed would be a tremendous option right now, but for some reason Malone wanted to keep Facu and Cancar. The plan should be to force Green and Wiggins to beat us, it seemed like the plan in game 1 was to try and take everything away which doesn’t work in the playoffs and usually ends up with you taking nothing away. We also have to play defensively on offense, we have to head hunt their guards and put them in positions to where they’re guarding Jokic in the post so we can try and take their legs out from under them. Also there needs to be more movement, if you can’t get them put in a post situation the least you can do is make them run all over the place while having to fight through screens. The Warriors do a ton of that on offense and it’s why they can go on a 20-2 run in the blink of an eye, it wears defenders down over the course of a game.

[GMTD]

This will likely be a short series, the warriors were the one team I didn’t want to see in the playoffs. We simply don’t have the shooting to be able to keep up. Barton appeared to have a good game on the stat sheet, but he probably gave up 40-50 by himself not being able to fight through screens and falling asleep in off ball defense and over committing in on ball defense. He plays defense like a slow CB against a fast WR, as soon as the player takes his step to drive he flips his hips and gives them a two way go instead of shuffling his feet to stay in front. He’s too light to stop from getting bumped off if they go in his chest and he can’t flip his hips quick enough to recover if they end up going the other way.

Jokic can keep the team afloat but there has to be a point where someone else steps up when he’s either off the court or running out of gas on the court. Gordon has to be able to take some of the scoring load off of Jokic and Barton. Bones will probably catch fire and steal a win for us at some point but it won’t be enough to win the series.

The problem is defensively we just don’t have guards that can defend their trio of Curry, Thompson, and Poole. Gordon should probably stick on Thompson while Barton takes Wiggins. Reed would be a tremendous option right now, but for some reason Malone wanted to keep Facu and Cancar. The plan should be to force Green and Wiggins to beat us, it seemed like the plan in game 1 was to try and take everything away which doesn’t work in the playoffs and usually ends up with you taking nothing away. We also have to play defensively on offense, we have to head hunt their guards and put them in positions to where they’re guarding Jokic in the post so we can try and take their legs out from under them. Also there needs to be more movement, if you can’t get them put in a post situation the least you can do is make them run all over the place while having to fight through screens. The Warriors do a ton of that on offense and it’s why they can go on a 20-2 run in the blink of an eye, it wears defenders down over the course of a game.

I agree that we have a lot of disavantages but I'm not prepared to give up on the series after just one game.

As you say we have to be a lot smarter offensively and have a better defensive plan. We also have to play with less trepidation. No-one gives us a chance anyway so there should not be any pressure.

Finally, I know Curry missed several games toward the end of the regular season, but the Warriors only ended up winning 5 games more that us. They are beatable especially if we can get in front early.

[GMTD]

Tonight, my local network is showing the Sixers v Raptors game. Both Fred VanVleet and Joel Embiif have 14 pointa so far in the 1st Quarter, but VanVleet has had zero free throws to Embiid's 9! Embiid has only made 3/4 FGs but has 14 points. That's ridiculous.

If the refs stop giving Embiid free points the Raptors can win this.

[Bronco51]

Joker dominant early. He will have to keep it up all game for the Nugs to stay competitive.

[beastlyskronk]

I agree that we have a lot of disavantages but I'm not prepared to give up on the series after just one game.

As you say we have to be a lot smarter offensively and have a better defensive plan. We also have to play with less trepidation. No-one gives us a chance anyway so there should not be any pressure.

Finally, I know Curry missed several games toward the end of the regular season, but the Warriors only ended up winning 5 games more that us. They are beatable especially if we can get in front early.

I predicted the warriors to win this series in 6 or 7, so it isn’t just one game for me. Poole shredded us in the regular season and with Klay rounding into form and Steph coming back I just don’t see us stringing us enough good defensive games to pull it out.

That being said, so far so good tonight. Refs are actually calling fouls when Jokic gets fouled tonight and it’s helping us out especially with getting our defense set up.

[beastlyskronk]

Bryn Forbes might be the worst trade acquisition we’ve made recently and that’s saying something considering we’ve traded for guys who didn’t even crack the rotation. Idk why Malone decided to reinsert him into the rotation. He’s only a shooter, can’t play a lick of defense, has absolutely zero awareness on the court, can’t dribble, can’t pass, can’t screen, can’t drive into the lane without either tripping over himself for a turnover or getting his shot sent to the moon. And his face always looks like an angry bulldog

[Bronco51]

Unbelievably horrible defense. Getting back doored to death

[Bronco51]

Malone really let them erase a 13 point lead without calling a timeout.

[beastlyskronk]

I get that Aaron Gordon is our best perimeter defender, but guards like Curry are just too quick for him. He should be sticking Klay Thompson and just live with Curry being Curry.

[GMTD]

Malone really let them erase a 13 point lead without calling a timeout.

Nuggets things.

But we're still in the game.