April 27, 2025 • 27 mins
The Nuggets-Clippers playoff series has delivered incredible drama with four unique games showcasing championship-level resilience. Aaron Gordon's historic game-winning buzzer-beating dunk saved Game 4 and tied the series 2-2, becoming the first playoff buzzer-beating dunk in NBA history.
• Game 1 featured Westbrook's redemption with crucial three-pointers against his former team
• Despite Kawhi Leonard's dominance in Game 2, MPJ contributed 15 points and 15 rebounds before a late turnover and shoulder injury
• Clippers dominated Game 3 with hot three-point shooting, winning by 34 points
• Denver built a 22-point lead in Game 4 before exhaustion allowed LA back in, setting up Gordon's miracle finish
• Jokić is averaging approximately 28 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assists despite facing constant double teams
• The entire team is battling through injuries - MPJ playing through what should be a 4-5 week absence
• A confrontation between Harden and Christian Brown united the Nuggets, similar to the 2020 playoff comeback
• Denver's thin bench and late-night start times (10-10:30 PM ET) create additional challenges
• The series winner will face a well-rested Oklahoma City team that swept Memphis
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
all right, everyone welcome back to fandom from afar
.
The playoffs are here, andluckily, the nuggets series has
been quite exciting, with lotsof interesting stuff.
We can't say the same for someof those other series.
A lot of them have beenblowouts, even sweeps, but uh,
the nuggets and clippers aredefinitely in a battle, and it's
(00:28):
kind of what we expected, andit's been extremely fun to watch
.
I will say, though, the point ofthis is kind of discussing how
to be a fan from far away, andthe toughest part of it is these
late start times for cheeringon a West Coast team on a East
Coast schedule.
Some of these games are notgetting started till 10, 1030 at
(00:52):
night and last until one in themorning, and it is tough waking
up for work the next day, butit is fun.
I wouldn't change it.
So I don't normally do a gameby game breakdown, but I just
feel like every game has been sointeresting in its own way that
I'm going to kind of go overeach game and some of the key
moments or, I think, maybe keypoints from the game, and then
(01:15):
talk about things more in a bigpicture way, after going through
each game, just because it'sbeen fascinating how the series
has played out and obviouslyit's tied two to two right now,
so it's been extremely close.
But I think in almost everygame one thing could have
changed and it could havechanged who won that game, and
(01:36):
so it's been fascinating.
I think it's going to be one ofthe best series that we've seen
in a long time and hopefullythe Nug nuggets can come out on
top.
So let's just start with gameone.
Uh, game one.
We were coming off the regularseason when obviously we we had
the big change of firing maloneand booth right before the
season ended.
(01:57):
We we finished on a strong noteand we were feeling good about
how the nuggets were playing andand maybe what they could
accomplish.
Now, game one game one Hardenand Zubats kind of came out on
fire.
The Nuggets defense lookedabsolutely terrible for about
the first quarter, quarter and ahalf and I think they kind of
(02:17):
figured some stuff out.
Jokic and Aaron Gordon, theywere kind of carrying the
Nuggets, keeping us in it.
The Clippers had 20 turnovers,which I think was part the
Nuggets defense, but a lot of itwas just kind of sloppy play.
The Clippers have some guysthat are amazing players but not
necessarily great playmakersand some of their passes were
(02:39):
just going right to ChristianBrown and he'd get a fast break,
layup, or going into the crowd,going right to Christian Brown
and he'd get a fast break, layupor going into the crowd.
And so the Clippers did have 20turnovers, which I think is a
big reason why they couldn'thold that lead at the beginning
and the Nuggets kind of foughtback and eventually Westbrook
hit two huge three-pointers.
I was so happy to see him havethat moment.
(02:59):
He obviously used to play forthe Clippers and obviously a big
flaw in his game is his outsideshooting, and so for him to
have that moment against his oldteam at home so the crowd could
really cheer him on, I thoughtwas just absolutely awesome.
Unfortunately, mpj was kind ofa no-show, so the game was close
(03:24):
but the N the nuggets didbattle it out at the end and, uh
, there was, there was littleturnovers again for the clippers
at the end jamal tipping off ofkawhi leonard's hip for, um, an
out-of-bounds play.
Uh, westbrook had some greatdefensive moments, rebounding,
just a lot of little things thatthegets did to kind of eke out
(03:44):
the victory.
And they got it and they wereup 1-0.
So at that point I'm thinkingoh man, the Nuggets.
They made the change at theright time.
It's happening.
We're a team again.
Game two came along and KawhiLeonard said let's slow down a
bit, he was unstoppable.
Let's slow down a bit, he wasunstoppable.
(04:08):
It was kind of amazing to watch.
Kawhi Leonard's always been oneof the top players in the
league.
The only thing that's reallyslowed him down is injuries.
He's had, I think, full seasonswhere he's missed, or seasons
where he only plays a couplegames and then misses.
And obviously he had the samething this year.
But I think this year wasalmost planned, where he only
(04:31):
played in about 35 games for theClippers, but a lot of them
were towards the end of theregular season.
So I almost feel like they gavehim the first half of the
season off and allowed him tokind of ramp up during the
season and be healthy for theplayoffs.
And in game two you could seewhy he he's a machine.
He just gets to wherever hewants to go, rises up and hits
(04:54):
those mid range jump shots andthey're just, they're perfect
Every time.
They just hit the back of therim and drop straight through
and it's.
You hate to see it when it'sagainst your team, but it's.
It's also very impressive atthe same time.
Uh, yokich and murray they,they were the ones carrying the
team this this time uh, keepingus in there.
But I do have to give a shoutout to mpj.
(05:14):
After just being an absolutenothing in the first game, he
showed up and got 15 points, 15rebounds, in this game too, but
in true MPJ fashion.
At the end of the game he hadjust one major mistake.
He got one of his rebounds andit looked like he was about to
(05:36):
kind of outlet to one of histeammates to try and start a
fast break.
But then had a second thoughtand just kind of fumbled the
ball and the Clippers got it.
Had a second thought and justkind of fumbled the ball and the
Clippers got it.
And not only did they get itand hit a three pointer, but
Michael Porter injured hisshoulder on that play, so it was
kind of just adding injury toinsult.
Basically, it was such a weird.
(05:58):
It was it's MPJ in a nutshellreally like he makes a great
rebound but then has a mentallapse and it goes the exact
wrong way possible.
It seems like Mike can neverhave these plays where he
fumbles it and then one of histeammates happens to pick it up
and it doesn't mean anything.
(06:19):
It always seems like when hehas one of these plays it just
turns out worst-case scenario.
And then the injury on top ofit was just uh, doubly
depressing, and so that thatthree was a huge shot.
Christian brown did have a, uh,a three-pointer with just a few
seconds left.
(06:40):
That just missed terribly.
Unfortunately, christian wasthe no-show in game two and the
Clippers took the victory.
So now the series was tied oneto one.
So going out to LA, it could goeither way.
You could see the Nuggets doingwhat the Clippers did when they
were in Denver and stealing thegame.
But the Clippers justabsolutely dominated game three.
(07:03):
The Nuggets actually got off toa good start.
The Nuggets were kind of firingon all cylinders.
They looked good but couldnever really pull away, and the
Clippers were just hittingthree-pointer after
three-pointer afterthree-pointer.
It didn't matter who it was,how open they were, they were on
fire.
And once the Nuggets startersstarted to sit down and take a
(07:26):
break, the bench came in andthen the Clippers just continued
to really just do whatever theywant.
And unfortunately, mpj he wastrying to fight through the
injury, but his shoulder wasobviously bothering him, so he
couldn't do much.
And then Russell Westbrook gothurt, so the Nuggets he couldn't
do much, and then RussellWestbrook got hurt, so the
Nuggets, who were alreadyextremely thin, couldn't do
(07:48):
anything.
And ugly, ugly loss.
They got blown out by 34, Ibelieve it was, and so they were
down 2-1 in the series and itdid not look good.
Obviously, everybody likes tomake big picture proclamations
after every single game, and soeveryone was saying the nuggets
(08:09):
are done uh, as if the way theyplayed in game three was going
to be the way they played ingame four, and maybe for some
teams that's how it would be.
But the nuggets are, ifanything, they are mentally
tough jokic, mur, murray, aaronGordon, mpj, like Christian
Brown, just the guys whoactually play.
(08:29):
They have the championshipexperience and they've been
through battles before and itwas really cool to see them come
out and fight in game four andthey obviously did not give up
and they got off to a strongstart again.
When the Nuggets are playing ateam game like they pass to
(08:50):
Jokic, but then they're cutting,they're moving, they're,
they're everyone's involvedthey're really a strong team.
Now, obviously, the strugglecomes when the starters have to
go out, because not everybody isa machine like Jokic and can
just play the whole game.
And again in game four the benchstruggled again.
We brought in V, okay, and can.
(09:12):
Char we bought brought in, uh,jalen pickett.
We brought in um, just just afew of the guys.
We weren't really playing thatmany people from the bench, but
it just really struggled becausewe're asking jamal murray to
step up and carry that benchunit so yokich can get just a
few minutes of rest.
But unfortunately Jamal has notshown up yet.
(09:35):
Like I mentioned, he playeddecent in games two and three,
but for someone who's supposedto be your second best player,
it's not enough.
And he has just struggled sofar.
It doesn't even look like he'shurt, he's just struggling
because he's getting open shotsand they're shots that Jamal
Murray normally makes.
But he's just cold right nowand it's really hurting the
(09:56):
Nuggets.
But Jokic is awesome.
The Nuggets built up a 22-pointlead and it was looking great.
But to get that lead Adelmanhad to play the starters pretty
much the entire second half.
As I mentioned, the bench justwas absolute garbage.
(10:17):
So I don't blame him, but thestarters looked exhausted and
they started to play more withthe clock rather than keep
playing that style.
That got them the winning, orsorry, the 22 point lead.
And so the Clippers just keptchipping away, hitting
three-pointers, chipping awayand very quickly that 22-point
(10:38):
lead was almost gone and it waseventually totally gone to the
point where the Nuggets neededone of the craziest endings in
playoff history, let alonebasketball history, to finally
get the win.
And if you didn't see it andyou're listening to this podcast
, well, first I love you, thankyou for that, but most of you
(11:02):
have probably seen it, and itwas wild.
The Nuggets had the lastpossession.
Jokic waited till the lastsecond to kind of chuck up a
wild three-pointer and it was abad miss.
I thought, since Jokic justkind of does this, that it was
going to go in, of course.
But at the last second AaronGordon grabs the ball from
(11:22):
midair and dunks it right at thebuzzer.
And watching it live, I had noidea if that was in time or not.
With the sound being delayed alittle bit on TV, I just assumed
that it was just a little bittoo late.
And just watching the Nuggetsreactions, aaron Gordon was
excited.
He thought for sure he got it.
Jokic was acting as if allright.
(11:44):
We got to go sit down and getready for overtime and it took
the referees a long time toreview the play and literally
break it down frame by frame,because it was so close of when
it left AG's hand and when thered light came on for the buzzer
, and it was determined that hegot it off just in time for the
(12:06):
win, and ESPN said that it wasthe first dunk game-winning
buzzer beater in playoff history.
Because of all those factors, Ibelieve it.
It was so cool to witness andI'm just so happy that the
Nuggets were on the right sideof it.
It was pretty funny watchingthe Clippers crowd just in
(12:28):
stunned disbelief because, ofcourse, how do you lose like
that?
That never happens, but ithappened for the nuggets and I
loved every second of it.
So nuggets Clippers tied two totwo after game four and so
really now it's a best of three,two evenly matched teams, uh,
(12:49):
who can win two games first?
And I love that the Nuggetshave home court advantage for
that, because if the series hasshown us anything, it is
probably going to go to gameseven and home court could mean
quite a bit.
So what are some of my bigtakeaways from these four games.
Each one was so different andit's been incredible to watch.
(13:13):
My first takeaway is just thatJokic is the best player in the
world.
He started out the series notputting up like crazy numbers,
but still pretty much gettingtriple doubles every game.
And that's with the Clippersdouble and triple teaming him on
almost every possession, andJokic can handle those double
(13:34):
and triple teams.
It just looked like in gamesone and two his teammates were
kind of surprised or taken abackof what to do, and so that's
why Jokic was having all thoseturnovers.
And it seems like the team, andespecially Jokic, being the
supercomputer that he is, iskind of figuring it out.
(13:55):
In game four especially, jokicjust had a sense of when the
double team was coming.
He'd be backing down Zubac andeven without looking, he kind of
knew the double team was coming.
He knew where it was comingfrom and he was able to find his
teammates and they were gettingeasy baskets out of it.
(14:15):
And this is Nuggets basketball.
Jokic figures it out.
No matter what defense you'rerunning, he's always going to
know where the open guy is andif the teammates are ready he
will find them.
And so that's my big takeawayright now is that Jokic is
figuring things out.
This has kind of been a habitfor him throughout, really, his
playoff career.
I remember when a couple ofyears ago, when we would be
(14:39):
going against the Utah Jazz andhe was struggling against Rudy
Gobert and it just took a coupleof games but he really figured
him out.
Just more recently, against theLakers with their so-called Rui
adjustment, against the Lakerswith their so-called Rui
adjustment, when they would puta smaller guy on Jokic and have
a bigger guy kind of roamingright behind him, he figured it
(14:59):
out.
Same thing with theTimberwolves they were doing a
better version of that Ruiadjustment and having two bigs
on the floor so one could guardJokic and one would be right
there floating behind him.
But he always finds a way andit really seems like he's
figuring something out in thisseries as well.
So that's encouraging.
(15:20):
I will say the Clippers have twosuperstars and an incredibly
deep team overall.
Now their superstars have beeninconsistent.
James Harden was amazing ingame one and he's had moments in
the other games, but notputting a full series together.
Kawhi Leonard, like I said, wasone of the most incredible
(15:41):
performances I've ever seen ingame two, but he'll have a good
quarter or perhaps a good halfand then kind of disappear for a
while.
Zubach he seems like he startsoff every game going four for
four and just on fire, and thenfor some reason the Clippers
don't go to him.
And then Norman Powell I talkedbefore the series started.
(16:03):
He always seems to play so wellagainst the Nuggets and I think
in game four he had 22, 25points and he was the X factor
and it just wasn't quite enough.
And so Another encouragingaspect of this is, while the
Clippers do have some top-leveltalent, it seems like it is not
(16:23):
as consistent as Jokic has been.
And Jokic has given us that kindof foundation to build off of,
while all of our other guys havebeen inconsistent.
Jokic has been there.
He's been putting up thetriple-doubles, I think after
Game 4, he's now averagingsomething like 28 points, 13
rebounds and 10 assists orsomething like that.
(16:44):
It's just ridiculous.
We kind of get spoiled withthinking what his numbers are,
as evidenced by the MVP race,but he is there every single
game, even in the blowout.
He was not the reason why we'rebeing blown out.
Well, you can say his defensehas been struggling because he's
exhausted.
But I will say, if the otherguys can show up, I'm feeling
(17:06):
confident.
Speaking of, let's talk aboutJamal Murray.
Oh, jamal, we have the idea ofplayoff Jamal in our head
because he did it in the pastyears.
Last year he hit a couple bigshots against the Lakers, but
really struggled against theTimberwolves.
(17:27):
This year he's really not Idon't want to say struggling.
He's cold shooting, he'sgetting good shots, he's getting
some assists, he's not playingbad, but but, man, would I like
to see a little bit more out ofour our second best player, and
so I I really hope he can findsomething.
(17:49):
I hope he's figuring it out,just like yokich, and if he can
just step it up just a littlebit, it would be great.
So I don't have to have a heartattack every game.
If we can just win by maybelike seven or eight points, that
would be fun.
So I can't wait to see whatJamal does in these last three
games, just because I still havefaith that when the lights get
(18:10):
the brightest and the pressuregets the highest, that he loves
it and he steps up.
Like I said, the Clippers aredeep and the Nuggets are
exhausted, so that's the biggestthing I'm worried about.
The Clippers can play almost 10guys and feel pretty good about
it, while the Nuggetsespecially with Westbrook's
injury, mpj's injury we reallydon't have anyone we can trust
(18:37):
past our starters and I thinkthat's going to play a big role
in these last three games.
The Nuggets need to findsomething that can work to give
the starters a little bit of abreak.
Peyton Watson comes in andplays some pretty good defense,
but he cannot make a basketright now to save his life.
(18:59):
Jalen Pickett he's solid, buthe's a second-year player.
He's never been in the playoffslike this.
You can tell he's a little bitintimidated by the moment.
Maybe he's very hesitant toshoot and he's not passing to
guys unless they're absolutelywide open.
He's a true point guard.
He should be passing guys open.
(19:20):
He should be kind of probingthat defense and looking for
someone uh to make a play, buthe's.
He's not quite playing greatright now.
Deandre Jordan like we love himto death, but the playoffs are
too fast for him.
He's even when he's in there.
Zubac is getting rebounds overhim and and it's just not
working.
So we need someone on the benchto step up and it's.
(19:43):
If not, it could get ugly now.
Not only do the nuggets not havea bench but they are extremely
beat up.
Yokich has a elbow issue.
He has two sleeves on right nowjust to try and, I guess, help
with the pain a little bit and Ithink it's impacting him most
on the free throw line.
He's really struggling at thefree throw line right now.
(20:04):
Ag has his calf.
He's told multiple reportersthat he can barely even jump
right now, which makes thatending to the game four even
more kind of miraculous.
Just the fact that he found alittle bit of energy to get up
there and actually dunk it wasawesome.
Mpj, with his shoulder, I haveto shout out MPJ Just the fact
(20:29):
that he is even out there rightnow is pretty incredible.
He has told the reporters and Ithink the Nuggets have kind of
confirmed, that his shoulderinjury right now would normally
be a four to five week injury.
Confirmed that his shoulderinjury right now would normally
be a four to five week injury.
But since the Nuggets don'thave anyone else, then he is out
there giving it a go and ingame four he played huge.
(20:52):
Game three he struggled.
I think he was just kind ofgetting used to having an
immense amount of pain in hisshoulder and his neck and his
back.
But game four, whatever he did,worked because he was out there
fighting and he made some hugeshots and I have a whole new
level of respect for him.
Pj, what he's doing right nowfor the team is pretty
incredible.
And then Westbrook is out rightnow with an ankle.
(21:13):
I have not heard if he's goingto be able to come back for game
five, but if he can, that wouldbe a huge help.
But at the same time, if he'slimited and can't provide even
what jaylen pickett can provide,then maybe it's best right now
for him just to to rest, in casewe need him for game six or
game seven.
So sadly, there there is nohelp coming.
(21:36):
These, these starters who areincredibly beat up, uh, they,
they have to fight through itand I give them all the credit
in the world for fightingthrough it.
It's crazy that this is onlyround one and this is what
they're dealing with.
Speaking of fighting, there wasa nice little skirmish in game
four and I think it kind ofhelped the nuggets.
(21:58):
So right before the half, Ithink it kind of helped the
nuggets, so right before thehalf, with very common practice,
uh, christian Brown just took afoul um on James Harden, just
kind of hit his arm and and ithappens pretty much in every
single game and it just thestrategy behind it is, you let
them burn some clock, you foulthem if you have a foul to give,
(22:19):
so that they just have a lesserclock to run a play and score a
rep for the half.
So Christian fouled JamesHarden.
For some reason, james Hardenthought that it was unnecessary
or he just I don't know what hisstrategy was really he tried to
get in Christian's face for noreason and I loved it because
(22:43):
Christian just laughed at him.
He just sat there and smirkedand says what are you doing?
And almost instantly Jokic wasthere, ag was there, the whole
team had Christian's back andthey were not about to let James
Harden get in his face for noreason at all.
So first, I loved Christian'sreaction.
(23:05):
Second, I loved that the teamwas there, they had his back and
it was pretty.
I think it just kind of showedlike this team still wants to
fight together Not literallyfight, but in this case it was.
But it reminds me of the bubbleback in 2020.
A very similar thing happenedwhen we were playing the
(23:25):
Clippers in that playoff series.
We were down 3-1, and one ofthe Morris brothers kind of got
in Paul Millsap's face forreally an unusual play.
Nothing really happened, but hejust decided that he wanted to
be the tough guy at that timeand Paul Millsap, same thing,
did not back down and the wholeteam has said that that moment
(23:47):
kind of sparked something inthem and obviously they made a
historic comeback and beat theClippers.
And then the Clippers made alltheir excuses about how they
didn't really want to be thereanyway and they were okay with
blowing the three-on lead andall that good stuff.
But really what happened is thenuggets they, they were the
tougher team, they were, theywere there for it and Paul
(24:09):
Millsap kind of sparked that.
So if this Christian Brownmoment is something similar like
I know we were only down two toone in this case but we did
come back to win the game andI'm hoping it's a moment we can
kind of look back on and be like, yes, the moments that kind of
changed that series is whenChristian Brown was there to
(24:29):
fight and he was not scared.
So I love this team.
They are beat up, they areexhausted, but they are not
giving up.
So I'll do a few predictionsbefore game five.
On Tuesday it's in Denver, sothey have two days off on
Tuesday, which obviously is hugefor the Nuggets, because I
(24:51):
really do think they need allthe rest they can get right now.
And my prediction that it willbe a close game course because,
besides, games are really gamethree was the only game that was
not close and down to the wire,and so I think this will follow
suit and be just an incrediblegame.
And my big prediction is thatjamal will finally show up.
(25:14):
He's going to have over 30points.
He is going to have a murrayflurry at some point and get the
Nuggets some sort of cushion sothat we're not fighting an
extremely close game all the way.
And of course, jokic willdominate and the Nuggets will be
up three to two.
We will then head back to LAfor game six.
(25:35):
It'll be a close game again,but the Clippers will show their
true colors.
James Harden will struggle,because that's a play playoff.
James Harden does.
Kawhi will maybe get slightlyinjured, nothing major, but uh,
he might have to go back to thelocker room and and maybe his
knee is just a little littleiffy.
(25:56):
Norman Powell and NicholasBatum.
Well, they will combine for 60points because apparently they
never miss, and that's just whathappens, and the Clippers will
get the win and the series willbe tied three to three.
So game seven back in Denver.
I can't imagine how loud ballarena will be.
It will be a rock fight.
(26:16):
The referees will try andcontrol the game, but it will be
intense.
But of course nikola jokiclives for those moments and he
will pull it out.
I don't know what kind ofamazing shot he will have, but
it will be historic and thenuggets will win one of the most
(26:37):
entertaining, entertainingseries in recent history.
Now, if this prediction doescome true, of course I'll be
extremely happy because theNuggets have advanced to the
next round.
The sad part is, no matter whatteam wins this series, because
it has been such a hard-foughtbattle, I don't know how much
(27:00):
they're going to have left forOklahoma City, who is just
sitting at home chilling,waiting for this series to
finish, because they had an easysweep against Memphis.
So that will be an issue thatfuture Brian will have to talk
about.
But for now, go Nuggets.
Thanks everyone.
all right, everyone welcome back to fandom from afar
.
The playoffs are here, andluckily, the nuggets series has
been quite exciting, with lotsof interesting stuff.
We can't say the same for someof those other series.
A lot of them have beenblowouts, even sweeps, but uh,
the nuggets and clippers aredefinitely in a battle, and it's
(00:28):
kind of what we expected, andit's been extremely fun to watch
.
I will say, though, the point ofthis is kind of discussing how
to be a fan from far away, andthe toughest part of it is these
late start times for cheeringon a West Coast team on a East
Coast schedule.
Some of these games are notgetting started till 10, 1030 at
(00:52):
night and last until one in themorning, and it is tough waking
up for work the next day, butit is fun.
I wouldn't change it.
So I don't normally do a gameby game breakdown, but I just
feel like every game has been sointeresting in its own way that
I'm going to kind of go overeach game and some of the key
moments or, I think, maybe keypoints from the game, and then
(01:15):
talk about things more in a bigpicture way, after going through
each game, just because it'sbeen fascinating how the series
has played out and obviouslyit's tied two to two right now,
so it's been extremely close.
But I think in almost everygame one thing could have
changed and it could havechanged who won that game, and
(01:36):
so it's been fascinating.
I think it's going to be one ofthe best series that we've seen
in a long time and hopefullythe Nug nuggets can come out on
top.
So let's just start with gameone.
Uh, game one.
We were coming off the regularseason when obviously we we had
the big change of firing maloneand booth right before the
season ended.
(01:57):
We we finished on a strong noteand we were feeling good about
how the nuggets were playing andand maybe what they could
accomplish.
Now, game one game one Hardenand Zubats kind of came out on
fire.
The Nuggets defense lookedabsolutely terrible for about
the first quarter, quarter and ahalf and I think they kind of
(02:17):
figured some stuff out.
Jokic and Aaron Gordon, theywere kind of carrying the
Nuggets, keeping us in it.
The Clippers had 20 turnovers,which I think was part the
Nuggets defense, but a lot of itwas just kind of sloppy play.
The Clippers have some guysthat are amazing players but not
necessarily great playmakersand some of their passes were
(02:39):
just going right to ChristianBrown and he'd get a fast break,
layup, or going into the crowd,going right to Christian Brown
and he'd get a fast break, layupor going into the crowd.
And so the Clippers did have 20turnovers, which I think is a
big reason why they couldn'thold that lead at the beginning
and the Nuggets kind of foughtback and eventually Westbrook
hit two huge three-pointers.
I was so happy to see him havethat moment.
(02:59):
He obviously used to play forthe Clippers and obviously a big
flaw in his game is his outsideshooting, and so for him to
have that moment against his oldteam at home so the crowd could
really cheer him on, I thoughtwas just absolutely awesome.
Unfortunately, mpj was kind ofa no-show, so the game was close
(03:24):
but the N the nuggets didbattle it out at the end and, uh
, there was, there was littleturnovers again for the clippers
at the end jamal tipping off ofkawhi leonard's hip for, um, an
out-of-bounds play.
Uh, westbrook had some greatdefensive moments, rebounding,
just a lot of little things thatthegets did to kind of eke out
(03:44):
the victory.
And they got it and they wereup 1-0.
So at that point I'm thinkingoh man, the Nuggets.
They made the change at theright time.
It's happening.
We're a team again.
Game two came along and KawhiLeonard said let's slow down a
bit, he was unstoppable.
Let's slow down a bit, he wasunstoppable.
(04:08):
It was kind of amazing to watch.
Kawhi Leonard's always been oneof the top players in the
league.
The only thing that's reallyslowed him down is injuries.
He's had, I think, full seasonswhere he's missed, or seasons
where he only plays a couplegames and then misses.
And obviously he had the samething this year.
But I think this year wasalmost planned, where he only
(04:31):
played in about 35 games for theClippers, but a lot of them
were towards the end of theregular season.
So I almost feel like they gavehim the first half of the
season off and allowed him tokind of ramp up during the
season and be healthy for theplayoffs.
And in game two you could seewhy he he's a machine.
He just gets to wherever hewants to go, rises up and hits
(04:54):
those mid range jump shots andthey're just, they're perfect
Every time.
They just hit the back of therim and drop straight through
and it's.
You hate to see it when it'sagainst your team, but it's.
It's also very impressive atthe same time.
Uh, yokich and murray they,they were the ones carrying the
team this this time uh, keepingus in there.
But I do have to give a shoutout to mpj.
(05:14):
After just being an absolutenothing in the first game, he
showed up and got 15 points, 15rebounds, in this game too, but
in true MPJ fashion.
At the end of the game he hadjust one major mistake.
He got one of his rebounds andit looked like he was about to
(05:36):
kind of outlet to one of histeammates to try and start a
fast break.
But then had a second thoughtand just kind of fumbled the
ball and the Clippers got it.
Had a second thought and justkind of fumbled the ball and the
Clippers got it.
And not only did they get itand hit a three pointer, but
Michael Porter injured hisshoulder on that play, so it was
kind of just adding injury toinsult.
Basically, it was such a weird.
(05:58):
It was it's MPJ in a nutshellreally like he makes a great
rebound but then has a mentallapse and it goes the exact
wrong way possible.
It seems like Mike can neverhave these plays where he
fumbles it and then one of histeammates happens to pick it up
and it doesn't mean anything.
(06:19):
It always seems like when hehas one of these plays it just
turns out worst-case scenario.
And then the injury on top ofit was just uh, doubly
depressing, and so that thatthree was a huge shot.
Christian brown did have a, uh,a three-pointer with just a few
seconds left.
(06:40):
That just missed terribly.
Unfortunately, christian wasthe no-show in game two and the
Clippers took the victory.
So now the series was tied oneto one.
So going out to LA, it could goeither way.
You could see the Nuggets doingwhat the Clippers did when they
were in Denver and stealing thegame.
But the Clippers justabsolutely dominated game three.
(07:03):
The Nuggets actually got off toa good start.
The Nuggets were kind of firingon all cylinders.
They looked good but couldnever really pull away, and the
Clippers were just hittingthree-pointer after
three-pointer afterthree-pointer.
It didn't matter who it was,how open they were, they were on
fire.
And once the Nuggets startersstarted to sit down and take a
(07:26):
break, the bench came in andthen the Clippers just continued
to really just do whatever theywant.
And unfortunately, mpj he wastrying to fight through the
injury, but his shoulder wasobviously bothering him, so he
couldn't do much.
And then Russell Westbrook gothurt, so the Nuggets he couldn't
do much, and then RussellWestbrook got hurt, so the
Nuggets, who were alreadyextremely thin, couldn't do
(07:48):
anything.
And ugly, ugly loss.
They got blown out by 34, Ibelieve it was, and so they were
down 2-1 in the series and itdid not look good.
Obviously, everybody likes tomake big picture proclamations
after every single game, and soeveryone was saying the nuggets
(08:09):
are done uh, as if the way theyplayed in game three was going
to be the way they played ingame four, and maybe for some
teams that's how it would be.
But the nuggets are, ifanything, they are mentally
tough jokic, mur, murray, aaronGordon, mpj, like Christian
Brown, just the guys whoactually play.
(08:29):
They have the championshipexperience and they've been
through battles before and itwas really cool to see them come
out and fight in game four andthey obviously did not give up
and they got off to a strongstart again.
When the Nuggets are playing ateam game like they pass to
(08:50):
Jokic, but then they're cutting,they're moving, they're,
they're everyone's involvedthey're really a strong team.
Now, obviously, the strugglecomes when the starters have to
go out, because not everybody isa machine like Jokic and can
just play the whole game.
And again in game four the benchstruggled again.
We brought in V, okay, and can.
(09:12):
Char we bought brought in, uh,jalen pickett.
We brought in um, just just afew of the guys.
We weren't really playing thatmany people from the bench, but
it just really struggled becausewe're asking jamal murray to
step up and carry that benchunit so yokich can get just a
few minutes of rest.
But unfortunately Jamal has notshown up yet.
(09:35):
Like I mentioned, he playeddecent in games two and three,
but for someone who's supposedto be your second best player,
it's not enough.
And he has just struggled sofar.
It doesn't even look like he'shurt, he's just struggling
because he's getting open shotsand they're shots that Jamal
Murray normally makes.
But he's just cold right nowand it's really hurting the
(09:56):
Nuggets.
But Jokic is awesome.
The Nuggets built up a 22-pointlead and it was looking great.
But to get that lead Adelmanhad to play the starters pretty
much the entire second half.
As I mentioned, the bench justwas absolute garbage.
(10:17):
So I don't blame him, but thestarters looked exhausted and
they started to play more withthe clock rather than keep
playing that style.
That got them the winning, orsorry, the 22 point lead.
And so the Clippers just keptchipping away, hitting
three-pointers, chipping awayand very quickly that 22-point
(10:38):
lead was almost gone and it waseventually totally gone to the
point where the Nuggets neededone of the craziest endings in
playoff history, let alonebasketball history, to finally
get the win.
And if you didn't see it andyou're listening to this podcast
, well, first I love you, thankyou for that, but most of you
(11:02):
have probably seen it, and itwas wild.
The Nuggets had the lastpossession.
Jokic waited till the lastsecond to kind of chuck up a
wild three-pointer and it was abad miss.
I thought, since Jokic justkind of does this, that it was
going to go in, of course.
But at the last second AaronGordon grabs the ball from
(11:22):
midair and dunks it right at thebuzzer.
And watching it live, I had noidea if that was in time or not.
With the sound being delayed alittle bit on TV, I just assumed
that it was just a little bittoo late.
And just watching the Nuggetsreactions, aaron Gordon was
excited.
He thought for sure he got it.
Jokic was acting as if allright.
(11:44):
We got to go sit down and getready for overtime and it took
the referees a long time toreview the play and literally
break it down frame by frame,because it was so close of when
it left AG's hand and when thered light came on for the buzzer
, and it was determined that hegot it off just in time for the
(12:06):
win, and ESPN said that it wasthe first dunk game-winning
buzzer beater in playoff history.
Because of all those factors, Ibelieve it.
It was so cool to witness andI'm just so happy that the
Nuggets were on the right sideof it.
It was pretty funny watchingthe Clippers crowd just in
(12:28):
stunned disbelief because, ofcourse, how do you lose like
that?
That never happens, but ithappened for the nuggets and I
loved every second of it.
So nuggets Clippers tied two totwo after game four and so
really now it's a best of three,two evenly matched teams, uh,
(12:49):
who can win two games first?
And I love that the Nuggetshave home court advantage for
that, because if the series hasshown us anything, it is
probably going to go to gameseven and home court could mean
quite a bit.
So what are some of my bigtakeaways from these four games.
Each one was so different andit's been incredible to watch.
(13:13):
My first takeaway is just thatJokic is the best player in the
world.
He started out the series notputting up like crazy numbers,
but still pretty much gettingtriple doubles every game.
And that's with the Clippersdouble and triple teaming him on
almost every possession, andJokic can handle those double
(13:34):
and triple teams.
It just looked like in gamesone and two his teammates were
kind of surprised or taken abackof what to do, and so that's
why Jokic was having all thoseturnovers.
And it seems like the team, andespecially Jokic, being the
supercomputer that he is, iskind of figuring it out.
(13:55):
In game four especially, jokicjust had a sense of when the
double team was coming.
He'd be backing down Zubac andeven without looking, he kind of
knew the double team was coming.
He knew where it was comingfrom and he was able to find his
teammates and they were gettingeasy baskets out of it.
(14:15):
And this is Nuggets basketball.
Jokic figures it out.
No matter what defense you'rerunning, he's always going to
know where the open guy is andif the teammates are ready he
will find them.
And so that's my big takeawayright now is that Jokic is
figuring things out.
This has kind of been a habitfor him throughout, really, his
playoff career.
I remember when a couple ofyears ago, when we would be
(14:39):
going against the Utah Jazz andhe was struggling against Rudy
Gobert and it just took a coupleof games but he really figured
him out.
Just more recently, against theLakers with their so-called Rui
adjustment, against the Lakerswith their so-called Rui
adjustment, when they would puta smaller guy on Jokic and have
a bigger guy kind of roamingright behind him, he figured it
(14:59):
out.
Same thing with theTimberwolves they were doing a
better version of that Ruiadjustment and having two bigs
on the floor so one could guardJokic and one would be right
there floating behind him.
But he always finds a way andit really seems like he's
figuring something out in thisseries as well.
So that's encouraging.
(15:20):
I will say the Clippers have twosuperstars and an incredibly
deep team overall.
Now their superstars have beeninconsistent.
James Harden was amazing ingame one and he's had moments in
the other games, but notputting a full series together.
Kawhi Leonard, like I said, wasone of the most incredible
(15:41):
performances I've ever seen ingame two, but he'll have a good
quarter or perhaps a good halfand then kind of disappear for a
while.
Zubach he seems like he startsoff every game going four for
four and just on fire, and thenfor some reason the Clippers
don't go to him.
And then Norman Powell I talkedbefore the series started.
(16:03):
He always seems to play so wellagainst the Nuggets and I think
in game four he had 22, 25points and he was the X factor
and it just wasn't quite enough.
And so Another encouragingaspect of this is, while the
Clippers do have some top-leveltalent, it seems like it is not
(16:23):
as consistent as Jokic has been.
And Jokic has given us that kindof foundation to build off of,
while all of our other guys havebeen inconsistent.
Jokic has been there.
He's been putting up thetriple-doubles, I think after
Game 4, he's now averagingsomething like 28 points, 13
rebounds and 10 assists orsomething like that.
(16:44):
It's just ridiculous.
We kind of get spoiled withthinking what his numbers are,
as evidenced by the MVP race,but he is there every single
game, even in the blowout.
He was not the reason why we'rebeing blown out.
Well, you can say his defensehas been struggling because he's
exhausted.
But I will say, if the otherguys can show up, I'm feeling
(17:06):
confident.
Speaking of, let's talk aboutJamal Murray.
Oh, jamal, we have the idea ofplayoff Jamal in our head
because he did it in the pastyears.
Last year he hit a couple bigshots against the Lakers, but
really struggled against theTimberwolves.
(17:27):
This year he's really not Idon't want to say struggling.
He's cold shooting, he'sgetting good shots, he's getting
some assists, he's not playingbad, but but, man, would I like
to see a little bit more out ofour our second best player, and
so I I really hope he can findsomething.
(17:49):
I hope he's figuring it out,just like yokich, and if he can
just step it up just a littlebit, it would be great.
So I don't have to have a heartattack every game.
If we can just win by maybelike seven or eight points, that
would be fun.
So I can't wait to see whatJamal does in these last three
games, just because I still havefaith that when the lights get
(18:10):
the brightest and the pressuregets the highest, that he loves
it and he steps up.
Like I said, the Clippers aredeep and the Nuggets are
exhausted, so that's the biggestthing I'm worried about.
The Clippers can play almost 10guys and feel pretty good about
it, while the Nuggetsespecially with Westbrook's
injury, mpj's injury we reallydon't have anyone we can trust
(18:37):
past our starters and I thinkthat's going to play a big role
in these last three games.
The Nuggets need to findsomething that can work to give
the starters a little bit of abreak.
Peyton Watson comes in andplays some pretty good defense,
but he cannot make a basketright now to save his life.
(18:59):
Jalen Pickett he's solid, buthe's a second-year player.
He's never been in the playoffslike this.
You can tell he's a little bitintimidated by the moment.
Maybe he's very hesitant toshoot and he's not passing to
guys unless they're absolutelywide open.
He's a true point guard.
He should be passing guys open.
(19:20):
He should be kind of probingthat defense and looking for
someone uh to make a play, buthe's.
He's not quite playing greatright now.
Deandre Jordan like we love himto death, but the playoffs are
too fast for him.
He's even when he's in there.
Zubac is getting rebounds overhim and and it's just not
working.
So we need someone on the benchto step up and it's.
(19:43):
If not, it could get ugly now.
Not only do the nuggets not havea bench but they are extremely
beat up.
Yokich has a elbow issue.
He has two sleeves on right nowjust to try and, I guess, help
with the pain a little bit and Ithink it's impacting him most
on the free throw line.
He's really struggling at thefree throw line right now.
(20:04):
Ag has his calf.
He's told multiple reportersthat he can barely even jump
right now, which makes thatending to the game four even
more kind of miraculous.
Just the fact that he found alittle bit of energy to get up
there and actually dunk it wasawesome.
Mpj, with his shoulder, I haveto shout out MPJ Just the fact
(20:29):
that he is even out there rightnow is pretty incredible.
He has told the reporters and Ithink the Nuggets have kind of
confirmed, that his shoulderinjury right now would normally
be a four to five week injury.
Confirmed that his shoulderinjury right now would normally
be a four to five week injury.
But since the Nuggets don'thave anyone else, then he is out
there giving it a go and ingame four he played huge.
(20:52):
Game three he struggled.
I think he was just kind ofgetting used to having an
immense amount of pain in hisshoulder and his neck and his
back.
But game four, whatever he did,worked because he was out there
fighting and he made some hugeshots and I have a whole new
level of respect for him.
Pj, what he's doing right nowfor the team is pretty
incredible.
And then Westbrook is out rightnow with an ankle.
(21:13):
I have not heard if he's goingto be able to come back for game
five, but if he can, that wouldbe a huge help.
But at the same time, if he'slimited and can't provide even
what jaylen pickett can provide,then maybe it's best right now
for him just to to rest, in casewe need him for game six or
game seven.
So sadly, there there is nohelp coming.
(21:36):
These, these starters who areincredibly beat up, uh, they,
they have to fight through itand I give them all the credit
in the world for fightingthrough it.
It's crazy that this is onlyround one and this is what
they're dealing with.
Speaking of fighting, there wasa nice little skirmish in game
four and I think it kind ofhelped the nuggets.
(21:58):
So right before the half, Ithink it kind of helped the
nuggets, so right before thehalf, with very common practice,
uh, christian Brown just took afoul um on James Harden, just
kind of hit his arm and and ithappens pretty much in every
single game and it just thestrategy behind it is, you let
them burn some clock, you foulthem if you have a foul to give,
(22:19):
so that they just have a lesserclock to run a play and score a
rep for the half.
So Christian fouled JamesHarden.
For some reason, james Hardenthought that it was unnecessary
or he just I don't know what hisstrategy was really he tried to
get in Christian's face for noreason and I loved it because
(22:43):
Christian just laughed at him.
He just sat there and smirkedand says what are you doing?
And almost instantly Jokic wasthere, ag was there, the whole
team had Christian's back andthey were not about to let James
Harden get in his face for noreason at all.
So first, I loved Christian'sreaction.
(23:05):
Second, I loved that the teamwas there, they had his back and
it was pretty.
I think it just kind of showedlike this team still wants to
fight together Not literallyfight, but in this case it was.
But it reminds me of the bubbleback in 2020.
A very similar thing happenedwhen we were playing the
(23:25):
Clippers in that playoff series.
We were down 3-1, and one ofthe Morris brothers kind of got
in Paul Millsap's face forreally an unusual play.
Nothing really happened, but hejust decided that he wanted to
be the tough guy at that timeand Paul Millsap, same thing,
did not back down and the wholeteam has said that that moment
(23:47):
kind of sparked something inthem and obviously they made a
historic comeback and beat theClippers.
And then the Clippers made alltheir excuses about how they
didn't really want to be thereanyway and they were okay with
blowing the three-on lead andall that good stuff.
But really what happened is thenuggets they, they were the
tougher team, they were, theywere there for it and Paul
(24:09):
Millsap kind of sparked that.
So if this Christian Brownmoment is something similar like
I know we were only down two toone in this case but we did
come back to win the game andI'm hoping it's a moment we can
kind of look back on and be like, yes, the moments that kind of
changed that series is whenChristian Brown was there to
(24:29):
fight and he was not scared.
So I love this team.
They are beat up, they areexhausted, but they are not
giving up.
So I'll do a few predictionsbefore game five.
On Tuesday it's in Denver, sothey have two days off on
Tuesday, which obviously is hugefor the Nuggets, because I
(24:51):
really do think they need allthe rest they can get right now.
And my prediction that it willbe a close game course because,
besides, games are really gamethree was the only game that was
not close and down to the wire,and so I think this will follow
suit and be just an incrediblegame.
And my big prediction is thatjamal will finally show up.
(25:14):
He's going to have over 30points.
He is going to have a murrayflurry at some point and get the
Nuggets some sort of cushion sothat we're not fighting an
extremely close game all the way.
And of course, jokic willdominate and the Nuggets will be
up three to two.
We will then head back to LAfor game six.
(25:35):
It'll be a close game again,but the Clippers will show their
true colors.
James Harden will struggle,because that's a play playoff.
James Harden does.
Kawhi will maybe get slightlyinjured, nothing major, but uh,
he might have to go back to thelocker room and and maybe his
knee is just a little littleiffy.
(25:56):
Norman Powell and NicholasBatum.
Well, they will combine for 60points because apparently they
never miss, and that's just whathappens, and the Clippers will
get the win and the series willbe tied three to three.
So game seven back in Denver.
I can't imagine how loud ballarena will be.
It will be a rock fight.
(26:16):
The referees will try andcontrol the game, but it will be
intense.
But of course nikola jokiclives for those moments and he
will pull it out.
I don't know what kind ofamazing shot he will have, but
it will be historic and thenuggets will win one of the most
(26:37):
entertaining, entertainingseries in recent history.
Now, if this prediction doescome true, of course I'll be
extremely happy because theNuggets have advanced to the
next round.
The sad part is, no matter whatteam wins this series, because
it has been such a hard-foughtbattle, I don't know how much
(27:00):
they're going to have left forOklahoma City, who is just
sitting at home chilling,waiting for this series to
finish, because they had an easysweep against Memphis.
So that will be an issue thatfuture Brian will have to talk
about.
But for now, go Nuggets.
Thanks everyone.
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