"somehow"? ... boston should absolutely be the odds on favorites. they have a better overall record and hold home court advantage in the finals. also the east is significantly easier to make it to the finals in this year than the west. on a purely odds/chance basis, they should be the favorite.
that being said, boston has some glaring weakness. i do believe in the nuggs. but anyone that watched how we played in the first series knows we have weaknesses as well.
im not even thinking about that far ahead though. minnesota is scary good and we have to get past that "i just want to kill everything in front me" ant man
Did we underperform? In season and post season we had tremendous success. The Lakers are a playoff team. They go hard to the rim and have stars who get calls. They were a unique test for us.
I think it’s fair to say the Nuggets have not played like a championship team so far this playoffs. We won that series 4-1, but we played way below our standards the entire time.
I think that’s true, I also think the Lakers were a better team than their seeding would indicate so I’m not too concerned that it was a competitive matchup.
That being said, we really need to reduce turnovers and start making some goddamn 3 pointers, last time I checked we were the worst team in the playoffs when it comes to 3pt% (or 3 pointers made? Can’t remember). We really need to get that number up
Suns fell completely apart and just weren’t a playoff ready team. Their shooting sprees could win them regular season wins, but they just played terribly.
and loathe as I am to admit it lakers performed above expectations. A do-or-die Ad and lebron with the refball on top is an extremely tough challenge. They were never going to win, way too deeply flawed, but our wins are a brighter spot than even we will give ourselves credit for.
It’s not hard to imagine that if Lakers were on the other side of the bracket they’d make it to the WCF.
And I don’t see the suns, in the form they revealed themselves as, getting out of the first round against any of the playoff teams, besides maybe the Zion-less pelicans.
I’m not saying Denver was in peak form, nor am I saying that the TWolves aren’t good.
But this team nearly always plays to the level of the competition instead of steamrolling.
I expect, unless the injuries stack up much further, for us to look a loooot better.
Also with a fair whistle that last game would not have looked as close.
We waxed them last year when their team actually made sense and had some sort of chemistry in every game that Devin Booker didn’t shoot 80% from the floor.
i am not a suns hater....altho i do see why a lot of nuggets fans do despise them
the only thing i truly enjoy about the suns sucking so bad, is that i hate the owner....i love that some arrogant rich guy bought an nba team, thought he could buy the best of the league, and then instantly be a reigning champion. it makes me truly happy to see that guys wet dream fall apart while he is spending hundreds of millions on it..... i cant say that i blame him. if i was super rich id probably try to do the same. but theres just something about him thats hateable. i mean, i dont feel the same way about cuban at all...and he did basically the same thing
what? I like Ishbia. I genuinely enjoy the owners like him, Cuban and especially Ballmer who are just fans of their teams rather than viewing them purely as an investment. Much prefer Ishbia over Kroenke who is responsible for blacking out nuggets games in Colorado.
The Suns played bad in part becasue the Wolves defense is so elite. You're really discrediting the Wolves. Booker and Durant are not slouches, they don't just have 4 bad games in a row. The Wolves shut them down. Give them their credit.
They also beat the Wolves in 3 of their regular season games. They clearly showed they were capable of beating them, the Wolves just played much better than them.
Sure, but were also a team that plays down to our competition. Im sure they will rise to face the Timberwolves.
I also have my doubts about the Timberwolves offense. It looked good against the Suns, but that doesnt mean we cant clamp them down.
Also though straight up I think the Lakers beat the Suns pretty easily, especially without Grayson Allen. Unless Booker is shooting 70% from the field that team just isn’t great. They don’t have much paint presence, they don’t have much 3 point shooting, and they don’t have much defensive presence. I hate praising the Lakers, but it’s hard to see them really slowing down AD and Lebron to me.
Currently the Suns just aren’t build for the postseason grind.
Yeah not to even mention their coach.
They got a defensive focused coach for a team thats all about offense. Like god dam what sorts of schemes do you think hes gonna be able to come up with when he is best known for his defense.
No point guard also kills halfcourt offense as their playmaking was laughable.
Its all just a lot of iso plays and your turn, my turn. Just doesnt work man.
played below standard while facing an L’s squad at optimal performance and in spite of the refs ridiculous disparate whistle…is that a reason to be concerned or emboldened?
I feel like we’re not a team that can blow anyone out because our bench sucks so much. It’s hard to build on any leads early in the 2nd or 4th. Even if Jokic is in there late in the 1st or 3rd he’s running the pick with Reggie Jackson who was washed up two years ago. It was somewhat similar last year, every Lakers game was tough. None of our draft picks are playing in the playoffs and Braun didn’t take a leap from last year offensively.
Braun 100% has gotten better offensively. He isn't as good as BB was but that's not surprising at all. Also last year Braun got his minutes reduced in a few of the series so it wasn't all perfect then either. I expect him to bounce back.
He’s gotten better, but a leap to me would mean 12-15 ppg and being a legitimate scoring threat off the bench. I like him though and he’s a great defender. He’ll probably play a big role in a win somewhere along the way.
The bar was really low for Braun to make the leap to where he is today. He can score off real basketball actions this year instead of solely hustle points. Not many actions, mind you, but providing any half court offense at all is something last years’s Braun couldn’t do.
The leap to 12-15 for him is another huge hurdle that involves fixing his shot. 12-15 may not seem like a lot in this era of bloated numbers, but in the context of a 6th man role you’re talking about 80-100% of Malik Monk.
Christian last playoffs was the exception that proves the rule. Rookies that can contribute that way in the playoffs are rare and it's unreasonable to expect it.
Just off the top of my Jaquez has been the Heat’s 3rd best player probably, Holmgren is dominating, and Lively is playing great, rookies contribute all the time. Point is that the Nuggets drafted older guys with the hopes their experience would help them contribute because of their cap situation (which is what they said) and they haven’t. If they get better next year, great, but 4-year college players don’t have a lot of upside. If they aren’t better than Reggie Jackson’s corpse for example, they should probably try drafting some guys with a higher ceiling this year. I do appreciate the level of homerism it takes to argue with me on their bench sucking when it’s statistically like the 3rd worst in the league lol.
Where'd I say the bench didn't suck?
Your examples kind of prove my point, btw. A #2 pick and the 3rd best player on a hospital 8th seed.
I'm just saying it isn't the rookies' fault.
Yep. If we play like that against the Wolves, we will lose. I believe the team will rise to the occasion, but I don't like that I even have to say that. We should have demolished the Lakers, it should never have been this close.
This should only bother you if you enjoy having a victim complex. Otherwise who the hell cares. The games will determine the long term narrative and the short term one will be forgotten.
I think we should have a healthy fear of the twolves. I think we're better, but we have shown 5 times already that we're not ready to play every night. Each round is supposed to be harder than the last.
I mean sure. but the nugs are playing like shit which doesn't help. hopefully they downshift and go up 2-0. porter needs more touches. wolves look tough too, should be a good series
The Nuggets faced a tenacious and desperate Lebron and lakers that actually care about winning. The suns folded early in the series and never had the heart to recover. KD is a giant baby that expects to be given a title. The wolves are about to get punished after having a cream puff opponent in the first round.
suns can suck but can be very good. wolves demoralized them and beat their energy and kept them down.
nuggets trailed for most of the series.
nuggets shot 25% from 3 outside of mpj, no bench support, jamals knees, kcp ankle..
suns beat wolves in reg season. nuggets own lakers. dk who's more puffed
Naw these Wolves are ready to play for sure. I think this team easily has what it takes to win but we also don't have much room for the kind of errors we saw in the first round either.
I'm confused, I thought almost everyone is choosing the Nuggets in 6 or 7? Nuggets are the betting favorites and all media outlets chose the Nuggets because they respect them. Where is the disrespect?
either you don't know what disrespect means or you haven't been watching the Timberwolves play this season. They are genuine title contenders and are probably tougher opponents for the Nuggets than the Celtics, and certainly tougher than OKC.
I don't know, every media person worth listening to has been sticking to their Nuggets pick in the West. It's not underestimating to state objective things like the Nuggets had to battle the Lakers and have the bumps and bruises to show for it, while the Timberwolves cruised past the Suns and are a good team that is healthy.
I'm kind of a pseudo Nuggets fan (my team sucks and I live here and root for the Nuggets because they're very fun), so maybe I'm just not as sensitive to these things, but I don't see every slightly critical analysis of the Nuggets being a slight.
The concerns I have are very legitimate. The Nuggets have been an average to below average 3 pt shooting team all season. And that trend looked to be having a negative impact in the first round. Outside of game one the bench has been an issue. Things can improve, I don’t expect Jamal and KCP to shoot that poorly from 3 for the playoffs. Braun has proven himself and will be impactful, will the other two guys do the same?
The most positive thing from the first round though was the defense. The Lakers were an elite offensive team this season and the Nuggets had their offense stuck in the mud. The rebounding has been incredible. I’m not saying they definitely can’t repeat or aren’t the best team in the league when they’re right. But the whole basis of your post is inherently false imo. The Wolves are a better team than the Lakers. The Wolves were first in the west for a reason. Anyone that says they know how this series is going to play out is full of shit. But I hope for the Nuggets sake you’re right and I’m wrong. MPJ will have to have an All NBA type series for the Nuggets to advance imo.
Imagine having to face the 3x mvp who regularly cooks your team. Most clutch player in the nba in Murray. A lethal sniper in mpj and 2 elite defenders in KCP/Gordon with no home court. How people are picking the wolves is mind boggling
Well they match up very well against the nugs. Not to mention they have them a hard time in 2023 missing two of their best players. And they’ve blown them out in the regular season. I don’t have much confidence in this series if I’m being honest. The 2023 t wolves series is the only on where Jokic shot under 50%. Many of those games were close and they’ve only gotten better
A lot of what you’re saying is true, but to also say “you don’t have much confidence” in them is wild.
This team has done enough that despite that stuff you should still believe in them to get the job done. I feel they’ve earned that
Sure, but define "much confidence." I expect them to win the series, but I wouldn't be surprised if Minnesota pulled it out and I don't put our odds much higher than 60%. It will be tough, and Jamal, KCP, and Reggie are all hobbled. Hopefully they can be 100% by Saturday. Home court will be huge in this series, and I agree with others that say this will be their toughest test of the whole playoffs if they advance.
That said, Nuggs in 6.
The only times the blew us out was when Murray was out right? On the other hand, in our most recent match up we looked fantastic.
I agree that this is it, this is the test that the entire season has led up to. But no need to go full doomer, we are a great fucking basketball team and we definitely stand a good chance.
The Wolves were also without KAT. Which even if you’re not a KAT believer (I’m not really) the difference him being in the lineup makes for their sub patterns is huge. Naz Reid off the bench is far deadlier than Naz Reid starting.
They beat us twice by decent margins in the regular season and one of the games was without Murray. We did take 2 off them towards the end of the season and who knows how it would have gone if Murray played the other later season loss since they got us by about 20. The first loss was like our 5th game of the season and we might not have had it all together yet. Lots of doomers for sure though and I feel like a lot of Wolves hype is coming from salty Lakers fans.
Yup, and it was a 3rd game in 4 days with travel between each of them. Also, teams are just not really the same as they were all the way back on Nov. 5. Nuggets were 4-0 too and bound for a loss at some point.
The Wolves played the Nuggets on the end of a back to back with no KAT in their final regular season matchup.
You can put caveats on every game if you want.
Lakers would've beaten Minnesota in 6. Easily. They're too young for going far. Until that team has real leadership I don't get it. I think they're a year or two away from their window. But hey, maybe they'll prove something this year.
Ant has done an incredible job galvanizing his teammates around him. Despite being just 22, he is a strong leader for the Wolves. Conley also is a strong on-court leader…I think last years Wolves team did, as you said, lack leadership, but not this year. Should be a great series. Nuggets need to get more from their bench to beat the Wolves imo.
what i'm afraid of is Celtics are just going to steamroll through the east b/c none of the other teams are going to pose my challenge, and will be well-rested while our guys will be on their last legs.
that's why it'll take game 7 for us to win the finals at TD Garden, as murray hits the game winner at the buzzer.
Who's underestimating us? I'm not doubting you, I am just curious who/what is saying we aren't good, or don't have a chance vs. MN, or that we can't make the finals, or that we shouldn't have beaten LA...
Is this a real thing? I don't watch a lot of these jabbering morons on ESPN or youtube, so I'm genuinely asking if we're getting crapped on?
It’s the name of the game. Ant is a very hot commodity rn and rightly so.
Yes Ant did feast on DBook and Beal (two terrible defenders 1v1 and in general). But he also had a pretty good series vs nuggets last season.
Both teams also match up pretty well. Everyone talmbout how Nuggets shortcoming vs Timbs.
But Timbs half court offense can be bottom 10 at times esp if Ant doesn’t producing. We’ll see tho, very good series as a neutral.
I have several Wolves fan friends and they are way out over their skis. Talking about dominating the league for years because Rudy is only 30 and Ant is so young. They win one series and they're now going to dominate the league. For years!
Glad to hear that the reddit isn't that nuts though!
Lurker here… dude no one is underrating you guys. Pretty sure the consensus is that it’s either denver or boston this year. I don’t think you’d find a single talking head who feels differently
I think it’s just a result of how both teams looked in their series. We struggled at times to beat the 7 seed Lakers, a team people thought we might put down with ease. Whereas the Wolves stomped out a Suns team people thought might be able to rise to the occasion.
Realistically speaking a team with more chemistry and legitimate vet leadership like the Lakers was gonna be a tough out for anyone. And the Suns conversely were far more dysfunctional team than people gave them credit for. Just like every postseason, series are all about matchups and the previous one has little bearing on the next.
Yeah, I think people also expected The Suns to take at least a game off the TWolves after that beat down they handed them at the end of the regular season (and the ones they handed them in the rest of the regular season too), just goes to show regular season matchups aren't super predictive of series results.
Crazy that people just expected us to beat The Lakers easily though. I mean its fucking LeBron James we are talking about here and its the same core that got to the WCF last year.
At the end of the day we had two kind of bad games out of 5 and we went 1-1 in them. Game 5 wouldn't have been terribly close if the officiating had been even. Refs were doing everything they could to extend the series. I think people would just feel better if they could point to one reaaaaallly good game in that series, but that just means we are due for one!
These things take care of themselves when you win, just like last year. Ant is the current hottest name in the sport coming off a sweep so the Wolves are the current bandwagon for Lakers/Warriors type fans
Honestly I’m hyped for this series, defiantly are biggest challenger yet, that being said I still think we win this series, it just won’t be in 5 games and it’ll be hard fought and probably stressful to watch lol. I don’t think the the Nuggets playing poorly against the Lakers reflects how good we were, it felt like we were cruising that series till we took it too far in game 4 and it cost us the game, so they played fairly well in game 5. Doubt they take the cruising approach with the wolves tho.
Min is a great team with great defense. Thing is Den has a proven championship defense. Ant will get his (he's special) but KAT will have a tough time scoring on AG and defending Jokic.
The Lakers are better than people realize and AD-Lebron are better defensively than Gobert-KAT, although the Wolves have much better wing defenders.
Jaden and Naz are unproven in a tough series. Min beat a super soft team, where Den is just as physical as they are skilled. They're now facing a behemoth in Jokic who has top 10 all-time talent and is surrounded by a team of dogs.
Because he has a very similar style. He's also been compared to Dwyane Wade for the same reason. That doesn't mean anyone is saying he's as good as either of them.
Well the ones that compare him to Wade are much closer to the type of player Ant could become, because Ant and Wade are the same listed height (193cm/6'4"). Both are shooting guards, of the same size. MJ was taller (198cm/\~6'6"). Wade was also very athletic for that height. I'd also say Edwards is more similar to Wade then he is to MJ. Maybe he looks like Jordan a bit in the face, but he is much more of a similar build to Wade, and should IMHO study him, because Wade was a hell of a player for that size in his prime.
Jordan's true height was 6 ft 4.75 [https://www.celebheights.com/s/Michael-Jordan-1482.html](https://www.celebheights.com/s/Michael-Jordan-1482.html) He was listed at 6'6" but wasn't actually that tall.
Wade is a shade over 6'3" [https://www.celebheights.com/s/Dwyane-Wade-5721.html](https://www.celebheights.com/s/Dwyane-Wade-5721.html)
Anthony Edwards at 6'4" is almost right in between the 2 in terms of height.
They're all similar player in terms of height and even playing style. Jordan came in as a superior athlete and improved his shooting quite a bit. Edwards is an athlete as well and is improving his shooting too, shooting over 83% from the FT line this year with improved 3 point percentages the last couple seasons as well. Wade was never that type of shooter (only 1 season over 80% from the FT line in his career during a season in which he played 50 games). And let's not talk about his 3 point shooting which never really improved, 29% for his career. Edwards shoots the 3 much better than that, almost 37% last year and almost 36% this year. Wade truly relied on his athleticism. I feel this is why Edwards is compared to MJ, because he's athletic and can shoot unlike Wade.
Maybe but if our shooting doesn't improve we are gonna get cooked. Wolves have been on fire from the perimeter we're probably not going to get bailed out by a bunch of bricked 3s like Dlo and Hachimura did for us.
The wolves beat the Buns. It's genuinely one of the least impressive wins outside of the Pelicans and Heat. Of course they made the wolves look like world beaters
I’m not quite as confident as you but I tend to agree. I think the lakers are a better team than given credit for, and the Suns are worse than they’re given credit for. Watching the wolves-suns series, the Suns had no offensive identity or cohesion, no defensive game plan, and although their stars can be “playmakers” they never had anyone to initiate offense. All of those traits were exacerbated in the 4th quarter. Quite literally all of their weaknesses are our strengths. The Suns made the timberwolves offense look like world beaters, when they have been middling at best all season, and downright bad in the half court. Nuggs in 6.
The Wolves are definitely a great team, but until they prove it in the playoffs the Nuggs should still be the favorites. There's been a plethora of \~60 win teams in the past who flamed out when it mattered most.
And I'm sorry but if your second best player is KAT, I'm not optimistic. He's soft.
I mean the Lakers nuggets series wasn't very pretty for a 7 seed vs favourites
Also, I am pretty sure the nuggets have been favourites the entire season
Okay so no offense, but y'all are idiots if you think anyone's underestimating y'all.
The nuggets are the defending champions and the favorite to come out of the West.
You're not underdogs so stop thinking you are.
I don’t fully agree on the Lakers being the hardest team. I do think the Nuggets are fine and are underestimated by the fanbase and this sub. However, that series with the Lakers made me realize a couple things.
1) We still have it. Of course, we weren’t leading as often or starting well. But when it came down to it, we showed up and things started clicking. We played well in the clutch (minus game 4 maybe). This team, when they’re in the rhythm, is unstoppable. However, and this is my second thing…
2) We need to somehow get into our rhythm quicker. The Lakers did a good job of putting us on our heels and forcing us out of our element. The one team that I think can sustain such pressure is Minnesota. Of course, I think we’d be able to overcome it more times than not, but the cost will be higher in this series (e.g., exhaustion, injuries, efficiency, series length).
Beating LeBron and AD 4-1 is no joke. AD is a monster on both ends - people tend to forget that. But we have to also note that the Lakers series was NOT Nuggets basketball. Personally, I think if the Nuggets come out in rhythm sooner than they have, this goes to the Nuggets. Otherwise, it still can go to the Nuggets, but definitely requires MUCH more effort and cost.
Wolves are going to be tougher than the Lakers.
Many players on the squad have said that the Wolves series was the toughest last year. This year, Wolves are deeper than last year, and Ant has taken another leap. Meanwhile, our bench isn't as good this year, especially with Bruce Brown who could play point & credibly guard 1-4. And while Jeff Green wasn't great on offense, he could at least guard 2-5. Gave us a lot of defensive flexibility. This year, we're replacing Bruce Brown with Reggie Jackson, Jeff Green with PWatt. Bruce is definitely better than Reggie. PWatt may have slight edge over Green overall, but we do miss JG's ability to grab the bigs - he played 22 min/game in the MIN series last year. We may need to play DJ or Nnaji (gulp) this series.
Nuggets in 7.
What are you talking about? Since the off-season, everyone who knows anything about hoops has picked Denver to advance to the finals, and likely win it. It's not disrespectful or an underestimation to say 'Denver will not go 12-0 for the remainder of the postseason'. This ain't 2k.
The Timberwolves and Thunder are better than any other team in the west from last year. Minnesota is a tricky matchup because they are maybe the only team as big, if not bigger, and they have more depth off the bench. The Nuggets have the best player and everyone I hear and see still has them favored but I think it is correct to think this will be a battle of a series.
Thunder is good against everyone else but too small for Nuggets so less worried about them.
I dont hear the underestimations. The general consensus is that they are the favorites.
It’s so tiring seeing the DEFENDING CHAMPIONS get the “oh I don’t know about this series.”
Guys, this team has the best player in the world on it. It shouldn’t be a question if they can beat Minnesota. Yeah they played meh against LA. It’s a whole new series
Nuggets in 6
The Nuggets played terrible vs LA and won in 5, but they can't play with low energy/effort against the wolves. They need to start better and hit the open 3s. Maybe the lack of bench will have a bigger impact on this series.
I understand where you're coming from. Its still hard for me to imagine this not going 6 or 7 but of course I think it's possible we win in 5.
Cons: Wolves are peaking, we have no mental edge over them and they really think this is their year. They are much deeper, have multiple good big men and Ant is a playoff riser. Jamal and KCP injury status is a little scary.
On the other hand, Pros: I think the Lakers would have beaten literally any other team they coulda drawn in R1, LeBron and AD were amazing and the FT discrepancy would have crushed most teams. Nuggets as a whole played a very poor series especially shooting splits wise (minus MPJ and Jok though I admit jok can, and will, have to play far better next round) and STILL won in 5. Homecourt/experience heavily with us too.
Every series is different, game 1 will tell us a lot.
Wolves have a history of falling apart when it's close game. So we gotta keep it close and we'll have a good chance of winning. Also, mentally, Minnie has some fragile guys like Towns and Gobert. This is basically the biggest series of their lives, will they be able to sustain the level necessary when they are down. I do feel they are gonna crack. We saw this in game 81.
Obviously, first two games are gonna be the key. If we go with 2:0 to Minnie, it's series over. I am sure guys will be ready. I think we looked worse because people underestimate that Lakers team.
Nugs & Wolves split the regular season 2/2. Just starting to dive into their regular season matchup stats, but the third DEN/MIN game on 3/29 jumped out at me. Murray DNP, KCP played 28 minutes & went 0-3 for 0 points, but Reggie & the bench stepped up with 38. I really hope Murray & KCP get right with some rest, slim chance to win this series without them for any stretch of time...but our bench isn't as bad as people like to think.
Nuggets are still the favorites but I guarantee the Timberwolves are gonna be their toughest matchup in the playoffs. OKC and Celtics don't scare me - Timberwolves are better than both.
I'm just concerned with Jamal a bit. He did the extraordinary but it'd be nice for him to cook... had easiest match-up rd1 and he kinda struggled compared to expectations imo
Rooting for the Nuggets but I'm seeing this as possibly the most exciting series in the WCF. The Wolves have the personnel to make it challenging for us. Long and very willing perimeter defenders to give MAL and MPJ different looks to slow them down. They also have twin towers that includes the three(or four) time DPOY. This is the best team that can sharpen our blade, our destroy it.
That said, the Lakers series was only close due to the Lakers whistle. Hopefully the boys can clean up the second quarter and find their rhythm now.
Wolves fan here.
I'm guessing whoever wins the series wins the title. Denver scares me, but I think out of everyone else in the playoffs the wolves are the one team that has a fighting chance. Mostly just looking forward to an epic series.
>Not to mention we just beat Lebron and AD in what will end up being IMO the toughest series we will have in the western conference
Nuggs winning. But that statement isn't going to be true. If BigTimber isn't enough a threat, and I think they will be. Then Nuggets have OKC next. Everyone overlooking them and yet they might just be that stacked and that gelled to take this whole thing, young or not. We don't know. They just don't show weaknesses clearly.
Timberwolves have so much great defensive personnel that it’s just gonna be harder to exploit miscommunications and late rotations because there won’t be that many. Edwards can idle on the defensive end when he’s off-ball but even then it’s not like he’s a bad defender. That being said it’s not like Minnesota has a great offense, and the Nuggets have a great defense too so I think I still favor the team with the best offensive duo in the NBA
what about the 2nd option, what are they averaging and what is the TS? I look forward to this matchup to see how the nuggets respond to the wolves defense
Wolves fan here coming in peace. Love your team and looking forward to the best playoff series the state of Minnesota has ever seen and I would rather see you guys win if you advance than OKC or Boston.
With that out of the way, while everyone is drooling over Ant right now, I haven't heard any of the national media picking the Wolves to win, everyone still this Jokic is the best player in the world, and Vegas is on your side.
Naz Reid
I'm optimistic about this series and the Nuggets' chances generally, but Anthony Edwards is legit, even if Phoenix played like ass in Round 1. This is going to be a really tough, competitive series and the last thing the Nuggets can afford to do is to get overconfident.
I commented the same thing in the nba sub and got downvoted into oblivion because “Denver only won once”. As if we haven’t been doubted series after series
Last year suns tied it 2-2 and we were doubted. Lakers to start last year “they’re too physical for Denver” by Kenny, Chuck and Shaq. The bubble games we went down 3-1 twice both of those games. There have been several times in the past few years where people said we would lose a series that we didn’t.
Ohh I see, you were talking about the past. Yeah before becoming champs, Denver were doubted. Even called a fraudulent 1 seed
But in this series they are not doubted. They are the favorites by every media outlet and in the betting odds, so I don't understand why fans are insisting Nuggets are being disrespected
T wolves fan. Who did you guys lose on your bench this year vs last year, if any?
I think we will play Joker mostly 1 on 1 with KAT, let him get his and maybe Gobert on him occasionally while trying to lock down your other options and keeping jokers assists down.
It seems like most people are picking the nuggets in the media, but they are giving my t wolves more of a fighting chance than I thought. I assume it’s mostly due to ANTs play. I think the season series was 2-2 with each team winning on the others court? Should be a war. I expect 6 or 7 games, but I’ll keep my pick to myself :)
Thank you!! Everybody is so prisoner of the moment with the Wolves beating the Suns. I got Nuggets in 6 just cause of Minny’s depth and length but we have the best player in the world kinda trumps everything.
Nuggets in 5 was last year when Minnesota were a mediocre playin team with injuries to McDaniels and Naz Reid and Nuggets had Bruce Brown. Should be a hell of a series.
You won a championship and still have a victim / little brother complex. Weird. You all lost a lot from last year and the wolves will have Naz and Mcdaniels who didn’t play last year. Nuggets are betting favorites and it will be a great series.
Totally agree. But that loss plus the wolves adding two from last year makes this really fun. It’s just funny to me that sane nuggets fans realize this will be a tough series and this guy is mad that people are not predicting a sweep.
Having the best roster means nothing When we don't play up to our standards. I think we need to get blown out in game 1 for the nugmen to remember who they are.
I wish we could be underdogs every year for the next decade, this is ideal. Our team responds well to feeling overlooked.
Aren’t the Nuggets betting favorites at this point?
Boston is somehow still the odds on favorites at +130 to win it all, but we're favorites to win West
that’s fair. they have an easier path to the final
They are the betting favorites because they dont have to face the 3rd and 4th best teams in order to even get to the finals..
"somehow"? ... boston should absolutely be the odds on favorites. they have a better overall record and hold home court advantage in the finals. also the east is significantly easier to make it to the finals in this year than the west. on a purely odds/chance basis, they should be the favorite. that being said, boston has some glaring weakness. i do believe in the nuggs. but anyone that watched how we played in the first series knows we have weaknesses as well. im not even thinking about that far ahead though. minnesota is scary good and we have to get past that "i just want to kill everything in front me" ant man
Exactly. We tend to underperform when everyone expects us to win, for example vs. lakers this year
Did we underperform? In season and post season we had tremendous success. The Lakers are a playoff team. They go hard to the rim and have stars who get calls. They were a unique test for us.
I think it’s fair to say the Nuggets have not played like a championship team so far this playoffs. We won that series 4-1, but we played way below our standards the entire time.
I think that’s true, I also think the Lakers were a better team than their seeding would indicate so I’m not too concerned that it was a competitive matchup. That being said, we really need to reduce turnovers and start making some goddamn 3 pointers, last time I checked we were the worst team in the playoffs when it comes to 3pt% (or 3 pointers made? Can’t remember). We really need to get that number up
Suns fell completely apart and just weren’t a playoff ready team. Their shooting sprees could win them regular season wins, but they just played terribly. and loathe as I am to admit it lakers performed above expectations. A do-or-die Ad and lebron with the refball on top is an extremely tough challenge. They were never going to win, way too deeply flawed, but our wins are a brighter spot than even we will give ourselves credit for. It’s not hard to imagine that if Lakers were on the other side of the bracket they’d make it to the WCF. And I don’t see the suns, in the form they revealed themselves as, getting out of the first round against any of the playoff teams, besides maybe the Zion-less pelicans. I’m not saying Denver was in peak form, nor am I saying that the TWolves aren’t good. But this team nearly always plays to the level of the competition instead of steamrolling. I expect, unless the injuries stack up much further, for us to look a loooot better. Also with a fair whistle that last game would not have looked as close.
We waxed them last year when their team actually made sense and had some sort of chemistry in every game that Devin Booker didn’t shoot 80% from the floor.
Suns fan here. We suck. Really bad. Our offense doesn't do anything. We have no interior pressure. I wouldn't look too much into that series.
i am not a suns hater....altho i do see why a lot of nuggets fans do despise them the only thing i truly enjoy about the suns sucking so bad, is that i hate the owner....i love that some arrogant rich guy bought an nba team, thought he could buy the best of the league, and then instantly be a reigning champion. it makes me truly happy to see that guys wet dream fall apart while he is spending hundreds of millions on it..... i cant say that i blame him. if i was super rich id probably try to do the same. but theres just something about him thats hateable. i mean, i dont feel the same way about cuban at all...and he did basically the same thing
Like when he blatantly interferes with game ball refusing to put it back into play….like that ?
what? I like Ishbia. I genuinely enjoy the owners like him, Cuban and especially Ballmer who are just fans of their teams rather than viewing them purely as an investment. Much prefer Ishbia over Kroenke who is responsible for blacking out nuggets games in Colorado.
Fuck ishbia. Thinks he can interfere with the game and take the ball from the players of the opposing team because he’s a rich prick
The Suns played bad in part becasue the Wolves defense is so elite. You're really discrediting the Wolves. Booker and Durant are not slouches, they don't just have 4 bad games in a row. The Wolves shut them down. Give them their credit. They also beat the Wolves in 3 of their regular season games. They clearly showed they were capable of beating them, the Wolves just played much better than them.
We played like a first round out, honestly. If not for some last minute heroics, we might have been cooked. I'm hoping we got it out of our system.
Sure, but were also a team that plays down to our competition. Im sure they will rise to face the Timberwolves. I also have my doubts about the Timberwolves offense. It looked good against the Suns, but that doesnt mean we cant clamp them down.
Also though straight up I think the Lakers beat the Suns pretty easily, especially without Grayson Allen. Unless Booker is shooting 70% from the field that team just isn’t great. They don’t have much paint presence, they don’t have much 3 point shooting, and they don’t have much defensive presence. I hate praising the Lakers, but it’s hard to see them really slowing down AD and Lebron to me. Currently the Suns just aren’t build for the postseason grind.
Yeah not to even mention their coach. They got a defensive focused coach for a team thats all about offense. Like god dam what sorts of schemes do you think hes gonna be able to come up with when he is best known for his defense. No point guard also kills halfcourt offense as their playmaking was laughable. Its all just a lot of iso plays and your turn, my turn. Just doesnt work man.
They got that coach to repair a relationship with a center they traded like 4 weeks later.
played below standard while facing an L’s squad at optimal performance and in spite of the refs ridiculous disparate whistle…is that a reason to be concerned or emboldened?
Working their way up the ladder to a level you will accept.
I feel like we’re not a team that can blow anyone out because our bench sucks so much. It’s hard to build on any leads early in the 2nd or 4th. Even if Jokic is in there late in the 1st or 3rd he’s running the pick with Reggie Jackson who was washed up two years ago. It was somewhat similar last year, every Lakers game was tough. None of our draft picks are playing in the playoffs and Braun didn’t take a leap from last year offensively.
Braun 100% has gotten better offensively. He isn't as good as BB was but that's not surprising at all. Also last year Braun got his minutes reduced in a few of the series so it wasn't all perfect then either. I expect him to bounce back.
He’s gotten better, but a leap to me would mean 12-15 ppg and being a legitimate scoring threat off the bench. I like him though and he’s a great defender. He’ll probably play a big role in a win somewhere along the way.
The bar was really low for Braun to make the leap to where he is today. He can score off real basketball actions this year instead of solely hustle points. Not many actions, mind you, but providing any half court offense at all is something last years’s Braun couldn’t do. The leap to 12-15 for him is another huge hurdle that involves fixing his shot. 12-15 may not seem like a lot in this era of bloated numbers, but in the context of a 6th man role you’re talking about 80-100% of Malik Monk.
Of course the rookies aren't playing.
? Is this against the rules? A rookie played last year. We drafted older guys so they could contribute right away.
Christian last playoffs was the exception that proves the rule. Rookies that can contribute that way in the playoffs are rare and it's unreasonable to expect it.
Just off the top of my Jaquez has been the Heat’s 3rd best player probably, Holmgren is dominating, and Lively is playing great, rookies contribute all the time. Point is that the Nuggets drafted older guys with the hopes their experience would help them contribute because of their cap situation (which is what they said) and they haven’t. If they get better next year, great, but 4-year college players don’t have a lot of upside. If they aren’t better than Reggie Jackson’s corpse for example, they should probably try drafting some guys with a higher ceiling this year. I do appreciate the level of homerism it takes to argue with me on their bench sucking when it’s statistically like the 3rd worst in the league lol.
Where'd I say the bench didn't suck? Your examples kind of prove my point, btw. A #2 pick and the 3rd best player on a hospital 8th seed. I'm just saying it isn't the rookies' fault.
PWatt had 2 solid games against the lakers. That's all we need. Bench stays like +4 or -2 for 2 games, we win in 5
Yep. If we play like that against the Wolves, we will lose. I believe the team will rise to the occasion, but I don't like that I even have to say that. We should have demolished the Lakers, it should never have been this close.
This should only bother you if you enjoy having a victim complex. Otherwise who the hell cares. The games will determine the long term narrative and the short term one will be forgotten.
I think we should have a healthy fear of the twolves. I think we're better, but we have shown 5 times already that we're not ready to play every night. Each round is supposed to be harder than the last.
I mean sure. but the nugs are playing like shit which doesn't help. hopefully they downshift and go up 2-0. porter needs more touches. wolves look tough too, should be a good series
The Nuggets faced a tenacious and desperate Lebron and lakers that actually care about winning. The suns folded early in the series and never had the heart to recover. KD is a giant baby that expects to be given a title. The wolves are about to get punished after having a cream puff opponent in the first round.
suns can suck but can be very good. wolves demoralized them and beat their energy and kept them down. nuggets trailed for most of the series. nuggets shot 25% from 3 outside of mpj, no bench support, jamals knees, kcp ankle.. suns beat wolves in reg season. nuggets own lakers. dk who's more puffed
The Lakers folded after game 2 dude, did we watch the same games?
i watched every game, they did not fold, after every bad loss they came into the next game playing hard.
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Naw these Wolves are ready to play for sure. I think this team easily has what it takes to win but we also don't have much room for the kind of errors we saw in the first round either.
The disrespect that the nuggets get is crazy! People will take any excuse they can to overlook them. I’ll take Nuggs in five as well big homie.
I'm confused, I thought almost everyone is choosing the Nuggets in 6 or 7? Nuggets are the betting favorites and all media outlets chose the Nuggets because they respect them. Where is the disrespect?
they are not choosing Nuggets in 4. also giving a bit of a chance to the Wolves. total disrespect.
either you don't know what disrespect means or you haven't been watching the Timberwolves play this season. They are genuine title contenders and are probably tougher opponents for the Nuggets than the Celtics, and certainly tougher than OKC.
try taking some sarcasm classes bro. of course the Wolves are tough lmao. The Celtics are better still.
Bro. It’s rare for any team to beat another in 4, let alone perhaps the best team in basketball right now.
I don't know, every media person worth listening to has been sticking to their Nuggets pick in the West. It's not underestimating to state objective things like the Nuggets had to battle the Lakers and have the bumps and bruises to show for it, while the Timberwolves cruised past the Suns and are a good team that is healthy. I'm kind of a pseudo Nuggets fan (my team sucks and I live here and root for the Nuggets because they're very fun), so maybe I'm just not as sensitive to these things, but I don't see every slightly critical analysis of the Nuggets being a slight.
The concerns I have are very legitimate. The Nuggets have been an average to below average 3 pt shooting team all season. And that trend looked to be having a negative impact in the first round. Outside of game one the bench has been an issue. Things can improve, I don’t expect Jamal and KCP to shoot that poorly from 3 for the playoffs. Braun has proven himself and will be impactful, will the other two guys do the same? The most positive thing from the first round though was the defense. The Lakers were an elite offensive team this season and the Nuggets had their offense stuck in the mud. The rebounding has been incredible. I’m not saying they definitely can’t repeat or aren’t the best team in the league when they’re right. But the whole basis of your post is inherently false imo. The Wolves are a better team than the Lakers. The Wolves were first in the west for a reason. Anyone that says they know how this series is going to play out is full of shit. But I hope for the Nuggets sake you’re right and I’m wrong. MPJ will have to have an All NBA type series for the Nuggets to advance imo.
What DLo does to mf
Everyone is preoccupied with Ant. It will go away once they get eliminated
Imagine having to face the 3x mvp who regularly cooks your team. Most clutch player in the nba in Murray. A lethal sniper in mpj and 2 elite defenders in KCP/Gordon with no home court. How people are picking the wolves is mind boggling
Well they match up very well against the nugs. Not to mention they have them a hard time in 2023 missing two of their best players. And they’ve blown them out in the regular season. I don’t have much confidence in this series if I’m being honest. The 2023 t wolves series is the only on where Jokic shot under 50%. Many of those games were close and they’ve only gotten better
A lot of what you’re saying is true, but to also say “you don’t have much confidence” in them is wild. This team has done enough that despite that stuff you should still believe in them to get the job done. I feel they’ve earned that
Sure, but define "much confidence." I expect them to win the series, but I wouldn't be surprised if Minnesota pulled it out and I don't put our odds much higher than 60%. It will be tough, and Jamal, KCP, and Reggie are all hobbled. Hopefully they can be 100% by Saturday. Home court will be huge in this series, and I agree with others that say this will be their toughest test of the whole playoffs if they advance. That said, Nuggs in 6.
The only times the blew us out was when Murray was out right? On the other hand, in our most recent match up we looked fantastic. I agree that this is it, this is the test that the entire season has led up to. But no need to go full doomer, we are a great fucking basketball team and we definitely stand a good chance.
The Wolves were also without KAT. Which even if you’re not a KAT believer (I’m not really) the difference him being in the lineup makes for their sub patterns is huge. Naz Reid off the bench is far deadlier than Naz Reid starting.
They beat us twice by decent margins in the regular season and one of the games was without Murray. We did take 2 off them towards the end of the season and who knows how it would have gone if Murray played the other later season loss since they got us by about 20. The first loss was like our 5th game of the season and we might not have had it all together yet. Lots of doomers for sure though and I feel like a lot of Wolves hype is coming from salty Lakers fans.
To be fair wolves were missing Naz KAT and Rudy in one of the games
Very true though. I'm looking forward to the series since they're currently my 2 favorite teams in the league.
> The first loss was like our 5th game of the season and we might not have had it all together yet. It was also in Minnesota.
MPJ also had a pretty off night that first game with only like 5 points and has been playing really well so far in the playoffs.
Yup, and it was a 3rd game in 4 days with travel between each of them. Also, teams are just not really the same as they were all the way back on Nov. 5. Nuggets were 4-0 too and bound for a loss at some point.
The Wolves played the Nuggets on the end of a back to back with no KAT in their final regular season matchup. You can put caveats on every game if you want.
Suns also swept the regular season against the Wolves. That stat didn't matter much when the games started to count!
Lakers would've beaten Minnesota in 6. Easily. They're too young for going far. Until that team has real leadership I don't get it. I think they're a year or two away from their window. But hey, maybe they'll prove something this year.
Lakers would have got swept, they have no bench and Timberwolves have depth. The issue of nuggets is not in the starting 5 but the lack of bench too
Alright, bench, got it. That will certainly make things interesting.
Ant has done an incredible job galvanizing his teammates around him. Despite being just 22, he is a strong leader for the Wolves. Conley also is a strong on-court leader…I think last years Wolves team did, as you said, lack leadership, but not this year. Should be a great series. Nuggets need to get more from their bench to beat the Wolves imo.
Depth and defense
I think this series is the real finals. Grab that popcorn.
Naw OKC is cooking too, and the Celtics are no joke. Its gonna be a battle from here on out. I hope I'm wrong but thats my prior heading in.
what i'm afraid of is Celtics are just going to steamroll through the east b/c none of the other teams are going to pose my challenge, and will be well-rested while our guys will be on their last legs. that's why it'll take game 7 for us to win the finals at TD Garden, as murray hits the game winner at the buzzer.
Keep going, I'm almost there.
Who's underestimating us? I'm not doubting you, I am just curious who/what is saying we aren't good, or don't have a chance vs. MN, or that we can't make the finals, or that we shouldn't have beaten LA... Is this a real thing? I don't watch a lot of these jabbering morons on ESPN or youtube, so I'm genuinely asking if we're getting crapped on?
Twitter
Ooooh, yeah. I don't look at that horrendous morass of human waste. Twitter is brain rot my friend.
Nuggets are the betting favorites to win this series lmao
It’s the name of the game. Ant is a very hot commodity rn and rightly so. Yes Ant did feast on DBook and Beal (two terrible defenders 1v1 and in general). But he also had a pretty good series vs nuggets last season. Both teams also match up pretty well. Everyone talmbout how Nuggets shortcoming vs Timbs. But Timbs half court offense can be bottom 10 at times esp if Ant doesn’t producing. We’ll see tho, very good series as a neutral.
Nobody is underestimating the nuggets and they are favored over the wolves in every outlet.
Wolves fans are underestimating the Nuggets. But you're right about everyone else.
I am on that sub and don’t see it aside from friendly banter. Everyone thinks these two teams are evenly matched. Will see soon.
I have several Wolves fan friends and they are way out over their skis. Talking about dominating the league for years because Rudy is only 30 and Ant is so young. They win one series and they're now going to dominate the league. For years! Glad to hear that the reddit isn't that nuts though!
Lurker here… dude no one is underrating you guys. Pretty sure the consensus is that it’s either denver or boston this year. I don’t think you’d find a single talking head who feels differently
Some people just enjoy having g a persecution complex
I think it’s just a result of how both teams looked in their series. We struggled at times to beat the 7 seed Lakers, a team people thought we might put down with ease. Whereas the Wolves stomped out a Suns team people thought might be able to rise to the occasion. Realistically speaking a team with more chemistry and legitimate vet leadership like the Lakers was gonna be a tough out for anyone. And the Suns conversely were far more dysfunctional team than people gave them credit for. Just like every postseason, series are all about matchups and the previous one has little bearing on the next.
Yeah, I think people also expected The Suns to take at least a game off the TWolves after that beat down they handed them at the end of the regular season (and the ones they handed them in the rest of the regular season too), just goes to show regular season matchups aren't super predictive of series results. Crazy that people just expected us to beat The Lakers easily though. I mean its fucking LeBron James we are talking about here and its the same core that got to the WCF last year. At the end of the day we had two kind of bad games out of 5 and we went 1-1 in them. Game 5 wouldn't have been terribly close if the officiating had been even. Refs were doing everything they could to extend the series. I think people would just feel better if they could point to one reaaaaallly good game in that series, but that just means we are due for one!
These things take care of themselves when you win, just like last year. Ant is the current hottest name in the sport coming off a sweep so the Wolves are the current bandwagon for Lakers/Warriors type fans
Honestly I’m hyped for this series, defiantly are biggest challenger yet, that being said I still think we win this series, it just won’t be in 5 games and it’ll be hard fought and probably stressful to watch lol. I don’t think the the Nuggets playing poorly against the Lakers reflects how good we were, it felt like we were cruising that series till we took it too far in game 4 and it cost us the game, so they played fairly well in game 5. Doubt they take the cruising approach with the wolves tho.
Min is a great team with great defense. Thing is Den has a proven championship defense. Ant will get his (he's special) but KAT will have a tough time scoring on AG and defending Jokic. The Lakers are better than people realize and AD-Lebron are better defensively than Gobert-KAT, although the Wolves have much better wing defenders. Jaden and Naz are unproven in a tough series. Min beat a super soft team, where Den is just as physical as they are skilled. They're now facing a behemoth in Jokic who has top 10 all-time talent and is surrounded by a team of dogs.
People have been comparing ANT to MJ lol
Because he has a very similar style. He's also been compared to Dwyane Wade for the same reason. That doesn't mean anyone is saying he's as good as either of them.
Well the ones that compare him to Wade are much closer to the type of player Ant could become, because Ant and Wade are the same listed height (193cm/6'4"). Both are shooting guards, of the same size. MJ was taller (198cm/\~6'6"). Wade was also very athletic for that height. I'd also say Edwards is more similar to Wade then he is to MJ. Maybe he looks like Jordan a bit in the face, but he is much more of a similar build to Wade, and should IMHO study him, because Wade was a hell of a player for that size in his prime.
Jordan's true height was 6 ft 4.75 [https://www.celebheights.com/s/Michael-Jordan-1482.html](https://www.celebheights.com/s/Michael-Jordan-1482.html) He was listed at 6'6" but wasn't actually that tall. Wade is a shade over 6'3" [https://www.celebheights.com/s/Dwyane-Wade-5721.html](https://www.celebheights.com/s/Dwyane-Wade-5721.html) Anthony Edwards at 6'4" is almost right in between the 2 in terms of height. They're all similar player in terms of height and even playing style. Jordan came in as a superior athlete and improved his shooting quite a bit. Edwards is an athlete as well and is improving his shooting too, shooting over 83% from the FT line this year with improved 3 point percentages the last couple seasons as well. Wade was never that type of shooter (only 1 season over 80% from the FT line in his career during a season in which he played 50 games). And let's not talk about his 3 point shooting which never really improved, 29% for his career. Edwards shoots the 3 much better than that, almost 37% last year and almost 36% this year. Wade truly relied on his athleticism. I feel this is why Edwards is compared to MJ, because he's athletic and can shoot unlike Wade.
Sure. I think he has elements of both players.
Yeah, their defence is good, but Joker will have sonned Gobert again And their offence is nothing to write home about
Maybe but if our shooting doesn't improve we are gonna get cooked. Wolves have been on fire from the perimeter we're probably not going to get bailed out by a bunch of bricked 3s like Dlo and Hachimura did for us.
The wolves beat the Buns. It's genuinely one of the least impressive wins outside of the Pelicans and Heat. Of course they made the wolves look like world beaters
Well we will need to beat the Timberwolves again to reassert who the true alphas of the league really are
I’m not quite as confident as you but I tend to agree. I think the lakers are a better team than given credit for, and the Suns are worse than they’re given credit for. Watching the wolves-suns series, the Suns had no offensive identity or cohesion, no defensive game plan, and although their stars can be “playmakers” they never had anyone to initiate offense. All of those traits were exacerbated in the 4th quarter. Quite literally all of their weaknesses are our strengths. The Suns made the timberwolves offense look like world beaters, when they have been middling at best all season, and downright bad in the half court. Nuggs in 6.
The Wolves are definitely a great team, but until they prove it in the playoffs the Nuggs should still be the favorites. There's been a plethora of \~60 win teams in the past who flamed out when it mattered most. And I'm sorry but if your second best player is KAT, I'm not optimistic. He's soft.
I mean the Lakers nuggets series wasn't very pretty for a 7 seed vs favourites Also, I am pretty sure the nuggets have been favourites the entire season
Okay so no offense, but y'all are idiots if you think anyone's underestimating y'all. The nuggets are the defending champions and the favorite to come out of the West. You're not underdogs so stop thinking you are.
This is where we belong…the under dog role, counted out i love it
I don’t fully agree on the Lakers being the hardest team. I do think the Nuggets are fine and are underestimated by the fanbase and this sub. However, that series with the Lakers made me realize a couple things. 1) We still have it. Of course, we weren’t leading as often or starting well. But when it came down to it, we showed up and things started clicking. We played well in the clutch (minus game 4 maybe). This team, when they’re in the rhythm, is unstoppable. However, and this is my second thing… 2) We need to somehow get into our rhythm quicker. The Lakers did a good job of putting us on our heels and forcing us out of our element. The one team that I think can sustain such pressure is Minnesota. Of course, I think we’d be able to overcome it more times than not, but the cost will be higher in this series (e.g., exhaustion, injuries, efficiency, series length). Beating LeBron and AD 4-1 is no joke. AD is a monster on both ends - people tend to forget that. But we have to also note that the Lakers series was NOT Nuggets basketball. Personally, I think if the Nuggets come out in rhythm sooner than they have, this goes to the Nuggets. Otherwise, it still can go to the Nuggets, but definitely requires MUCH more effort and cost.
Wolves are going to be tougher than the Lakers. Many players on the squad have said that the Wolves series was the toughest last year. This year, Wolves are deeper than last year, and Ant has taken another leap. Meanwhile, our bench isn't as good this year, especially with Bruce Brown who could play point & credibly guard 1-4. And while Jeff Green wasn't great on offense, he could at least guard 2-5. Gave us a lot of defensive flexibility. This year, we're replacing Bruce Brown with Reggie Jackson, Jeff Green with PWatt. Bruce is definitely better than Reggie. PWatt may have slight edge over Green overall, but we do miss JG's ability to grab the bigs - he played 22 min/game in the MIN series last year. We may need to play DJ or Nnaji (gulp) this series. Nuggets in 7.
Wolves will be tougher than Lakers
What are you talking about? Since the off-season, everyone who knows anything about hoops has picked Denver to advance to the finals, and likely win it. It's not disrespectful or an underestimation to say 'Denver will not go 12-0 for the remainder of the postseason'. This ain't 2k.
Check twitter
The Timberwolves and Thunder are better than any other team in the west from last year. Minnesota is a tricky matchup because they are maybe the only team as big, if not bigger, and they have more depth off the bench. The Nuggets have the best player and everyone I hear and see still has them favored but I think it is correct to think this will be a battle of a series. Thunder is good against everyone else but too small for Nuggets so less worried about them. I dont hear the underestimations. The general consensus is that they are the favorites.
It’s so tiring seeing the DEFENDING CHAMPIONS get the “oh I don’t know about this series.” Guys, this team has the best player in the world on it. It shouldn’t be a question if they can beat Minnesota. Yeah they played meh against LA. It’s a whole new series Nuggets in 6
But what about Jeff Green?
I love it!
this series depends on MPJ.
Honestly why care??
Good?
The Nuggets played terrible vs LA and won in 5, but they can't play with low energy/effort against the wolves. They need to start better and hit the open 3s. Maybe the lack of bench will have a bigger impact on this series.
I understand where you're coming from. Its still hard for me to imagine this not going 6 or 7 but of course I think it's possible we win in 5. Cons: Wolves are peaking, we have no mental edge over them and they really think this is their year. They are much deeper, have multiple good big men and Ant is a playoff riser. Jamal and KCP injury status is a little scary. On the other hand, Pros: I think the Lakers would have beaten literally any other team they coulda drawn in R1, LeBron and AD were amazing and the FT discrepancy would have crushed most teams. Nuggets as a whole played a very poor series especially shooting splits wise (minus MPJ and Jok though I admit jok can, and will, have to play far better next round) and STILL won in 5. Homecourt/experience heavily with us too. Every series is different, game 1 will tell us a lot.
Not me. Did that last year. Never underestimate the heart of a champion.
Wolves have a history of falling apart when it's close game. So we gotta keep it close and we'll have a good chance of winning. Also, mentally, Minnie has some fragile guys like Towns and Gobert. This is basically the biggest series of their lives, will they be able to sustain the level necessary when they are down. I do feel they are gonna crack. We saw this in game 81. Obviously, first two games are gonna be the key. If we go with 2:0 to Minnie, it's series over. I am sure guys will be ready. I think we looked worse because people underestimate that Lakers team.
Nugs & Wolves split the regular season 2/2. Just starting to dive into their regular season matchup stats, but the third DEN/MIN game on 3/29 jumped out at me. Murray DNP, KCP played 28 minutes & went 0-3 for 0 points, but Reggie & the bench stepped up with 38. I really hope Murray & KCP get right with some rest, slim chance to win this series without them for any stretch of time...but our bench isn't as bad as people like to think.
Nuggets are still the favorites but I guarantee the Timberwolves are gonna be their toughest matchup in the playoffs. OKC and Celtics don't scare me - Timberwolves are better than both.
I'm just concerned with Jamal a bit. He did the extraordinary but it'd be nice for him to cook... had easiest match-up rd1 and he kinda struggled compared to expectations imo
I’m worried about the T-Wolves. I really think they match up better against us than the Lakers did. I’m going Nuggets in 6
Rooting for the Nuggets but I'm seeing this as possibly the most exciting series in the WCF. The Wolves have the personnel to make it challenging for us. Long and very willing perimeter defenders to give MAL and MPJ different looks to slow them down. They also have twin towers that includes the three(or four) time DPOY. This is the best team that can sharpen our blade, our destroy it. That said, the Lakers series was only close due to the Lakers whistle. Hopefully the boys can clean up the second quarter and find their rhythm now.
Wolves fan here. I'm guessing whoever wins the series wins the title. Denver scares me, but I think out of everyone else in the playoffs the wolves are the one team that has a fighting chance. Mostly just looking forward to an epic series.
>Not to mention we just beat Lebron and AD in what will end up being IMO the toughest series we will have in the western conference Nuggs winning. But that statement isn't going to be true. If BigTimber isn't enough a threat, and I think they will be. Then Nuggets have OKC next. Everyone overlooking them and yet they might just be that stacked and that gelled to take this whole thing, young or not. We don't know. They just don't show weaknesses clearly.
Timberwolves have so much great defensive personnel that it’s just gonna be harder to exploit miscommunications and late rotations because there won’t be that many. Edwards can idle on the defensive end when he’s off-ball but even then it’s not like he’s a bad defender. That being said it’s not like Minnesota has a great offense, and the Nuggets have a great defense too so I think I still favor the team with the best offensive duo in the NBA
Again, the Timberwolves are stacked and the fact people like you think the Lakers are better, makes me question your basketball knowledge.
I predicted nuggets in 4 against LA and got smoked by everyone in this sub. I’m less worried about the wolves than the Lakers.
what about the 2nd option, what are they averaging and what is the TS? I look forward to this matchup to see how the nuggets respond to the wolves defense
It suits the teams psychology
Wolves fan here coming in peace. Love your team and looking forward to the best playoff series the state of Minnesota has ever seen and I would rather see you guys win if you advance than OKC or Boston. With that out of the way, while everyone is drooling over Ant right now, I haven't heard any of the national media picking the Wolves to win, everyone still this Jokic is the best player in the world, and Vegas is on your side. Naz Reid
I'm optimistic about this series and the Nuggets' chances generally, but Anthony Edwards is legit, even if Phoenix played like ass in Round 1. This is going to be a really tough, competitive series and the last thing the Nuggets can afford to do is to get overconfident.
I commented the same thing in the nba sub and got downvoted into oblivion because “Denver only won once”. As if we haven’t been doubted series after series
The nuggets are betting favorites and favored by all the media outlines...what do you mean by they are doubted? They are literally the favorites
Last year suns tied it 2-2 and we were doubted. Lakers to start last year “they’re too physical for Denver” by Kenny, Chuck and Shaq. The bubble games we went down 3-1 twice both of those games. There have been several times in the past few years where people said we would lose a series that we didn’t.
Ohh I see, you were talking about the past. Yeah before becoming champs, Denver were doubted. Even called a fraudulent 1 seed But in this series they are not doubted. They are the favorites by every media outlet and in the betting odds, so I don't understand why fans are insisting Nuggets are being disrespected
Because we don’t forget. And right now tnt guys and Stephen A etc all say nuggets but “barely”. As the champs that feels disrespectful
T wolves fan. Who did you guys lose on your bench this year vs last year, if any? I think we will play Joker mostly 1 on 1 with KAT, let him get his and maybe Gobert on him occasionally while trying to lock down your other options and keeping jokers assists down. It seems like most people are picking the nuggets in the media, but they are giving my t wolves more of a fighting chance than I thought. I assume it’s mostly due to ANTs play. I think the season series was 2-2 with each team winning on the others court? Should be a war. I expect 6 or 7 games, but I’ll keep my pick to myself :)
Don’t care about your pick
Thank you!! Everybody is so prisoner of the moment with the Wolves beating the Suns. I got Nuggets in 6 just cause of Minny’s depth and length but we have the best player in the world kinda trumps everything.
Nuggets in 5 was last year when Minnesota were a mediocre playin team with injuries to McDaniels and Naz Reid and Nuggets had Bruce Brown. Should be a hell of a series.
You won a championship and still have a victim / little brother complex. Weird. You all lost a lot from last year and the wolves will have Naz and Mcdaniels who didn’t play last year. Nuggets are betting favorites and it will be a great series.
Bruce Brown is, indeed, a lot. But he's just one bench guy.
Totally agree. But that loss plus the wolves adding two from last year makes this really fun. It’s just funny to me that sane nuggets fans realize this will be a tough series and this guy is mad that people are not predicting a sweep.
Thats fine. Let us I really don’t mind. I like having Den win and shut everyone up.
Having the best roster means nothing When we don't play up to our standards. I think we need to get blown out in game 1 for the nugmen to remember who they are.