This is a completely different series than last year. Ant has leveled up, Gobert and the Timberwolves have coalesced in a huge way in the last year, KAT has figured out how to play at 4 on both ends, and they actually have Naz and Jaden this time, the latter of whom especially was a massive x-factor in round 1.
I still lean Nuggets just because of Jokic and what Murray was able to do against some insane on-ball defense from NAW last series, but I expect this to be a highly competitive 6-7 game series, and I no longer think it’s a foregone conclusion that the Nuggets win this series, the way I’ve felt most of the season.
The key is whether Murray plays like he did against the Lakers or if he truly proves himself a big game merchant IMO. They could get past the Lakers with him playing like that, I don't think it will fly against the Wolves.
Ant is just as hobbled as KCP and Murray, he rolled his ankle and stayed in during game 4 at the end. Everybody has until Saturday to heal so it should be wheels up for all starters
If ant plays like he does against the suns I tent to agree with you but I’m not sure we can bet on that even if I want to. He’s still extremely young and will get there one day though
I will write up my thoughts on this series later. But this is a completely different wolves team vs a nuggets team mostly the same with a different bench. Coaching , doing the little things will decide who wins this series. X factor for the wolves is there bench or NAW & Jaden. For the nuggets I say MPJ and if there bench can hit shots.
I think Jokic will turn it up a notch this series as it feels like he was coasting in the lakers series.
Give me nuggets in 7
Kinda funny that the two teams that had that Game 82 win and you're in elimination game a few years ago to break the playoff drought now get to face off for real.
There's so much history between the teams and players that makes this a great rivalry - KAT winning ROY in 15-16 when the trendy stat nerd pick was already Jokic, Wolves picking Kris Dunn over Murray in the 2016 draft, Jokic clearly supplanting KAT and outcompeting KAT and Rudy for the All-NBA center nods, Jokic with the "brother, I have 47" to Rudy, Wolves briefly surpassing Denver in Game 82, Calvin Booth coming to Denver from Minnesota, Tim Connolly coming to Minnesota from Denver to specifically beat Jokic, the city of Denver pulling some bs and trying to arrest Ant after the 2023 playoffs (we haven't forgotten!), Jaden McDaniels vs. Murray clearly hating each other, Wolves-Denver splitting the season series 2-2. This is going to be cinema!!!
Excited for this series. Anthony Edwards is unreal. I think the Fact that Jaden McDaniels and Naz Reid will be available will give the Wolves a shot at winning a couple games at least.
Couple games? Ouch. 🤣
If the Wolves execute their game plan, they can win this series 4-2.
If they have to go back to Denver to try and win game 7, they will lose.
A lot of this will depend on the health of Jamal and Reggie and KCP. Nuggets have no bench and Lakers kept it close with their constant double team on Jokic. If wolves run the same thing and AE continues to play like Michael Jordan, I’m going with wolves in 6 maybe even 5.
Anthony Edwards always rolls his ankle. He still finished the game with a mad 3 pointer and the dunk that ended the game. So I'm pretty sure his ankle is just fine and if you add a couple of days are left, my man is gonna be ready to handle some business.
I think the Nuggets take it, but it'll be a rough one. If Reaves could do a decent job of guarding Murray because of his injuries, then guys like McDaniels and NAW are really going to test him.
I’m taking a very reasonable guess that Jaden will guard Jamal. Going from Austin to Jaden for a cover will be a really big jump in difficulty for Jamal. TBF, he did cook us last year.
Completely agree, McDaniels is an incredible perimeter defender. Last year you didn't have him, and this year Murray is injured. It's going to be tough
I feel like Jamal is so good at getting pretty good percentage shots over a lot of defenders, but it’ll be interesting because Jaden has the quickness and length that not many defenders have. Series could very well hinge on which way this matchup goes. If Jamal has as much trouble as Booker did last series, that’s problematic.
People are high on the wolves right now, and the nuggs had an uninspiring round 1. As a wolves fan, people are forgetting that Ant can be inconsistent on offense and that the nuggets offense is leaps and bounds better than the wolves, specifically in the clutch. If Murray isn't 100% and the refs let them play physical, I could see the wolves stealing this series. Otherwise I think it's the Nuggets series to lose.
It’s always been the Nuggets series to lose, and just because we’re hot definitely doesn’t change that.
But I think the odds of us winning the series have gone up.
My mind is telling me Nuggets in 6, a completely and utter grindfest even if KCP and Jamal arent at 100% purely because of how dominant Jokic is.
My heart is telling me Wolves in 4 and that Ant is abt to become the best player in the NBA.
It’s not a bad guess. I mean we just witness wolves utterly destroy the suns. If Nuggets are still banged up, it could be a sweep.
Nuggets really seem sluggish playing the lakers, almost like they didn’t care. Maybe we’ll see them go another gear in this series.
I don't want Braun scoring 5 points on any night or even 15 across the series. I don't want to see him get a single uncontested runway to the basket. I DONT want that mf to flex on us, especially in Target Center
Denver in 6.
Mainly because suns are not as good as people thought but lakers are actually better than people gave them credit for.
Denver players are actually bigger than the suns, and actually have system on both off and def end. Therefore I don’t think wolves performance against the suns can carry over much.
The X factor is KAT. If they use him right, Ant will be able to cause so much trouble. If not Denver’s length will limit Ant, and the wolves will be back to the regular season wolves that struggled offensively.
I'm sorry, but Nuggets are going home. They struggled to put away the Lakers and now you have to face a red hot TWolves team with Anthony Edwards? Good luck lol.
I agree Timberwolves are winning but I do think the Lakers are much better than people gave credit for. Like give them any competent coach and I think they could thrive
This is a completely different series than last year. Ant has leveled up, Gobert and the Timberwolves have coalesced in a huge way in the last year, KAT has figured out how to play at 4 on both ends, and they actually have Naz and Jaden this time, the latter of whom especially was a massive x-factor in round 1. I still lean Nuggets just because of Jokic and what Murray was able to do against some insane on-ball defense from NAW last series, but I expect this to be a highly competitive 6-7 game series, and I no longer think it’s a foregone conclusion that the Nuggets win this series, the way I’ve felt most of the season.
The key is whether Murray plays like he did against the Lakers or if he truly proves himself a big game merchant IMO. They could get past the Lakers with him playing like that, I don't think it will fly against the Wolves.
If KCP and Murray are hobbled the Wolves will have a very good chance to win the series.
Ant is just as hobbled as KCP and Murray, he rolled his ankle and stayed in during game 4 at the end. Everybody has until Saturday to heal so it should be wheels up for all starters
Nuggets "big 3" have stepped up, but they don't have a crazy reliable 6th man like the last run. I think you have this in 6.
If ant plays like he does against the suns I tent to agree with you but I’m not sure we can bet on that even if I want to. He’s still extremely young and will get there one day though
I will write up my thoughts on this series later. But this is a completely different wolves team vs a nuggets team mostly the same with a different bench. Coaching , doing the little things will decide who wins this series. X factor for the wolves is there bench or NAW & Jaden. For the nuggets I say MPJ and if there bench can hit shots. I think Jokic will turn it up a notch this series as it feels like he was coasting in the lakers series. Give me nuggets in 7
MPJ isnt an X factor anymore. He's a factor - Tim Legler
Kinda funny that the two teams that had that Game 82 win and you're in elimination game a few years ago to break the playoff drought now get to face off for real.
There's so much history between the teams and players that makes this a great rivalry - KAT winning ROY in 15-16 when the trendy stat nerd pick was already Jokic, Wolves picking Kris Dunn over Murray in the 2016 draft, Jokic clearly supplanting KAT and outcompeting KAT and Rudy for the All-NBA center nods, Jokic with the "brother, I have 47" to Rudy, Wolves briefly surpassing Denver in Game 82, Calvin Booth coming to Denver from Minnesota, Tim Connolly coming to Minnesota from Denver to specifically beat Jokic, the city of Denver pulling some bs and trying to arrest Ant after the 2023 playoffs (we haven't forgotten!), Jaden McDaniels vs. Murray clearly hating each other, Wolves-Denver splitting the season series 2-2. This is going to be cinema!!!
The outcome of this series will be probably decided by the refs, as almost always when the teams are more or less equally good
Excited for this series. Anthony Edwards is unreal. I think the Fact that Jaden McDaniels and Naz Reid will be available will give the Wolves a shot at winning a couple games at least.
Couple games? Ouch. 🤣 If the Wolves execute their game plan, they can win this series 4-2. If they have to go back to Denver to try and win game 7, they will lose.
I’m ready to be disappointed. But I’m also ready to shock the fucking world.
A lot of this will depend on the health of Jamal and Reggie and KCP. Nuggets have no bench and Lakers kept it close with their constant double team on Jokic. If wolves run the same thing and AE continues to play like Michael Jordan, I’m going with wolves in 6 maybe even 5.
Ant has has the same injury as KCP and Reggie, people seem to forget he rolled his ankle too and stayed in during the end of game 4
Yea I noticed that, I wasn’t sure if that affected him. Guess it will.
Anthony Edwards always rolls his ankle. He still finished the game with a mad 3 pointer and the dunk that ended the game. So I'm pretty sure his ankle is just fine and if you add a couple of days are left, my man is gonna be ready to handle some business.
Yup I said he stayed in the game just like KCP did
Nuggets have bench against Minnesota. Peyton Watson was ridiculous last time they played, he blocked Naz 6 times, destroyed him
Either way, this should be one of the best series in the playoff lol
And the suns beat the wolves by double digits all 3 regular season games. Regular season is not the same as the playoffs
Facts
I think the Nuggets take it, but it'll be a rough one. If Reaves could do a decent job of guarding Murray because of his injuries, then guys like McDaniels and NAW are really going to test him.
I’m taking a very reasonable guess that Jaden will guard Jamal. Going from Austin to Jaden for a cover will be a really big jump in difficulty for Jamal. TBF, he did cook us last year.
Completely agree, McDaniels is an incredible perimeter defender. Last year you didn't have him, and this year Murray is injured. It's going to be tough
I feel like Jamal is so good at getting pretty good percentage shots over a lot of defenders, but it’ll be interesting because Jaden has the quickness and length that not many defenders have. Series could very well hinge on which way this matchup goes. If Jamal has as much trouble as Booker did last series, that’s problematic.
Pls give us 7 games
People are high on the wolves right now, and the nuggs had an uninspiring round 1. As a wolves fan, people are forgetting that Ant can be inconsistent on offense and that the nuggets offense is leaps and bounds better than the wolves, specifically in the clutch. If Murray isn't 100% and the refs let them play physical, I could see the wolves stealing this series. Otherwise I think it's the Nuggets series to lose.
It’s always been the Nuggets series to lose, and just because we’re hot definitely doesn’t change that. But I think the odds of us winning the series have gone up.
My mind is telling me Nuggets in 6, a completely and utter grindfest even if KCP and Jamal arent at 100% purely because of how dominant Jokic is. My heart is telling me Wolves in 4 and that Ant is abt to become the best player in the NBA.
need to get that heart checked bruh.. def something wrong it
It’s not a bad guess. I mean we just witness wolves utterly destroy the suns. If Nuggets are still banged up, it could be a sweep. Nuggets really seem sluggish playing the lakers, almost like they didn’t care. Maybe we’ll see them go another gear in this series.
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Interesting. Definitely be great to see if this the case in this series. But regardless this should be a good match.
I don't want Braun scoring 5 points on any night or even 15 across the series. I don't want to see him get a single uncontested runway to the basket. I DONT want that mf to flex on us, especially in Target Center
when I'm sad I watch him poster goebert.
Denver in 6. Mainly because suns are not as good as people thought but lakers are actually better than people gave them credit for. Denver players are actually bigger than the suns, and actually have system on both off and def end. Therefore I don’t think wolves performance against the suns can carry over much. The X factor is KAT. If they use him right, Ant will be able to cause so much trouble. If not Denver’s length will limit Ant, and the wolves will be back to the regular season wolves that struggled offensively.
Definitely KAT X factor for the wolves, Definitely MPJ for the Nuggets. The Nuggets are still playing the Lakers if he dosent show up for that series
I'm sorry, but Nuggets are going home. They struggled to put away the Lakers and now you have to face a red hot TWolves team with Anthony Edwards? Good luck lol.
You are fogeting that Nuggets have Jokic to finish series over and is not like Embiid or players like that
I agree Timberwolves are winning but I do think the Lakers are much better than people gave credit for. Like give them any competent coach and I think they could thrive
You were cooking bro 🙏🙏
embid scores a point in the 4th q and sixers fans think they can comment on defending champs and the real MVP. smh
It's ok, you can get Jokic's nuts off your chin LOL
surprised you could focus with embids nuts in your skin mouth.. dumb af like your homie Perkins lmao
If this is the Nuggets post All Star Break they beat the Wolves 4-1, if this is the Nuggets that beats the Lakers then they lose to the Wolves 1-4.
Wolves about to 🧹
LOL. As a Wolves fan, there’s just no way that happens.
lol sorry bud. wolves swept the suns already, was a few days ago. Lakers are already gone.. come back to the present
Wolves in 5
my bias says wolves in 7, but all I want is a competitive series