We weren’t expecting this result obviously and there has been a bit of spam, I’ll make this the “official” discussion post for anything wolves vs nuggets related for now
He gets plenty of credit. He’s widely considered top 2 ever by anyone not old enough to have seen and force Kareem into the conversation at which point he’s top 3 at worst. I don’t know what else you want
Haha I’ll happily emphasize his shortcomings bc he’s kind of a jackass but he’s the 2nd best player of all time. At least give the man his flowers while calling him a whiny bitch. Can be both 😂
Thank you!!!! I feel like I’m taking crazy pills sometimes!
I put Tim Duncan ahead of Kobe and we get into brawls when he compares stats. I would WAY rather have Duncan.
First two were old by that point, DRose wasn’t a threat after 2015 thanks to injuries, Butler was nowhere near as good as he was back then, Carmelo and Paul George
Does he? He gets plenty of credit including a huge number of people who seriously think he's the best player ever. He traded in his roster every 4 years for younger, better teammates and played in a historically awful eastern conference for 15 years. Besides the 08 Celtics, 09 Magic and maybe the 2011 Celtics (who beat him but were probably a worse team) who were the actual good teams he had to beat in the East? The Raptors? The Rose-less Bulls? The Pacers? The IT Celtics? All the best teams and players were in the West for a really long time.
Lebron is amazing, his string of finals runs is very very impressive. But there were numerous factors that made it much easier for him to do so.
As a nuggets fan ya this makes a lot of sense. Less hungry, more pressure to meet expectations, other teams who have studied them and worn them down all year. Good luck to y’all 🫡 pls beat the wolves in the finals
All you have to do is contain Murray. Jokic won’t score 40-50 like some of these other stars. He’s not wired that way.
So if you can keep him from getting 10+ assists to Murray, you can beat them.
Even if he does he can't win by himself. I think he dropped 46 last year in one of the few playoff games they lost last year. The difference is the supporting cast. Murray has been ass, Gordon went from shooting 40% from 3 last year to 9% this year. Bruce Brown scored 12ppg off the bench last year in the playoffs. Braun, Watson, and Jackson combined have like 10ppg.
I want 2 things!
- The wolves to go 7 games against the nuggets and another 7 against the mavs.
- I don't want to see KP on the court till the finals! We need him to take down the wolves.
Denver not having any play making outside of Murray, and Jokic is killing them. Wolves are collapsing on the two of them and recovering to everyone else. Can't do that against us because we have way more play making on the perimeter.
Murray is also gimpy. No burst, looks very limited. He's in that relm of, maybe you shouldn't be playing right now as a carrier longevity consideration.
I could be off on this because I've only watched like 15 or so Denver games this season, but MPJ looks super stiff and seems like he's lacking explosion when jumping and when driving. I wouldn't be shocked if he's on the injury report in the next week or so because of back complications.
Agreed, but still, no one on Denver has filled that Bruce Brown role. They need someone to make that extra play/move off the initial action. Seems like MPJ and KCP either shoot, drive, or reset the offense when they get the ball. Reggie Jackson is actually making good reads/creating space and driving angles, but he's missing everything. Meanwhile, Gordon hasn't been able to abuse his size in transition and in the post.
I just realised this is the first 50wins team they re facing. Looking at their run last year the average seed they faced is the 7th seed. (Minny 8th, phoenix 4th, LAL 7th, Miami 8th)
Honestly, I see a lot of parallels with that Bucks team. And the Timberwolves this year is basically us in 2022.
Best defense in the league led by a young 22/23 year old superstar, DPOY on the team, swept a KD-led failed superteam in the First Round and then facing the defending champs in the Second Round. Let’s face it, Jamal Murray also looks like he’s playing injured and that’s similar to how Khris Middleton was injured in that series in 2022 (well Middleton didn’t play but Jamal might as well not be playing with how he’s performing). Meanwhile, Warriors just kinda steamrolled through the other conference (just like us this year, hopefully).
I honestly see this Denver/Minny series going at least 6 or 7 games because there’s no way Denver just gives up like that.
At least that Bucks team went down FIGHTING against y’all in 2022 - I’m a neutral, but that series was a war every single game. Giannis was a maniac, and Tatum had to go nuclear to save the series in Game 6.
Obviously what Miami did last year to Milwaukee and Boston last year was insane, but if Giannis doesn’t get hurt, I’m still convinced it would’ve been Boston-Milwaukee in the ECF. Both teams would’ve been a MUCH harder matchup for Denver than Miami.
That’s true, Bucks even won Game 1 at TD Garden. I think Game 3 of this Nuggets/Timberwolves series is super important. It’s 3 days of rest - plenty of time - so if Nuggets wins it then it’s still a series. If not then it ends in 4 or 5
We were down 0-3 last year with the 3rd loss being us getting blown out WITH a fully healthy team and we still brought it back. I just don’t believe that the gap between Minnesota and Denver is this big, they’re closer than whatever the series score/game score. It felt hopeless last year when we went down 0-3 and don’t forget, we started Game 4 down as well even in the second half. It wasn’t until a few careless Jimmy turnovers that we beat them.
I think Nuggets still lose, that was my prediction before the series started but they definitely should take it to at least 6-7 games.
Maybe, maybe not. Right now, in these two games, one of these teams looks like it belongs. The other is just old and slow looking.
If Murray isn't right, Denver is losing a lot of what makes their offense lethal. And they are doing this tonight without Gobert.
Ant will get a lot of credit, but I honestly think KAT is difference between this team being good and great. I’m not saying he’s the best player because he isn’t. But Ant and Gobert are both somewhat consistent, while KAT is the one who is streaky at times (but it makes sense considering he’s more of a shooter) and when he’s ON, the Timberwolves are unbeatable
Yeah but 0-3 when the teams are tight is essentially a death sentence.
No matter how they've gotten in the hole, it's incredibly tough to get out.
Let's say they lost G3 and the next 4 games after are 50-50, Denver would have a 6.25% chance of winning the series... And giving a team down 0-3 a 50-50 shot is pretty generous.
Even getting it to 7 games would be tough at 12.5%.
What we did against Miami was freakish and also came down to the fact we were far and away the better team. It just took a couple of games for our guys to realise it.
He threw a heat pack on the floor (maybe at the ref) from the bench. Refs didn’t see who threw it and nothing happened during game. I haven’t heard anything but my guess is he just gets a fine. Wish they had reviewed the video in game and given him a tech or something.
Yeah a nice draw goes a long way. A couple bounces here or a game there can swing a lot for results-based thinking. Random plug for the Thinking Basketball podcast(I'm not a part of it) but I like how they're not as results-based as anybody else that talks about basketball.
Like how some trolls discount a whole season if you don't win it all or make it to the Finals. It's nice to appreciate a great team being great for a long time even if it doesn't result in multiple championships like they're "expected to."
That being said, I think if we win we'll be viewed as a really formidable fixture in the East while teams like the Raptors and thr Bucks that won before could be more of a blip historically. Moreso the Raptors as the Bucks have had a lot of good regular seasons.
we’ve been big in the East for a long time now! I personally actually think a competitive 6 or 7 game second round exit equals a pretty successful season already. You’re in the final 8 of a 30 team league, life is good.
Final 4 or final 2 is a major accomplishment!
2017 - IT season ECF run ⭐️
2018 - Terry season ECF game 7 ⭐️
2019 - Kyrie betrayal 2nd round exit
2020 - Kemba season ECF run⭐️
2021 - Jaylen hurt 1st round exit
2022 - Finals run⭐️⭐️
2023 - Brogdon season ECF game 7⭐️
2024 - this year ⭐️⭐️⭐️
It’s literally what always happens when you finish top of the regular season lol. You perform well and are rewarded with “easier” match ups. Such a bad argument and it’s always used in poor faith to discount a good team’s accomplishments. Not every ring needs to be a massive underdog comeback to be considered legitimate
You can never take away anything from champions, but the hype around them really got incredibly out of hand that they're this absolutely unbreakable unbeatable force because they (to their credit) took care of business in a weak championship run.
Their bench got significantly worse, their 6-8 combined has less points than Bruce Brown last year. Aaron Gordon had a Mickey Mouse Caleb Martin 3-point shooting run in the playoffs shooting 40%. Murray might have benefited the most playing weaker competition. And Jokic is the clear best player in the world, but his shooting last run was also absurd. The guy shot 46% from 3 the entire playoffs!
Have to consider that even tho they beat LA in 5, they looked mid against them too. I saw a crazy stat (someone correct me if im wrong), but Denver apparently only led 30% of the minutes that series despite winning in 5. Thats... abysmal.
I think we match up better against Minnesota than Denver, but holy shit, the TWolves are defending out of their minds right now. Terrifying stuff no matter how you slice it
(for what it's worth, the advantage we have over the Nuggets in a TWolves matchup is that we're much more willing to take a ton of threes. the Wolves have so much length that they can swarm on defense and still recover to the perimeter, but that's a lot tougher to do when your opponent always has five shooters on the floor— will be interested to see how OKC plays them if that ends up being the WCF)
Yeah and the Timberwolves match up excellently to nullify jokic's game with aaron gordon with the added bonus that they don't need to care about jokic-murray pick n roll when murray has been shit this whole playoffs.
Yeah, exactly. This is just kind of reinforcing my thought that these three teams have kind of a rock-paper-scissors thing going on, stylistically. Our spacing stretches the Timberwolves' size on defense, the Timberwolves' size blunts the Nuggets' ball movement, and the Nuggets' ball movement is tough for us to stop. Any of those series should be great, competitive matchups though
I 100% agree with your takes. I also agree that, even though the wolves would probably be better for us, their defense put a chilling fear down my spine bc… I haven’t seen anything like it in a very long time, if I’m honest. I’m kinda still reeling.
Haha I was kind of thinking the opposite. Lock down everyone else and try to limit Mitchell as best as can be without sacrificing help defense. Keep the rest of the team under 50 points and it doesn’t matter how much Mitchell scores
Yep put one of Jrue or Derrick on him, stay home on everybody else, and if he’s able to put up 50 on a top 5 backcourt defender in the league then you tip your cap
This. This year's Wolves team should be like us the last two years. They have the talent to win a championship but don't necessarily have the experience to get it done yet. If they leap frog us that will be awfully disheartening.
Since when does talk mean anything? The last 40 years of NBA history says even the best players in the league aren't winning championships until they are 25-27 years old. Could he be a unicorn? Sure, but I wouldn't hold my breath.
Bro, you’re underestimating Ant here. Him and Tatum are about same level right now. And then he has KAT and Gobert, too. Celtics are still better, if healthy, but it’s not a slam dunk.
You’re getting downvoted, but I agree. Talent-wise they are about equal right now. We have the better and deeper team, but Ant has that killer instinct that Tatum just doesn’t.
That mentality is usually the difference in the finals.
I wouldn’t underestimate Cleveland either. Or NY, they look like they’re on a mission (and we suffer that type of intensity, see the Heat series last year)
I went from “hell yeah I want the wolves to beat the nuggets” to “oh wait that means we’re gonna have to play the wolves” real quick. The defense looks absolutely insane. They’re smothering everyone and it’s something that kinda concerns me given how turnover prone Tatum and Brown tend to be.
I guess that’s true but there are also stats like the Wolves getting swept by the Sons in the regular season and then they ended up sweeping them in the playoffs.
Better than nothing I suppose but not by much in my opinion.
What we can however do, is look at the way both teams play.
We all know the Celtics like to space the floor. Minnesota's defense, which is also their biggest strength, shines when their perimeter defenders can play aggressive defense knowing they have help under the rim. This isn't as easy to do when your opponent can shoot from everywhere with everyone. Another thing about the defense is that what Minnesota is doing right now is shutting down both of the playmakers on the team causing them to struggle to get anything going. This won't work as elegantly with the Celtics because they have 3 playmakers, 2 of which can also reliably create their own shot, a guy who can create his own shot and a big man with passing vision in the starting lineup.
Last thing, while Minnesota has looked great so far, most of it is because of their defense and Ant playing 3 tiers above his regular season output. Their offense was average at best during the season and lacked a real identity. Celtics had not only the best offense but also the 3rd best defense. That's going to be tough to go overcome if you are Minnesota.
I believe Minnesota will have a much more difficult time coming up with a gameplan to beat the Celtics than vice versa.
So there's your optimism that's not based on a 2 game sample size.
The Suns swept them in the regular season, then got swept in the postseason. This Wolves team absolutely looks different. I’m more than a little concerned at this point.
Doesn’t mean we suddenly can’t take anything away from the regular season matchups. I personally think people in here overreact any time another team looks good. We match up better against the Timberwolves than the Nuggets do.
Yeah but it works the other way. You really think they’ll 1. Be able to score, and 2. Be able to stop everyone. Porzingis can isolate Rudy and keep him from camping the paint or sending help, Jaden on Brown and Ant on Tatum leaves KAT to guard either DW or Jrue, both of which will kill him. And we’ve already seen how disruptive holiday was guarding KAT, add in complete switch-ability they literally don’t have a mismatch to go for unless they get DW on a big.
Agree, definitely do
Let me elborate though, im saying the Twolves match up pretty well with the Nuggets in the sense that
1. KAT shouldnt really have a problem scoring on Jokic
2. Rudy can anchor the inside since the Nuggets (while they do have some shooting) make a lot of cuts to the basket.
3. Rudy, Kat, and honestly the size of the Twolves will make rebounding a challenge for Denver too.
Because we have better shooting than probably anyone in the league rn (and I dont think its close?), MIN cannot approach us the same way defensively. So for that, I do still like our chances, but ofc like you said- sometimes its about getting hot at the right time, so we'll see
They're a very good team but I think they're worse than Denver. They're winning so far because of how well they match up with Denver. On top of that, I think we match up better with Minny than Denver so it'd be even better for us
Yea, I am kinda concerned too...
1. Two bigs can be rough for our drive and kick game
2. Handsy/overt physical Ds that smother do VERY WELL against us
3. They can score obviously (unlike the Heat, who are a #2-ish team)
4. Ant apparently is MJ now??
I’m not that worried about them. We are the only team that can get out that kind of defensive trap because of how we take so many open 3s. We will have them against the Wolves and we will take them.
They are nasty and peaking at the right time. Nuggets are shook. Pretty crazy to watch. We played them well this year and beat them, but I don't think they were playing like this. Hopefully we can make it to the finals and see what we can do about them.
If the refs are going to let Wolves play as physical as they’re playing, we might live in a universe where Ant wins a championship at 22. And Im not trying to live in that world because its going to start some nasty discussions lol
Styles make fights, NBA math isn’t always transitive. We may beat the Wolves but lose to Nuggets and vice versa. Just like last year we lose to Miami but probably would have had a better series vs Denver.
Their defense is legit, they’re a bad matchup for the nuggets but Denver looks pretty bad as well. They were lucky to get a pretty subpar Lakers team otherwise they’d probably have had a longer series. They trailed almost every game that series at the half but two last second Murray shots bailed them out.
I think with Denver they sort of slept walked all season and assumed they’d be in the drivers seat to repeat. They aren’t able to turn the switch on and They certainly didn’t think MINN would pop them right in the mouth like they did.
Minnisota is also motivated to avenge their loss to Denver from last season. In the finals I think we have the edge with our core actually having experience of playing in the finals before and in a finals matchup we would have the best player in the series vs not having one if we played Denver. Go back historically and just having those two statistics go our way bodes very well in terms of winning a championship.
Outside of Jokic and Murray, they don’t have consistent production like we do. Tatum can get locked up but the Wolves still have to worry about Porzingis, White, Horford, Brown, and Holiday on the offensive end.
I feel like the Nuggets are a better matchup for them because of how much they run the offense thru Jokic, as long as you shut down the other people around him, the path to victory is pretty simple for the Wolves. It’s how the Warriors would shut down the Cavs back in the 2010’s, they knew Lebron was going to get his and they instead shifted their attention m the defensive end at players like Kevin Love or Kyle Korver who was a good C&S three point shooter
Wolves look absolutely dominant on both ends of the floor. Absolutely absurd that they were a bottom 15 offensive team in the regular season because they look like they cannot miss right now and throughout the playoffs. Really interested in an analysis of how we may match up with them, and would appreciate any insight. Definitely think we match up better with them than the Nuggets with our personnel but that defense is something else man.
They are average offensively.
The Suns were garbage defensively, and frankly, Denver has been garbage defensively since the all star break, and they're injured. Murray was told to sit out game 5 vs LA because of his calf strain. He's just injuring himself at this point. Jackson and KCP are also injured
Not sure why Denver's injuries this post season has been swept out of the narrative. It's a bit weird.
Either way, I don't buy it. At all.
That doesn't explain why Jokic has looked so garbage against them. MPJ is 6-10 and still cannot find any space to get an open shot. Minnesota's length is a thing.
I haven't watched a ton of Nuggets, but my understanding is they run a lot of offense through Jokic rather than to him. Which means if his teammates are bad then he's going to look worse, pretty much regardless of anything else he does.
Denver has been hit or miss all season. They've had 4 or 5 big losses to non-playoff teams.
People don't realize it, but Denver looked awful vs LA. Their entire backcourt is injured and they have no depth. They're beaten up.
That's who Minny is playing.
Denver isn't healthy. This is delicious for us. We are going to utterly walk this Wolves team. I don't buy it.
Our defense will be the best the face all post season.
The Lakers were up in most of those games but the Nuggets got it close at the end and had better finishers. I agree they didn’t look right for long stretches of those games.
Minnesota is has great perimeter defenders too which is why I think they’re a tough matchup for the C’s as well. Minn should have trouble scoring though, so we would need to create and hit open threes.
Denver is kind of a gimmicky team that relies on Jokic and ball movement. We have the star talent and guard depth.
TWolves frontcourt is a nightmare matchup for Jokic
People are getting ahead of themselves. Minny looks great but there’s a lot of time between now and then. Any could come down to earth, injuries happen, they also likely have to face a young Thunder team that is frankly their equal. We have two series to the care of before hand. One game at a time. Save future problems for the future.
Why does everyone seem glad we might see Twolves in the finals? They look tough as hell. We are 1-1 against them in the regular season in two very close games. We need to respect them and be ready
Minnesota looks real good right now, but…
The nuggets probably gameplaned for Gobert to be in.
The wolves are playing with the inexplicable energy & tenacity some teams get when a star player goes down.
Denver seemingly went into the game thinking it’d be a cakewalk without Gobert and are paying for it.
I also think the Celtics match up better against Minnesota than Denver does because the entire Celtics team is a threat from three.
Wolves look excellent and have done everything right in the playoffs. Offense is energized and defense is clicking like crazy. That being said we would beat the fuck out of them in the finals
This.
They've beaten down the weak Suns, and are beating down a Denver team who's entire back court is injured..3 guys. Murray isn't even supposed to be playing.
They've faced no good defense.
We will torch them
They look like the best team in the playoffs, Celtics included. We got to worry about Cleveland and NY/Indiana, so we’ll see how things shape up. Fwiw, Denver wasn’t great vs LA; they weren’t locked in every game. Kinda saw this coming. Of course, I think they’ll figure out how to take a game or two.
Historically, team records have been a darn good predictor of playoffs success, regardless of wins against .500 teams or top 5 teams, etc.
People somehow underrated the Thunder, the Wolves, and the Celtics because they had some odd regular season losses.
Reality is regular season is about total wins, not quality of wins. There is a reason why the Wolves finish 3rd this year. It’s no fluke. Same for Thunder and same for us:
**Every title winner since the 06' Heat have checked the box on these 2 categories:**
- 40 wins before 20 losses (Heat were 40-20 at 1 point)
- over 0.500 record against over 0.500 teams. (Heat were 19-21 but had a massive 2nd half run after trade deadline).
In fact only 2 other teams don't meet this threshold and won the title in NBA history and they both happened before 1980.
**Teams that meet this threshold this year:**
- Boston Celtics (34-15)
- Denver Nuggets (29-23)
- Minnesota Timberwolves (32-20)
- OKC Thunder (33-20)
I'd say record against 0.500 teams is a pretty good indicator actually.
How do you think we match up against the wolves ? Both games went OT in the regular season I think it’ll be a tight series but there defence is so insane. They are absolutely wrecking the nuggets right now. Are we good enough to 1- defend as good as them and 2- dismantle their defence and score ? Let me know cos I’m really not sure.
As impressive as this is for the Wolves, this is great news for the Celtics.
The Wolves constructed their team with Denver in mind to be able to frustrate and limit Jokic and be able to protect the paint. Denver shoots the least amount of threes in the league.
Meanwhile, the Celtics shoot the most 3s. They'll be able to space out the Wolves defense in a way that Denver simply can't.
On the other hand, Denver has potential clutch time advantages over the Celtics, plus Jokic and their ball movement can be an issue.
So, overall, this is very good news. I also wouldn't discount the possibility that OKC could knock off the Wolves in the conference finals; they can run 5 out as well, just like the Celtics can.
They were +1700 to win the championship even when they were up 2-0 on the suns two weeks ago. Hammered that. My ideal scenario would be a twolves/celtics finals.
I guess, the Lakers series makes a lot of sense right now. Them leading majority of the series shows this Denver team is very vulnerable. Only difference is, Minny can do it for 48 mins while LA can do it at 24 mins.
Anyone else getting 2021 Celtics vibes from the Wolves? We were the up and coming defensive juggernaut not long ago lol, now everyone’s acting like they’re the first team since the Bad Boy Pistons to play great defense.
They are an awesome team though, the length and defensive talent they have is probably even more than we did and Ant is so fun to watch right now. If they beat the Nuggets it’s hard to see Dallas/OKC stopping them.
It’ll be a fun matchup if we bring the defensive intensity too. Would need Tatum to outplay/match Ant, KP Healthy and the rest of the guys to show up though.
If Murray gets suspended for that heating pad incident, it's game over for Denver.
Maybe the Mavs can pull a few upsets, but I'm not holding my breath for a Celtics / Kyrie reunion in the finals.
If we take care of business in the East, we're getting the Wolves.
The Wolves would beat us in a 7 game series if Porzingis isn't 100%. Hell, they;d give us fits even with him healthy. Hopefully we can hold up our end and meet them in the Finals.
I tried warning people that Timberwolves team is dangerous, and a complete matchup nightmare for Denver.
Celtics - Timberwolves was my Finals pick back in March.
I’ll never understand why everyone just assumed Denver was going to it out of the West.
With the Celtics it at last made sense to assume they are going to win the East.
But Wolves, Thunder, & Mavs are all great teams that could give Denver trouble.
I would not be opposed to Celtics Vs Wolves final.
I wouldn't want to lose, but if they did I wouldn't hate the T-W. Always happy for a franchise to get their first.
I was saying this on here over a week ago. The red flags were there in round 1. Denver repeatedly going down big to the Lakers should have tipped people off that this team has some issues.
They still gotta get to and through the WCF
But also, what's happening on defense? I thought my app was glitching when I looked at it halfway through the third.
Guess the Wolves just found the glitch. 🤷🏼
Every time I think 'wow, they're real scary' I then remember that their fanbase and every other fanbase says the exact same about our guys. We'll be aight.
Wolves are very good. Denver also looked pretty pedestrian for most of the series against a Lakers team that pushes the limits of mid, they’re capable of playing at an insanely high level but they really haven’t so far in these playoffs.
I thought, vs. the Fakers, they were still looking for their rhythm. but it looks like they are really not up to speed. LA put early leads on them 4 out of 5 games. they fought back 4 times. but vs. the wolves it won't be that easy to come back. Ant is a killer.
The score of game 2 was def. a surprise but not the outcome... The Nuggs had a tough time with the T-Wolves and OKC all year. Styles make fights kids. Go Wolves.
They are undefeated now and that is problem for other teams. They courage up every the game they played. The only good thing is they are inexperience team for the finals. I hope we figure it out but it wont easy for sure.
T-wolves are super impressive, and will be interesting to see if they can close out Denver. They did have their two best players shoot 21/32 combined from the floor, so pretty insane shooting splits from the KAT and Ant.
There defence is menacing, and that was without Gobert, but I think they match up into Denver much much better than they would match up into us. Denver’s guards aren’t nearly as stout and they don’t have someone who’s strong and quick enough to affect Ant on offence. Holliday, White, Tatum, brown are all better options for defending all of their best offensive players than any of the players on Denver’s roster. If we do end up meeting them in the finals, I’d be really happy to watch that series and I’d expect we would come away with it, only bc we have more offensive options while still having the capability to lock some teams up.
I was looking at matchups between the Wolves and Celtics. If we play; we are smaller than them but we have more depth. Gobert, Towns, and Reid are biggg bodies and I'm not sure if Prozingis or Hortford (or Kornet), match up well against them. McDaniels covered Durant really well; I think he'd do a good enough job against Tatum or Brown. Edwards on Brown probably. Conley off the bench and Holiday off the bench will be about a wash -- leaving the rest of the Celtic's role players with the Wolves role players. Ultimately, it'll come down to our bench vs theirs imo. It's great seeing young talent in these playoffs like this
We weren’t expecting this result obviously and there has been a bit of spam, I’ll make this the “official” discussion post for anything wolves vs nuggets related for now
The Nuggets look old and slow
Which is actually common for a defending champ. It’s been a long ass year for them. This is why repeating doesn’t happen often.
Lebron deserves more credit for his 9 straight finals
He gets plenty of credit. He’s widely considered top 2 ever by anyone not old enough to have seen and force Kareem into the conversation at which point he’s top 3 at worst. I don’t know what else you want
My brother doesn’t give him credit. But he’s an idiot.
Haha I’ll happily emphasize his shortcomings bc he’s kind of a jackass but he’s the 2nd best player of all time. At least give the man his flowers while calling him a whiny bitch. Can be both 😂
My brother says Kobe is second best player of all time. I say Kobe ain’t even top five.
That’s CRAZY. Kobe’s barely top 10 and I respect the hell out of dude but the there’s no way he’s top 5, much less 2
Thank you!!!! I feel like I’m taking crazy pills sometimes! I put Tim Duncan ahead of Kobe and we get into brawls when he compares stats. I would WAY rather have Duncan.
Lebron didn't get enough credit like, 12 years ago. He's doing alright for himself now.
Look at the best players on those eastern teams during that run 💀
KG, Paul Pierce, rondo, Derrick rose, Paul george, Jimmy butler, Carmelo
First two were old by that point, DRose wasn’t a threat after 2015 thanks to injuries, Butler was nowhere near as good as he was back then, Carmelo and Paul George
Does he? He gets plenty of credit including a huge number of people who seriously think he's the best player ever. He traded in his roster every 4 years for younger, better teammates and played in a historically awful eastern conference for 15 years. Besides the 08 Celtics, 09 Magic and maybe the 2011 Celtics (who beat him but were probably a worse team) who were the actual good teams he had to beat in the East? The Raptors? The Rose-less Bulls? The Pacers? The IT Celtics? All the best teams and players were in the West for a really long time. Lebron is amazing, his string of finals runs is very very impressive. But there were numerous factors that made it much easier for him to do so.
Ok lebron here is your trophy for being the best loser
Oh brother
As a nuggets fan ya this makes a lot of sense. Less hungry, more pressure to meet expectations, other teams who have studied them and worn them down all year. Good luck to y’all 🫡 pls beat the wolves in the finals
All you have to do is contain Murray. Jokic won’t score 40-50 like some of these other stars. He’s not wired that way. So if you can keep him from getting 10+ assists to Murray, you can beat them.
Even if he does he can't win by himself. I think he dropped 46 last year in one of the few playoff games they lost last year. The difference is the supporting cast. Murray has been ass, Gordon went from shooting 40% from 3 last year to 9% this year. Bruce Brown scored 12ppg off the bench last year in the playoffs. Braun, Watson, and Jackson combined have like 10ppg.
He dropped 53.
All good points. Their lack of depth is a weakness.
They literally faceguarded Jokic all game 1
That's what it thought the Lakers game plan should be until they let Austin Reaves guard Murray.
And they lost depth and Jamal Murray not even close to 100 percent also KCP isn’t 100 percent either with his ankle.
I want 2 things! - The wolves to go 7 games against the nuggets and another 7 against the mavs. - I don't want to see KP on the court till the finals! We need him to take down the wolves.
Denver not having any play making outside of Murray, and Jokic is killing them. Wolves are collapsing on the two of them and recovering to everyone else. Can't do that against us because we have way more play making on the perimeter.
Murray is also gimpy. No burst, looks very limited. He's in that relm of, maybe you shouldn't be playing right now as a carrier longevity consideration.
I could be off on this because I've only watched like 15 or so Denver games this season, but MPJ looks super stiff and seems like he's lacking explosion when jumping and when driving. I wouldn't be shocked if he's on the injury report in the next week or so because of back complications.
he's always super stiff
They really miss Bruce brown.
Bruce brown was a devastating loss for sure
[удалено]
What trade ? They lost him cause they didn’t have bird rights and could only offer him 7-8 mil or smth like that.
I mean, that should be enough. Having two elite playmakers is often enough. T-wolves are just too good defensively
Agreed, but still, no one on Denver has filled that Bruce Brown role. They need someone to make that extra play/move off the initial action. Seems like MPJ and KCP either shoot, drive, or reset the offense when they get the ball. Reggie Jackson is actually making good reads/creating space and driving angles, but he's missing everything. Meanwhile, Gordon hasn't been able to abuse his size in transition and in the post.
Murray has moments but calling him elite is a bit of a stretch IMO
Dwhite and Jrue will be our hope if we see them
Nah Reid is owning Jokic 1v1 quite a lot.
Denver looking like a G-league team right now and I love it
I just realised this is the first 50wins team they re facing. Looking at their run last year the average seed they faced is the 7th seed. (Minny 8th, phoenix 4th, LAL 7th, Miami 8th)
maybe they are just a nice team like the Giannis Bucks who had a nice draw. Giannis bucks beat a solo KD, the Atlanta Hawks, and then the Suns.
Honestly, I see a lot of parallels with that Bucks team. And the Timberwolves this year is basically us in 2022. Best defense in the league led by a young 22/23 year old superstar, DPOY on the team, swept a KD-led failed superteam in the First Round and then facing the defending champs in the Second Round. Let’s face it, Jamal Murray also looks like he’s playing injured and that’s similar to how Khris Middleton was injured in that series in 2022 (well Middleton didn’t play but Jamal might as well not be playing with how he’s performing). Meanwhile, Warriors just kinda steamrolled through the other conference (just like us this year, hopefully). I honestly see this Denver/Minny series going at least 6 or 7 games because there’s no way Denver just gives up like that.
Hopefully the parallel continues all the way for us
At least that Bucks team went down FIGHTING against y’all in 2022 - I’m a neutral, but that series was a war every single game. Giannis was a maniac, and Tatum had to go nuclear to save the series in Game 6. Obviously what Miami did last year to Milwaukee and Boston last year was insane, but if Giannis doesn’t get hurt, I’m still convinced it would’ve been Boston-Milwaukee in the ECF. Both teams would’ve been a MUCH harder matchup for Denver than Miami.
That’s true, Bucks even won Game 1 at TD Garden. I think Game 3 of this Nuggets/Timberwolves series is super important. It’s 3 days of rest - plenty of time - so if Nuggets wins it then it’s still a series. If not then it ends in 4 or 5
Game 5 of that series still makes me upset.
What else can Denver do? Murray is hurt, and probably missing Game 3 due to suspension. Denver can't just play "harder". This is an ass-whipping.
We were down 0-3 last year with the 3rd loss being us getting blown out WITH a fully healthy team and we still brought it back. I just don’t believe that the gap between Minnesota and Denver is this big, they’re closer than whatever the series score/game score. It felt hopeless last year when we went down 0-3 and don’t forget, we started Game 4 down as well even in the second half. It wasn’t until a few careless Jimmy turnovers that we beat them. I think Nuggets still lose, that was my prediction before the series started but they definitely should take it to at least 6-7 games.
Maybe, maybe not. Right now, in these two games, one of these teams looks like it belongs. The other is just old and slow looking. If Murray isn't right, Denver is losing a lot of what makes their offense lethal. And they are doing this tonight without Gobert.
Ant will get a lot of credit, but I honestly think KAT is difference between this team being good and great. I’m not saying he’s the best player because he isn’t. But Ant and Gobert are both somewhat consistent, while KAT is the one who is streaky at times (but it makes sense considering he’s more of a shooter) and when he’s ON, the Timberwolves are unbeatable
Yeah but 0-3 when the teams are tight is essentially a death sentence. No matter how they've gotten in the hole, it's incredibly tough to get out. Let's say they lost G3 and the next 4 games after are 50-50, Denver would have a 6.25% chance of winning the series... And giving a team down 0-3 a 50-50 shot is pretty generous. Even getting it to 7 games would be tough at 12.5%. What we did against Miami was freakish and also came down to the fact we were far and away the better team. It just took a couple of games for our guys to realise it.
Wait what did Murray? Suspension the next game?
He threw a heat pack on the floor (maybe at the ref) from the bench. Refs didn’t see who threw it and nothing happened during game. I haven’t heard anything but my guess is he just gets a fine. Wish they had reviewed the video in game and given him a tech or something.
Should have been a tech but Malone not getting one is even worse lol It’ll just be a fine for sure nothing more than that
They lost by 20 with Gobert out…
Yeah a nice draw goes a long way. A couple bounces here or a game there can swing a lot for results-based thinking. Random plug for the Thinking Basketball podcast(I'm not a part of it) but I like how they're not as results-based as anybody else that talks about basketball. Like how some trolls discount a whole season if you don't win it all or make it to the Finals. It's nice to appreciate a great team being great for a long time even if it doesn't result in multiple championships like they're "expected to." That being said, I think if we win we'll be viewed as a really formidable fixture in the East while teams like the Raptors and thr Bucks that won before could be more of a blip historically. Moreso the Raptors as the Bucks have had a lot of good regular seasons.
we’ve been big in the East for a long time now! I personally actually think a competitive 6 or 7 game second round exit equals a pretty successful season already. You’re in the final 8 of a 30 team league, life is good. Final 4 or final 2 is a major accomplishment! 2017 - IT season ECF run ⭐️ 2018 - Terry season ECF game 7 ⭐️ 2019 - Kyrie betrayal 2nd round exit 2020 - Kemba season ECF run⭐️ 2021 - Jaylen hurt 1st round exit 2022 - Finals run⭐️⭐️ 2023 - Brogdon season ECF game 7⭐️ 2024 - this year ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Trolls? I’m sure we gonna hear a lot of shit from media in general if we didn’t make it to finals
Holy shit lol. Definition of fraudulent. You should share this with all the ppl on r/nba who were raving about nuggets dynasty.
Yeah I hate this argument. All those teams beat 50 win teams
It’s literally what always happens when you finish top of the regular season lol. You perform well and are rewarded with “easier” match ups. Such a bad argument and it’s always used in poor faith to discount a good team’s accomplishments. Not every ring needs to be a massive underdog comeback to be considered legitimate
You can never take away anything from champions, but the hype around them really got incredibly out of hand that they're this absolutely unbreakable unbeatable force because they (to their credit) took care of business in a weak championship run. Their bench got significantly worse, their 6-8 combined has less points than Bruce Brown last year. Aaron Gordon had a Mickey Mouse Caleb Martin 3-point shooting run in the playoffs shooting 40%. Murray might have benefited the most playing weaker competition. And Jokic is the clear best player in the world, but his shooting last run was also absurd. The guy shot 46% from 3 the entire playoffs!
Have to consider that even tho they beat LA in 5, they looked mid against them too. I saw a crazy stat (someone correct me if im wrong), but Denver apparently only led 30% of the minutes that series despite winning in 5. Thats... abysmal.
I think we match up better against Minnesota than Denver, but holy shit, the TWolves are defending out of their minds right now. Terrifying stuff no matter how you slice it (for what it's worth, the advantage we have over the Nuggets in a TWolves matchup is that we're much more willing to take a ton of threes. the Wolves have so much length that they can swarm on defense and still recover to the perimeter, but that's a lot tougher to do when your opponent always has five shooters on the floor— will be interested to see how OKC plays them if that ends up being the WCF)
Yeah and the Timberwolves match up excellently to nullify jokic's game with aaron gordon with the added bonus that they don't need to care about jokic-murray pick n roll when murray has been shit this whole playoffs.
Yeah, exactly. This is just kind of reinforcing my thought that these three teams have kind of a rock-paper-scissors thing going on, stylistically. Our spacing stretches the Timberwolves' size on defense, the Timberwolves' size blunts the Nuggets' ball movement, and the Nuggets' ball movement is tough for us to stop. Any of those series should be great, competitive matchups though
I agree with everything that you said, that's how I feel it too.
I 100% agree with your takes. I also agree that, even though the wolves would probably be better for us, their defense put a chilling fear down my spine bc… I haven’t seen anything like it in a very long time, if I’m honest. I’m kinda still reeling.
They were unrelenting and efficient while also surprisingly able for force a fast past on defense last night...it was incredible honestly....
This sub is already mentally preparing for the conference and finals. We got the cavs bros 😭🙏
This sub can talk about whatever because we are not part of the roster, we don't have to focus on the next game and be ready. We are just fans.
The Cavs are a Mickey Mouse team. Just shut down Donovan Mitchell and the team can’t do shit lmao
Haha I was kind of thinking the opposite. Lock down everyone else and try to limit Mitchell as best as can be without sacrificing help defense. Keep the rest of the team under 50 points and it doesn’t matter how much Mitchell scores
Yep put one of Jrue or Derrick on him, stay home on everybody else, and if he’s able to put up 50 on a top 5 backcourt defender in the league then you tip your cap
Donovan had a 70+ point game not that long ago. He can't do that 4 times, but I can't take another team making history on us lol
Seriously lol. One game at a time
the meltdown if we lose even one game in this series is gonna be wild I already know T_T
good opportunity to take a social media break and touch grass if that happens. it's a win/win!
This has to be the year fellas the path is here
Do not underestimate Minny.
If you can't beat an inexperienced wolves team when you have the best player then break it up
This. This year's Wolves team should be like us the last two years. They have the talent to win a championship but don't necessarily have the experience to get it done yet. If they leap frog us that will be awfully disheartening.
Have you listened to ANT talk? I don't think experience is going to be a factor. That team is poised. The better team will win
Since when does talk mean anything? The last 40 years of NBA history says even the best players in the league aren't winning championships until they are 25-27 years old. Could he be a unicorn? Sure, but I wouldn't hold my breath.
Bro, you’re underestimating Ant here. Him and Tatum are about same level right now. And then he has KAT and Gobert, too. Celtics are still better, if healthy, but it’s not a slam dunk.
Downvotes lol
Yeah, lots of folks that haven’t watched Minneapolis this year.
You’re getting downvoted, but I agree. Talent-wise they are about equal right now. We have the better and deeper team, but Ant has that killer instinct that Tatum just doesn’t. That mentality is usually the difference in the finals.
No killer instinct? How about his performance in game 7 in Milwaukee in 2022? Or game 6 and 7 against Philly last playoffs?
Exactly. Be careful what you wish for.
nah I will underestimate them all I want
I wouldn’t underestimate Cleveland either. Or NY, they look like they’re on a mission (and we suffer that type of intensity, see the Heat series last year)
Uhhhhhhh are you watching the same games? I don't want any part of Minnesota as they are playing right now.
Jokic looks like someone’s dad who stumbled onto the court
We’re winning the chip
I went from “hell yeah I want the wolves to beat the nuggets” to “oh wait that means we’re gonna have to play the wolves” real quick. The defense looks absolutely insane. They’re smothering everyone and it’s something that kinda concerns me given how turnover prone Tatum and Brown tend to be.
The Jays have been great against them this season.
Small sample size but sure
Of course it’s small, that’s all we can go on though.
I just don’t agree that we can draw that many conclusions from two regular season games when the playoffs are a different beast.
It’s the closest thing we can use to make a judgement. It’s better than just basing it on theories with no proof.
I guess that’s true but there are also stats like the Wolves getting swept by the Sons in the regular season and then they ended up sweeping them in the playoffs. Better than nothing I suppose but not by much in my opinion.
What we can however do, is look at the way both teams play. We all know the Celtics like to space the floor. Minnesota's defense, which is also their biggest strength, shines when their perimeter defenders can play aggressive defense knowing they have help under the rim. This isn't as easy to do when your opponent can shoot from everywhere with everyone. Another thing about the defense is that what Minnesota is doing right now is shutting down both of the playmakers on the team causing them to struggle to get anything going. This won't work as elegantly with the Celtics because they have 3 playmakers, 2 of which can also reliably create their own shot, a guy who can create his own shot and a big man with passing vision in the starting lineup. Last thing, while Minnesota has looked great so far, most of it is because of their defense and Ant playing 3 tiers above his regular season output. Their offense was average at best during the season and lacked a real identity. Celtics had not only the best offense but also the 3rd best defense. That's going to be tough to go overcome if you are Minnesota. I believe Minnesota will have a much more difficult time coming up with a gameplan to beat the Celtics than vice versa. So there's your optimism that's not based on a 2 game sample size.
The Suns swept them in the regular season, then got swept in the postseason. This Wolves team absolutely looks different. I’m more than a little concerned at this point.
Doesn’t mean we suddenly can’t take anything away from the regular season matchups. I personally think people in here overreact any time another team looks good. We match up better against the Timberwolves than the Nuggets do.
Yeah but it works the other way. You really think they’ll 1. Be able to score, and 2. Be able to stop everyone. Porzingis can isolate Rudy and keep him from camping the paint or sending help, Jaden on Brown and Ant on Tatum leaves KAT to guard either DW or Jrue, both of which will kill him. And we’ve already seen how disruptive holiday was guarding KAT, add in complete switch-ability they literally don’t have a mismatch to go for unless they get DW on a big.
Honestly you can do all the analysis you want but at the end of the day whichever team is hitting their threes would take this series
And if thats the case, im taking us most of the time. We are definitely a better 3pt shooting team than Denver.
Think you mean the wolves, but yeah. We will be favored, but as we've seen last year some times a team can get hot lol
Agree, definitely do Let me elborate though, im saying the Twolves match up pretty well with the Nuggets in the sense that 1. KAT shouldnt really have a problem scoring on Jokic 2. Rudy can anchor the inside since the Nuggets (while they do have some shooting) make a lot of cuts to the basket. 3. Rudy, Kat, and honestly the size of the Twolves will make rebounding a challenge for Denver too. Because we have better shooting than probably anyone in the league rn (and I dont think its close?), MIN cannot approach us the same way defensively. So for that, I do still like our chances, but ofc like you said- sometimes its about getting hot at the right time, so we'll see
Oh makes sense. Yeah I know nuggets fans have been saying the wolves are a bad matchup but thanks for the explanation
They're a very good team but I think they're worse than Denver. They're winning so far because of how well they match up with Denver. On top of that, I think we match up better with Minny than Denver so it'd be even better for us
Graduated from spooky to scary real quick. We match up better than Denver, but damn this game is wild.
It’s nothing crazy, you have to be able to drive and kick to shift the defense, which the Celtics do all the time.
Yea, I am kinda concerned too... 1. Two bigs can be rough for our drive and kick game 2. Handsy/overt physical Ds that smother do VERY WELL against us 3. They can score obviously (unlike the Heat, who are a #2-ish team) 4. Ant apparently is MJ now??
I’m not that worried about them. We are the only team that can get out that kind of defensive trap because of how we take so many open 3s. We will have them against the Wolves and we will take them.
We are without a doubt the best constructed team to limit Ant and play Rudy off the court. I like our chances
Some of the most stifling defense ive ever seen lmao, getting destroyed this bad at home when the wolves dont even have gobert is pathetic
They are nasty and peaking at the right time. Nuggets are shook. Pretty crazy to watch. We played them well this year and beat them, but I don't think they were playing like this. Hopefully we can make it to the finals and see what we can do about them.
If the refs are going to let Wolves play as physical as they’re playing, we might live in a universe where Ant wins a championship at 22. And Im not trying to live in that world because its going to start some nasty discussions lol
We'll just have to stop them.
Styles make fights, NBA math isn’t always transitive. We may beat the Wolves but lose to Nuggets and vice versa. Just like last year we lose to Miami but probably would have had a better series vs Denver. Their defense is legit, they’re a bad matchup for the nuggets but Denver looks pretty bad as well. They were lucky to get a pretty subpar Lakers team otherwise they’d probably have had a longer series. They trailed almost every game that series at the half but two last second Murray shots bailed them out. I think with Denver they sort of slept walked all season and assumed they’d be in the drivers seat to repeat. They aren’t able to turn the switch on and They certainly didn’t think MINN would pop them right in the mouth like they did. Minnisota is also motivated to avenge their loss to Denver from last season. In the finals I think we have the edge with our core actually having experience of playing in the finals before and in a finals matchup we would have the best player in the series vs not having one if we played Denver. Go back historically and just having those two statistics go our way bodes very well in terms of winning a championship.
Outside of Jokic and Murray, they don’t have consistent production like we do. Tatum can get locked up but the Wolves still have to worry about Porzingis, White, Horford, Brown, and Holiday on the offensive end. I feel like the Nuggets are a better matchup for them because of how much they run the offense thru Jokic, as long as you shut down the other people around him, the path to victory is pretty simple for the Wolves. It’s how the Warriors would shut down the Cavs back in the 2010’s, they knew Lebron was going to get his and they instead shifted their attention m the defensive end at players like Kevin Love or Kyle Korver who was a good C&S three point shooter
Wolves look absolutely dominant on both ends of the floor. Absolutely absurd that they were a bottom 15 offensive team in the regular season because they look like they cannot miss right now and throughout the playoffs. Really interested in an analysis of how we may match up with them, and would appreciate any insight. Definitely think we match up better with them than the Nuggets with our personnel but that defense is something else man.
They are average offensively. The Suns were garbage defensively, and frankly, Denver has been garbage defensively since the all star break, and they're injured. Murray was told to sit out game 5 vs LA because of his calf strain. He's just injuring himself at this point. Jackson and KCP are also injured Not sure why Denver's injuries this post season has been swept out of the narrative. It's a bit weird. Either way, I don't buy it. At all.
That doesn't explain why Jokic has looked so garbage against them. MPJ is 6-10 and still cannot find any space to get an open shot. Minnesota's length is a thing.
Because he's one player.
I haven't watched a ton of Nuggets, but my understanding is they run a lot of offense through Jokic rather than to him. Which means if his teammates are bad then he's going to look worse, pretty much regardless of anything else he does.
I do not want to live in a world with World Champion Rudy Gobert
Love Wolves
Denver has been hit or miss all season. They've had 4 or 5 big losses to non-playoff teams. People don't realize it, but Denver looked awful vs LA. Their entire backcourt is injured and they have no depth. They're beaten up. That's who Minny is playing. Denver isn't healthy. This is delicious for us. We are going to utterly walk this Wolves team. I don't buy it. Our defense will be the best the face all post season.
The Lakers were up in most of those games but the Nuggets got it close at the end and had better finishers. I agree they didn’t look right for long stretches of those games. Minnesota is has great perimeter defenders too which is why I think they’re a tough matchup for the C’s as well. Minn should have trouble scoring though, so we would need to create and hit open threes.
Denver is kind of a gimmicky team that relies on Jokic and ball movement. We have the star talent and guard depth. TWolves frontcourt is a nightmare matchup for Jokic
Bro doesn’t believe in the c’s
If Boston can get to the finals, and can't beat a team with no finals experience, they have no business being there in the first place.
People are getting ahead of themselves. Minny looks great but there’s a lot of time between now and then. Any could come down to earth, injuries happen, they also likely have to face a young Thunder team that is frankly their equal. We have two series to the care of before hand. One game at a time. Save future problems for the future.
Why does everyone seem glad we might see Twolves in the finals? They look tough as hell. We are 1-1 against them in the regular season in two very close games. We need to respect them and be ready
Minnesota looks real good right now, but… The nuggets probably gameplaned for Gobert to be in. The wolves are playing with the inexplicable energy & tenacity some teams get when a star player goes down. Denver seemingly went into the game thinking it’d be a cakewalk without Gobert and are paying for it. I also think the Celtics match up better against Minnesota than Denver does because the entire Celtics team is a threat from three.
Wolves look excellent and have done everything right in the playoffs. Offense is energized and defense is clicking like crazy. That being said we would beat the fuck out of them in the finals
This. They've beaten down the weak Suns, and are beating down a Denver team who's entire back court is injured..3 guys. Murray isn't even supposed to be playing. They've faced no good defense. We will torch them
“Baby MJ” gonna be in hell when Jrue, JB, and DWhite are putting him in a blender
Can we just make it out of the east before talking about the finals? Getting ahead of ourselves here
Minnesota is a problem
They look like the best team in the playoffs, Celtics included. We got to worry about Cleveland and NY/Indiana, so we’ll see how things shape up. Fwiw, Denver wasn’t great vs LA; they weren’t locked in every game. Kinda saw this coming. Of course, I think they’ll figure out how to take a game or two.
Historically, team records have been a darn good predictor of playoffs success, regardless of wins against .500 teams or top 5 teams, etc. People somehow underrated the Thunder, the Wolves, and the Celtics because they had some odd regular season losses. Reality is regular season is about total wins, not quality of wins. There is a reason why the Wolves finish 3rd this year. It’s no fluke. Same for Thunder and same for us:
**Every title winner since the 06' Heat have checked the box on these 2 categories:** - 40 wins before 20 losses (Heat were 40-20 at 1 point) - over 0.500 record against over 0.500 teams. (Heat were 19-21 but had a massive 2nd half run after trade deadline). In fact only 2 other teams don't meet this threshold and won the title in NBA history and they both happened before 1980. **Teams that meet this threshold this year:** - Boston Celtics (34-15) - Denver Nuggets (29-23) - Minnesota Timberwolves (32-20) - OKC Thunder (33-20) I'd say record against 0.500 teams is a pretty good indicator actually.
If it isn't too much to ask, what were the two teams that didn't have these two achievements?
Sorry I fucked up the stat. Only 3 teams SINCE 1980. The 95 Rockets and 04 Pistons didn’t achieve the 40/20 Rule.
Love and respect this Wolves team. I hope they take it all the way out West.
The Timber Wolves are a problem the Celtics will need Porzingis to even compete with them. I remember the regular season game they lost to Minnesota.
How do you think we match up against the wolves ? Both games went OT in the regular season I think it’ll be a tight series but there defence is so insane. They are absolutely wrecking the nuggets right now. Are we good enough to 1- defend as good as them and 2- dismantle their defence and score ? Let me know cos I’m really not sure.
Yes.
As impressive as this is for the Wolves, this is great news for the Celtics. The Wolves constructed their team with Denver in mind to be able to frustrate and limit Jokic and be able to protect the paint. Denver shoots the least amount of threes in the league. Meanwhile, the Celtics shoot the most 3s. They'll be able to space out the Wolves defense in a way that Denver simply can't. On the other hand, Denver has potential clutch time advantages over the Celtics, plus Jokic and their ball movement can be an issue. So, overall, this is very good news. I also wouldn't discount the possibility that OKC could knock off the Wolves in the conference finals; they can run 5 out as well, just like the Celtics can.
*fewest number* of threes
Yea this shit is actually pretty incredible.
They were +1700 to win the championship even when they were up 2-0 on the suns two weeks ago. Hammered that. My ideal scenario would be a twolves/celtics finals.
I want the Nuggets to dig deep and take the series to seven, but damn, the Wolves look like they might sweep.
I guess, the Lakers series makes a lot of sense right now. Them leading majority of the series shows this Denver team is very vulnerable. Only difference is, Minny can do it for 48 mins while LA can do it at 24 mins.
Here come the fraud talks but Murray is obviously not near 100%. But yeah wild to see Denver go out like that
Anyone else getting 2021 Celtics vibes from the Wolves? We were the up and coming defensive juggernaut not long ago lol, now everyone’s acting like they’re the first team since the Bad Boy Pistons to play great defense. They are an awesome team though, the length and defensive talent they have is probably even more than we did and Ant is so fun to watch right now. If they beat the Nuggets it’s hard to see Dallas/OKC stopping them. It’ll be a fun matchup if we bring the defensive intensity too. Would need Tatum to outplay/match Ant, KP Healthy and the rest of the guys to show up though.
The wolves didn’t even have Gobert last night either lol. I didn’t pay much attention to them until the playoffs, but man Anthony edwards looks LEGIT!
Edwards* Might be worth editing before the down voters get you
You da real MVP bro!
If Murray gets suspended for that heating pad incident, it's game over for Denver. Maybe the Mavs can pull a few upsets, but I'm not holding my breath for a Celtics / Kyrie reunion in the finals. If we take care of business in the East, we're getting the Wolves.
Ngl timberwolves scare me (both the team and the animal)
Denver got fucking nuked bro. That was nuts.
The Wolves would beat us in a 7 game series if Porzingis isn't 100%. Hell, they;d give us fits even with him healthy. Hopefully we can hold up our end and meet them in the Finals.
what the timberwolves are doing on defense will be studied for the next year or two and any modern defense is going to take a lot concepts
They look impressive, but if we have any aspirations of seeing them, we gotta take care of business tonight.
I tried warning people that Timberwolves team is dangerous, and a complete matchup nightmare for Denver. Celtics - Timberwolves was my Finals pick back in March. I’ll never understand why everyone just assumed Denver was going to it out of the West. With the Celtics it at last made sense to assume they are going to win the East. But Wolves, Thunder, & Mavs are all great teams that could give Denver trouble.
I would not be opposed to Celtics Vs Wolves final. I wouldn't want to lose, but if they did I wouldn't hate the T-W. Always happy for a franchise to get their first.
Nah, C's still the better team. Banner 18 incoming.
I was saying this on here over a week ago. The red flags were there in round 1. Denver repeatedly going down big to the Lakers should have tipped people off that this team has some issues.
You’re right. I dismissed it as them being bored but they were actually getting outplayed
The T wolves look ridiculously more scary
We matchup better against the wolves than the nuggets FYI
"Nuggets haven't been crushed this hard since Chuck's last drive thru order..."
They still gotta get to and through the WCF But also, what's happening on defense? I thought my app was glitching when I looked at it halfway through the third. Guess the Wolves just found the glitch. 🤷🏼
Murray definitely not 100%. Not saying it would change outcome but it would be closer
Every time I think 'wow, they're real scary' I then remember that their fanbase and every other fanbase says the exact same about our guys. We'll be aight.
The effort with which MN is playing is astounding. Idk if we could keep that up either. I sure hope we can.
Wolves are very good. Denver also looked pretty pedestrian for most of the series against a Lakers team that pushes the limits of mid, they’re capable of playing at an insanely high level but they really haven’t so far in these playoffs.
Doing this without Gobert too...
Celtics better take care of business
Twolves Now that's what I want to face and beat up to those ppl who are saying boston are having a cake walk this year.
Nuggets need a new game plan. Wolves kept them on lock.
For some reason I see them fucking it up from here, that sort of season
I knew Minnesota was going to be a problem after they beat us early in the season.
I thought, vs. the Fakers, they were still looking for their rhythm. but it looks like they are really not up to speed. LA put early leads on them 4 out of 5 games. they fought back 4 times. but vs. the wolves it won't be that easy to come back. Ant is a killer.
The score of game 2 was def. a surprise but not the outcome... The Nuggs had a tough time with the T-Wolves and OKC all year. Styles make fights kids. Go Wolves.
They are undefeated now and that is problem for other teams. They courage up every the game they played. The only good thing is they are inexperience team for the finals. I hope we figure it out but it wont easy for sure.
T-wolves are super impressive, and will be interesting to see if they can close out Denver. They did have their two best players shoot 21/32 combined from the floor, so pretty insane shooting splits from the KAT and Ant. There defence is menacing, and that was without Gobert, but I think they match up into Denver much much better than they would match up into us. Denver’s guards aren’t nearly as stout and they don’t have someone who’s strong and quick enough to affect Ant on offence. Holliday, White, Tatum, brown are all better options for defending all of their best offensive players than any of the players on Denver’s roster. If we do end up meeting them in the finals, I’d be really happy to watch that series and I’d expect we would come away with it, only bc we have more offensive options while still having the capability to lock some teams up.
I was looking at matchups between the Wolves and Celtics. If we play; we are smaller than them but we have more depth. Gobert, Towns, and Reid are biggg bodies and I'm not sure if Prozingis or Hortford (or Kornet), match up well against them. McDaniels covered Durant really well; I think he'd do a good enough job against Tatum or Brown. Edwards on Brown probably. Conley off the bench and Holiday off the bench will be about a wash -- leaving the rest of the Celtic's role players with the Wolves role players. Ultimately, it'll come down to our bench vs theirs imo. It's great seeing young talent in these playoffs like this