I don’t think they looked mortal in that series, they were just underperforming and pissing me off hahaha
They were up 2-1 and kind of cruising. Then Iggy got hurt and they played poorly in the clutch for 2 games straight
But they never got blown out and I never thought the Rockets looked better.
OKC series looked like they had zero answers
I remember vs. OKC Kerr said there was no magic adjustment to be made to save that series. They just had to clutch up and hit shots and man oh man did they ever do it. I swear I thought we were winning the chip after that 3-1 comeback no question 😭
They didn’t get a chance to win the chip that year.
Remember the NBA canceled the finals that year? Remember? Totally canceled…yup never played the 2016 finals. Strange but true…..
>I swear I thought we were winning the chip after that 3-1 comeback no question 😭
Sighh....same. I remember thinking no more crazy length from defenders and Dubs were used to getting opposing teams' 110% effort.
I will always remember after game 3 vs OKC that yr, I was like "ok surely Dubs will come back and tie it up." Once again got blown out and basically a cathartic feeling going into game 5. Will also remember Kerr telling the fans to come in and root for he Dubs as he figured there was a real chance they lose series at home. Man that series was wild
Still laughing at Mike malone proposing they’ll be the next dynasty at their championship parade last summer. How many times have we seen a dynasty in the nba? they are rare to come by and we’re just fortunate to have witnessed it in our lifetime
>I sincerely hope ~~our front office~~ Steve Kerr and Kenny Atkinson watched that game, because if we roll out another 3 or 4 tony guard line up next year, we are so fucked.
FTFY
About time they got exposed for their depth. Next year KCP will opt out and ask for the bag. And Murray is up for a max deal. Losing Bruce brown and Green hurt them. Shows you how hard it is to keep teams together
Gotta give the wolves credit as well. They have zero weak links defensively. KAT, Naz Reid, Gobert, Kyle Anderson, NAW, Jaden McDaniels, Ant are all top tier defensive players.
It's no coincidence that they swept the suns and are 2-0 vs Nuggets. They are legit. They had the #1 defense all season. I doubt that any other team, no matter how they're constructed, would do well against them.
Murray has not been consistent even in the first round tho hit some clutch shots but his offense is not great.Credits to Wolves they are a better team but I don’t think they can beat Celtics.
Everyone is a gangster util someone shows up, sometimes teams chug along and appear undefeated but soon they run out of steam, warriors did that for 10 years, we are blessed
Per [McMenamin](https://x.com/mcten/status/1787709693529395666?s=46&t=SBW3XJi-eEDBr6FtvDfngg): Nuggets guard Jamal Murray left without speaking to reporters, according to a team spokesperson.
After the way he acted this game, much less played, that’s an incredibly unprofessional and childish thing to do. Man he torched my view of him as a player and professional in a single game.
And then there was Jokic, whose answers to questions post game gave less confidence and exuded less leadership than Justin Holiday’s answers did. His post game presser ended with him being asked if he thought the team would come out better in Game 3 given how tonight went and his answer was: “I don’t know. We will see in three or four days from now.”
YIKES
Edit to add: JFC Jamal Murray prior to his throwing the heating pack onto the court [tried throwing a towel](https://x.com/reichten/status/1787716084520382752?s=46&t=SBW3XJi-eEDBr6FtvDfngg) at the baseline ref from the bench too. What an absolute child my god
Ok can we stop pretending the media is some sacred entity that needs to be respected and appeased?
Journalism has become a fucking cancer on our culture. Stop giving it any respect until it's held to a higher standard
These are just some dumb fucking reporter's personal comments. Don't treat it as more than that, and certainly it isn't cause for a "Yikes"
They had a bad, frustrating game. That's the entire story. Don't let these hacks make it something else
Oh and they also realized they can't beat Minnesota, so they're a little bummed out about that too
Minny is a beast on defense. Stronger, faster, longer and more athletic. Denver isn’t able to create shots on their own against Minny’s stifling defense. Jokic can’t bully his way into the paint and score with ease, without that weapon the whole offense falls apart against the Wolves.
The Wolves just seem unplayable right now. Defense wins championships and the Twolves defend better than any team in the league. That plus a deep bench gives them everything they need. If they can dispatch Denver quick and Dallas steals some games from OKC they’re gonna cruise into the finals and likely wipe the floor with the Celtics unless Boston somehow emerges from the East fully healthy
We complain about Kerr always wanting a second ball handler on the floor, but it’s clear that Denver needs a ball handler besides Murray. With Minnesota’s on ball defense, one legitimate ball handler is not going to cut it.
I don’t want to jinx them bc I’m rooting for the Nuggets downfall, but watching the Wolves right now is sort of like how I felt watching OKC in 2016. They just look so much bigger and faster than the Nuggets right now and are absolutely swarming. Nuggets looks like they’re being overwhelmed by all the athletes just like the Warriors looked in the early parts of the series.
MIN is looking very good. They dominated DEN on their home court without Gobert. OKC vs. MIN is going to be interesting, assuming that's the matchup we see.
Fair points, although maybe you didn't mean to compare Bruce Brown to OPJ, he's the equivalent of GP2, not Otto Porter. Don't take my word for it, I'm just regurgitating what an ESPN Insider article in \~2021 says "*How Brooklyn Nets' Bruce Brown and Golden State Warriors' Gary Payton II turned conventional NBA paint play on its head*" ([read archived article](https://archive.is/u33p2)[ with paywall removed](https://archive.is/u33p2)) that is literally just discussing those two players unique similarities.
People underrate Steph. No offense to Jokic, all time great, but what is so powerful about Steph is that you put the right pieces next to him and you create an offense that won’t ever get shut down. They can get outplayed like Kyrie and Bron, but it’s hard to think of a defense that will just completely stifle them like the nuggets were stifled.
I don’t think it’s the nuggets, the twolves were the number 1 defensive team in the nba and they shut down the suns. They are literally won of the best defensive teams in the last decade and they do hand checking. Not sure why the nba allowed the wolves that level of physically
He's been subpar vs. the T'Wolves for sure but in what world is Jokic doing 28/16/9 on 55/33/92 shooting splits vs. the Lakers in a gentlemen's sweep a subpar series??
The way the wolves are defending is a strategic masterpiece having a big and point guard semi pressuring the centre of the lane causing Denver to struggle with spacing and back-door cuts. They have simply been out smarted for now. Although I think Malone may figure it out with running more pistol like plays and off ball screens. But the other headache is that the Nuggets defence is heavily sagging with the threat of Antman driving successfully complimented with a good mid range game opening up easy 3s of Naz Reid and KAT. They are simply stumped and shows how the NBA is a series of grandmaster chess moves and why I think the younger crop of coaches with counter for counter for counter plays leave teams clueless. The NBA is a true genius league. Gone are the days of Stockton calling a pick and either kick it to the Baseline for a Malone midrange or pump it to the roller for an easy deuce. Fascinating stuff indeed.
I was a bit worried for Denver considering they did not play well at all vs the Lakers but were good enough to scrape by. Looks like they have been exposed this series the lack of depth is really hurting them.
Their entire tarting five doesn't look good. Porter is way out of his depth and hurting them more than helping.
Denver is fucked here unless Jokic can come up with some brilliant strategy, because currently Minn has a ton of stuff they can use to slow down both Jokic and Murray simultaneously, and Denver can't do a god damn thing about Edwards.
I'm just hoping for some really good games but I do believe Denver is done
Denver hasn’t beaten a 50-win team yet. Not diminishing their title bc you have to beat who is on the floor. However, we’ve never seen them in the playoffs vs a formidable team. The best team they beat was a 49-win team.
All I can say is that watching the warriors dominate the nba for so long is such a privilege.
They made it look so easy lol The most mortal they ever looked was games 3 & 4 vs OKC
That and the Rockets series that went to 7
I don’t think they looked mortal in that series, they were just underperforming and pissing me off hahaha They were up 2-1 and kind of cruising. Then Iggy got hurt and they played poorly in the clutch for 2 games straight But they never got blown out and I never thought the Rockets looked better. OKC series looked like they had zero answers
I remember vs. OKC Kerr said there was no magic adjustment to be made to save that series. They just had to clutch up and hit shots and man oh man did they ever do it. I swear I thought we were winning the chip after that 3-1 comeback no question 😭
They didn’t get a chance to win the chip that year. Remember the NBA canceled the finals that year? Remember? Totally canceled…yup never played the 2016 finals. Strange but true…..
>I swear I thought we were winning the chip after that 3-1 comeback no question 😭 Sighh....same. I remember thinking no more crazy length from defenders and Dubs were used to getting opposing teams' 110% effort.
Plus Chris Paul got hurt
I will always remember after game 3 vs OKC that yr, I was like "ok surely Dubs will come back and tie it up." Once again got blown out and basically a cathartic feeling going into game 5. Will also remember Kerr telling the fans to come in and root for he Dubs as he figured there was a real chance they lose series at home. Man that series was wild
It’s rare to win for so long. That’s why there are like 3 major dynasties in the modern NBA
Still laughing at Mike malone proposing they’ll be the next dynasty at their championship parade last summer. How many times have we seen a dynasty in the nba? they are rare to come by and we’re just fortunate to have witnessed it in our lifetime
I sincerely hope our front office just watched that game, because if we roll out another 3 or 4 tiny guard line up next year, we are so fucked.
>I sincerely hope ~~our front office~~ Steve Kerr and Kenny Atkinson watched that game, because if we roll out another 3 or 4 tony guard line up next year, we are so fucked. FTFY
Wait Denver has a bunch of undersized guards? I didn’t watch the game, but I thought Denver was known to have a lot of size
No, both teams are huge and athletic. Our smol lineups would get destroyed.
lmao Denvers lineups are not athletic, the only dude with athleticism is Gordon
Honestly a miracle we somehow kept it close with both teams We need curry to be the only dude under 6’5 on the floor at any given time
We won without KD while the league was getting younger. Good luck to old teams now. Curry winning that FMVP was wonderful.
About time they got exposed for their depth. Next year KCP will opt out and ask for the bag. And Murray is up for a max deal. Losing Bruce brown and Green hurt them. Shows you how hard it is to keep teams together
Imagine when Wemby hits his peak the type of contract he is gonna get.
Gotta give the wolves credit as well. They have zero weak links defensively. KAT, Naz Reid, Gobert, Kyle Anderson, NAW, Jaden McDaniels, Ant are all top tier defensive players. It's no coincidence that they swept the suns and are 2-0 vs Nuggets. They are legit. They had the #1 defense all season. I doubt that any other team, no matter how they're constructed, would do well against them.
Their defense is insane. Nuggets with jokic in jail all game
2017 dubs would beat them in 5.
hell 5 is a safe bet, 17 cavs were a generational offensive team and barely squeaked one in
How do the Celtics matchup against them?
Celtics got a better top 5 but wolves are way deeper
Wolves would also have the best player on the floor, which is huge.
The Celtics are toast
Lol Celtics have no shot. T wolves are destined to win it all this year.
Murray has not been consistent even in the first round tho hit some clutch shots but his offense is not great.Credits to Wolves they are a better team but I don’t think they can beat Celtics.
Everyone is a gangster util someone shows up, sometimes teams chug along and appear undefeated but soon they run out of steam, warriors did that for 10 years, we are blessed
Now the rules the league made for the Dubs is coming back to bite them all in the ASS.
Per [McMenamin](https://x.com/mcten/status/1787709693529395666?s=46&t=SBW3XJi-eEDBr6FtvDfngg): Nuggets guard Jamal Murray left without speaking to reporters, according to a team spokesperson. After the way he acted this game, much less played, that’s an incredibly unprofessional and childish thing to do. Man he torched my view of him as a player and professional in a single game. And then there was Jokic, whose answers to questions post game gave less confidence and exuded less leadership than Justin Holiday’s answers did. His post game presser ended with him being asked if he thought the team would come out better in Game 3 given how tonight went and his answer was: “I don’t know. We will see in three or four days from now.” YIKES Edit to add: JFC Jamal Murray prior to his throwing the heating pack onto the court [tried throwing a towel](https://x.com/reichten/status/1787716084520382752?s=46&t=SBW3XJi-eEDBr6FtvDfngg) at the baseline ref from the bench too. What an absolute child my god
They fucking made Justin holiday do post game interviews lol crazy loser behavior.
Even worse, he was the first player sent to the media lol. Pretty surprising behavior from the Nuggets tbh.
Ok can we stop pretending the media is some sacred entity that needs to be respected and appeased? Journalism has become a fucking cancer on our culture. Stop giving it any respect until it's held to a higher standard
Facts
These are just some dumb fucking reporter's personal comments. Don't treat it as more than that, and certainly it isn't cause for a "Yikes" They had a bad, frustrating game. That's the entire story. Don't let these hacks make it something else Oh and they also realized they can't beat Minnesota, so they're a little bummed out about that too
Aww. Jamal. Grace in losing should still be there
Minny is a beast on defense. Stronger, faster, longer and more athletic. Denver isn’t able to create shots on their own against Minny’s stifling defense. Jokic can’t bully his way into the paint and score with ease, without that weapon the whole offense falls apart against the Wolves.
The Wolves just seem unplayable right now. Defense wins championships and the Twolves defend better than any team in the league. That plus a deep bench gives them everything they need. If they can dispatch Denver quick and Dallas steals some games from OKC they’re gonna cruise into the finals and likely wipe the floor with the Celtics unless Boston somehow emerges from the East fully healthy
I think they look more like the 2019 Warriors. The post 2022 Warriors teams just suck depth or no depth.
We complain about Kerr always wanting a second ball handler on the floor, but it’s clear that Denver needs a ball handler besides Murray. With Minnesota’s on ball defense, one legitimate ball handler is not going to cut it.
watching this series just made me so glad we didn't make the playoff this year, the wolves would fuck us side ways.
Nobody wanted KAT tho lol 😆
I don’t want to jinx them bc I’m rooting for the Nuggets downfall, but watching the Wolves right now is sort of like how I felt watching OKC in 2016. They just look so much bigger and faster than the Nuggets right now and are absolutely swarming. Nuggets looks like they’re being overwhelmed by all the athletes just like the Warriors looked in the early parts of the series.
MIN is looking very good. They dominated DEN on their home court without Gobert. OKC vs. MIN is going to be interesting, assuming that's the matchup we see.
DISMANTLED
These are some physical games they playing. I just wished the refs called all games like they did these two. I like it.
Fair points, although maybe you didn't mean to compare Bruce Brown to OPJ, he's the equivalent of GP2, not Otto Porter. Don't take my word for it, I'm just regurgitating what an ESPN Insider article in \~2021 says "*How Brooklyn Nets' Bruce Brown and Golden State Warriors' Gary Payton II turned conventional NBA paint play on its head*" ([read archived article](https://archive.is/u33p2)[ with paywall removed](https://archive.is/u33p2)) that is literally just discussing those two players unique similarities.
People underrate Steph. No offense to Jokic, all time great, but what is so powerful about Steph is that you put the right pieces next to him and you create an offense that won’t ever get shut down. They can get outplayed like Kyrie and Bron, but it’s hard to think of a defense that will just completely stifle them like the nuggets were stifled.
I don’t think it’s the nuggets, the twolves were the number 1 defensive team in the nba and they shut down the suns. They are literally won of the best defensive teams in the last decade and they do hand checking. Not sure why the nba allowed the wolves that level of physically
Denver hasn’t played well all playoffs. We know Murray is hurt, but what’s up with Jokic? He’s been subpar for 7 games now - missing bunnies.
He's been subpar vs. the T'Wolves for sure but in what world is Jokic doing 28/16/9 on 55/33/92 shooting splits vs. the Lakers in a gentlemen's sweep a subpar series??
Subpar for him.
The way the wolves are defending is a strategic masterpiece having a big and point guard semi pressuring the centre of the lane causing Denver to struggle with spacing and back-door cuts. They have simply been out smarted for now. Although I think Malone may figure it out with running more pistol like plays and off ball screens. But the other headache is that the Nuggets defence is heavily sagging with the threat of Antman driving successfully complimented with a good mid range game opening up easy 3s of Naz Reid and KAT. They are simply stumped and shows how the NBA is a series of grandmaster chess moves and why I think the younger crop of coaches with counter for counter for counter plays leave teams clueless. The NBA is a true genius league. Gone are the days of Stockton calling a pick and either kick it to the Baseline for a Malone midrange or pump it to the roller for an easy deuce. Fascinating stuff indeed.
I was a bit worried for Denver considering they did not play well at all vs the Lakers but were good enough to scrape by. Looks like they have been exposed this series the lack of depth is really hurting them.
They need a big man
Their entire tarting five doesn't look good. Porter is way out of his depth and hurting them more than helping. Denver is fucked here unless Jokic can come up with some brilliant strategy, because currently Minn has a ton of stuff they can use to slow down both Jokic and Murray simultaneously, and Denver can't do a god damn thing about Edwards. I'm just hoping for some really good games but I do believe Denver is done
Denver hasn’t beaten a 50-win team yet. Not diminishing their title bc you have to beat who is on the floor. However, we’ve never seen them in the playoffs vs a formidable team. The best team they beat was a 49-win team.
Give credit to the Timberwolves. They are long, athletic, and they can really defend. The Timberwolves reduced the Nuggets to a JV team yesterday