April 30, 2024 • 24 mins
Discover the tenacity and heart-stopping moments as we unpack the Denver Nuggets' thrilling series win over the Lakers, which concluded with a gentleman's sweep—a testament to their playoff resilience. Feel the pulse of the game as we recount Jamal Murray's game-winning heroics, weigh in on his health, and laud Michael Porter Jr.'s unwavering impact. As the Nuggets gear up for their next hurdle against the Minnesota Timberwolves, we dissect the strategic plays that could tip the scales in this nail-biting matchup. Join me, your courtside companion, as we explore how Denver's key players can neutralize the offensive threats of Anthony Edwards and tackle the defensive prowess of Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert.
Revel in the Nuggets' journey thus far, from their series efficiency to the brimming excitement for their clash with the Timberwolves. With a spotlight on the potential x-factors coming off the bench, we anticipate the pivotal roles these unsung heroes could play. As the anticipation for Saturday's game mounts, you'll feel immersed in the strategic intricacies and bold predictions that make playoff basketball a spectacle to behold. Buckle up, fans—this episode is a fastbreak through the high-stakes world of the NBA postseason, where every play could be the one that writes history.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
All right, nuggets fans, we can take a breath.
The Nuggets just finished upone of the most unusual series
you will ever see against theLakers, where the Lakers led
pretty much most of the time inevery game.
And yet the Nuggets finish offa four to one gentlemen's sweep.
(00:29):
And each game was just sounusual.
And the last game was nodifferent.
And it is now Tuesday.
The game was on Monday night andI'm equal parts exhausted and
excited and just wanted to kindof share some thoughts I had for
both last night and for thisseries.
(00:51):
The first person we need totalk about from last night is
obviously Jamal Murray.
He hit the game-winning shotfor the second time in the
series and he probably shouldn'thave even played.
After the game, coach Malonesaid that he and Jamal had a
pretty emotional conversationand I guess Coach Malone was
(01:14):
pretty much saying, like Jamal,it's okay, you don't have to
play, you could cause furtherinjury, we're trying to look out
for you.
Like I understand, the teamunderstands and I guess Jamal
was just very adamant saying,hey, I, I wouldn't be able to, I
(01:34):
wouldn't be able to accept thefact that I let my my teammates
down if I didn't play tonight orat least give it a try.
And so once I heard he wasplaying I thought he was going
to hobble around a little bitand just give it a go.
But just wouldn't be able to domuch.
But he came out on fire.
He scored like 12 points prettyquickly and obviously that game
(01:56):
winning shot he looked likeplayoff Jamal and so that
mentality is just so impressive.
And so that mentality is justso impressive.
I'm still really scared thathe's going to injure himself
further and we're going to losehim for the rest of the playoffs
.
But for last night I think heshowed his teammates, he showed
(02:17):
his coach, he showed the fansobviously just how much he wants
to play and be out there.
And there's other playersobviously that do not have that
same mentality.
They will sit out if they havea little hangnail.
But I'm just so thankful Jamaldid play last night because I
don't think we would have wonwithout him and it was just
(02:40):
really cool to see his emotionsafter the game.
Obviously he hit thegame-winning shot.
The Lakers threw up ahalf-court heave that missed,
and then Jamal just was soakingit in from the crowd.
He went right over to his dadwho was pretty close to the
court there and was just sopumped up.
You could tell that that was areally cool moment for them.
(03:01):
When he was getting interviewedafter the game, he he was kind
of speechless.
He just he didn't know what todo Cause you you can tell he was
probably scared of going outthere too and risking further
injury.
But the the way the night workedout was just really special.
Um, it'd be interesting to seewhich game winning shot meant
more to him.
(03:21):
Uh it, in the moment after thegame he said that it was that
game five.
Uh one, because it it kind ofclinched the series.
But obviously the other one waspretty special as well, being a
buzzer beater, and it waspretty nice that both of them
came at home and the nuggetsfans just got to explode seeing
both of those shots.
So it was just a really coolexperience as a fan to see
(03:48):
someone kind of gut it out likethat, probably being a little
bit too risky with an injury,but for the good of the team it
worked out pretty much as goodas you could have hoped for and
I think the Nuggets have a lotof guys like that and I kind of
want to go over a couple of themain guys, just because this
(04:10):
series really showed a mentaltoughness and really just kind
of about what makes this team sospecial and the fact that we
have a group of guys that allkind of are on the same
wavelength as far as like, hey,this is a team, I do what's best
for the team and if that meansgoing out there when I'm bumped,
(04:31):
bruised muscle strains,anything it's going to, uh, it's
going to have to happen.
So last thing on Jamal is justit's it's kind of ridiculous at
this point how different aplayer he is in the regular
season and in the playoffs.
He doesn't like the nicknamePlayoff Jamal, but you can't
(04:52):
deny it.
He has the NBA record for hispoint per game average,
increasing from the regularseason to the playoffs.
And then just all these bigmoments.
You can make an entirehighlight reel of just his big
playoff moments.
And yet it's very possible thathe's going to go down as one of
the greatest playoff performersever and he doesn't take the
(05:15):
regular season serious enough,to the point where he might
never be an all-star.
The West is so loaded with justyoung guards and talent overall
that it's very possible hedoesn't get those accolades for
the regular season.
Yet he'll go down as one of themost clutch big time playoff
performers ever and hopefullythat leads to multiple
(05:36):
championships.
And I'm sure, if you ask jamal,that's what?
Uh, that's what he really caresabout.
The next guy I gotta talk aboutis mp.
The whole series there weresome players on the Nuggets that
it just didn't look like theywere giving full effort or kind
of in cruise control a littlebit.
But MPJ was not one of thoseguys.
(05:58):
I feel like he was alwaysgiving top level effort and he
just shot so well this entireseries.
He was making big shot afterbig shot.
In LA he had that huge playwhere he dove on the ground for
a loose ball and then passed itto Jokic.
Just his mentality, he led byexample.
(06:21):
He scored a bunch of points.
Those threes were huge.
His threes always seemed to beworth more than just three
points.
They always seem to be bigshots coming at a big time or
kind of back breakers that ifthe Nuggets are on a run, you
know MPJ is going to get openand swish a three and it just
kind of demoralizes the otherteam.
(06:41):
So he was so steady and soawesome the entire series.
It's kind of hard to think aboutnow because it's been maybe a
week or two since all this stuffhappened, but he's going
through one of the hardestperiods off the court in his
life right now.
One brother just got bannedfrom the NBA for life for
(07:02):
gambling and then his otherbrother was sentenced to jail
for a drunken driving incident.
So he's dealing with all sortsof stuff off the court but you
wouldn't be able to tell by theway he's playing on the court.
He is locked in and it's justso fun to see him Like.
(07:23):
He has that big smile.
It's so fun to see him.
He's loving life out thereright now because his shot is so
pure and he's looking.
You couldn't ask for a betterthird or fourth option on the
Nuggets.
But that's the beauty of theteam aspect that we're going
over right now is there's nightswhere he's the fifth option,
(07:44):
but then there's nights wherehe's the first option.
He's so talented and hasaccepted his role as part of
this team so well that theNuggets they just fit so well
together with so much talentthat that's why people keep
using the word inevitable forthem.
When the Nuggets are on,they're just so hard to beat.
(08:08):
Ag kind of falls along that sameline, he will do what is
necessary to win.
Last night it was morerebounding and defense.
He had a huge night in LA andhe scored.
I think it was like 29 pointsand 15 rebounds.
He was a monster, but lastnight he was doing the dirty
stuff just kind of he'll guardthe brawn, he'll guard ad, he'll
(08:31):
do whatever needs to be done tohelp the team win.
And one thing I think that'skind of underrated from last
night he hit a giantthree-pointer right before
halftime and obviously when,when we only win by two points,
every shot counts and that thatshot, I think, was a little bit
underrated.
Obviously it's not our topchoice for ag to be taking three
(08:53):
pointers, but he sunk that oneand it ended up being huge and I
just I I love him.
I know, uh, we got some somemagic fans out there that aren't
super happy that he couldn'tbecome a star with them, but
he's fit so perfectly on ourteam and I think this next
series he'll be even moreimportant, just with how big
(09:16):
Minnesota is as well.
Kcp also got injured in the gamelast night.
He fought through it, though hecould hardly walk when game
action wasn't going going.
So it's going to be interestingto see if he's going to be able
to play in game one or game two.
I haven't heard how bad hisinjury was, but man, he gutted
it out and he he had some bigplays, he had a big
(09:39):
three-pointer.
Um, he obviously is our bestperimeter defender and he took
that on last night.
But he was constantly gettingswitched on to LeBron and
LeBron's a monster, obviously,so he scored on him.
But man, kcp was battling and Ithink, like Jamal, it just I
don't think it was even anoption for KCP not to play last
(10:01):
night.
He knew his teammates neededhim and, man, he, he gave what
he had and it was enough.
And I just I I give it up forkcp because you could tell he
was in some pain.
And then obviously gotta talkabout yokich.
What a confusing night for thebig fella.
(10:23):
He, this whole series he neverreally looked like he was
putting forth full effort.
Um, he's a basketball genius.
He's one of the best playersever.
So it's tough to question himbecause I feel like he was
putting a in just enough effortand he knew exactly what was
(10:46):
just enough.
Obviously, by the way, that wekept coming back.
Um, last night he was especiallypassive.
As far as he knew, the Lakerswere doing a double team every
time he touched the ball and sohe was passing almost
immediately trying to find theopen guy, trying to get his
teammates going, and it was alittle bit frustrating watching
(11:09):
because I've seen him before.
He can split a double team, hecan still score with two guys,
three guys on him, and lastnight he just wasn't even
looking at the basket for themajority of the game.
But you got to give it up forJokic.
He knows what he's doing.
Hopefully he was saving himselfa little bit of energy that
(11:33):
he'll be able to take on allthose seven-footers that
Minnesota is going to throw athim.
But when we win 5-1, I can'tcomplain.
He just wasn't playing to thelevel we know he can play to.
Eric on the DNVR podcast lastnight, I think, said it best
(11:53):
that Jokic has reached a levelthat we can only compare him to
himself, and so we've seen himdominate games both as a scorer,
both as a passer, a defender.
Just with his mind he candominate a game, and so seeing
him kind of passively just passout of these double teams every
(12:16):
single time was, like I said,confusing, but it obviously
worked and when you compare himto other players, his numbers
are just absolutely ridiculous.
Last night he had another 20-20and nine assists.
He didn't quite get anothertriple-double with 20-20.
But for the series he ended upaveraging 28.16 rebounds and 10
(12:41):
assists.
That would be a career game for99% of the players that have
ever played.
Yet that was his average forthe series and I think most
nuggets fans would say that henever really had a great Jokic
game.
And so with Eric's comment lastnight I really did kind of take
(13:04):
a step back and think like man,if I'm disappointed with a 2029
game and he averages 28, 16 and10, I'm pretty spoiled.
Right now.
As a basketball fan, I have tobe so thankful that he is on our
team and that he has done whathe's done already and will
(13:24):
probably do for many more years.
So it was a good perspective,because it is frustrating
sometimes, but at the same timehe's so amazing and I just love
watching him so much and justthink what he could do if he
ever got to shoot a free throw.
He was getting beat up lastnight and got zero free throws.
(13:48):
Coach Malone called it out inthe post-game press conference
right away and he kind of did itin a tongue-in-cheek way of
saying yeah, it's really amazing, jokic didn't miss a single
free throw tonight.
He went zero for zero and thenjust kind of paused for effect,
and so it really is ridiculous,because he's so big and powerful
(14:09):
that the refs just kind of letother players just maul him to
death and that's how he gets allthose scratches on his arms and
they're yanking at his jerseyall the time and everything.
But he's a beast, he, he powersthrough it and, uh, puts up
those giant numbers and then,spoiled me, sits at home and was
like, oh, why didn't you domore?
(14:29):
But he's the best.
So, as we look back on theseries as a whole, like I said,
it was a gentleman's sweep,which means we let them win one
game but we took care ofbusiness otherwise.
I talked about how Jokic andsome of the players kind of
seemed like they were in cruisecontrol for quite a large
(14:49):
portion of the series and I'malmost wondering were they just
trying to save energy or was italmost like a you hate to say it
, but like a little bit of alack of respect for the Lakers?
The Nuggets won 11 games in arow against the Lakers.
The Nuggets won 11 games in arow against the Lakers, even
(15:10):
though after we swept the Lakerslast year, the Lakers were
talking quite a bit during thetraining camp before the season
started, saying they'd had someconversations and they had made
some adjustments and they wereready to go.
And then we proceeded to beatthem on opening night, we beat
them on the Kobe statue night,we beat them again on the night
(15:33):
that LeBron passed 40,000 careerpoints and then we went ahead
and just beat them four out offive games in the playoffs.
So it's obvious the Nuggets area better team.
But I just wonder, were theysaving some energy or was it a
little bit of lack of respect?
So I just thought that wasinteresting.
Uh, it's.
(15:54):
It's looking like it's going tobe the end of the lakers as we
know them.
There's already reports todaysaying they're going to fire
their head coach, that lebron'sprobably going to opt out of his
contract and look at otheroptions.
That doesn't necessarily meanthat he won't come back, because
obviously he loves LA and hejust likes kind of putting
pressure on teams so thatthey'll make moves.
So who knows, that pressure mayend up meaning Anthony Davis
(16:19):
gets traded or a bunch of theirkind of complementary players
get traded.
So it'll be interesting to seewhat they look like next season
and I'm sure they'll have moreconversations and make more
adjustments and the nuggets willstill beat them.
So one thing that just kind ofsticks out with this series in
general is yokich should belooked at as an all-time great.
(16:43):
Murray should be looked at asan all-time great playoff
performer but it's the team ingeneral, and then obviously
coach Malone of how he leads theteam.
I hope that we're getting tothe point where this Nuggets
starting five gets remembered asa great starting unit in
general.
(17:04):
Throughout this series everybodyhad moments where they just
came up huge and it's just sofun to see them get excited for
each other when they're, whenthe other guys have the big
moments, and it seems like theyreally love playing with each
other, and I think Denver's justlucky to have a team like this.
Um, it's beautiful basketball.
(17:24):
The guys seem to have the rightattitude and the guys are young
, so hopefully we can do thisfor a couple more years and just
enjoy this golden era thatwe're in.
But now we have to look forwardto the second round and
Minnesota.
They swept their way past theSuns, which oh my goodness, the
(17:46):
Suns were such a mess this year,but I think everybody knows
that.
Minnesota last oh my goodness,the Suns were such a mess this
year.
But I think everybody knowsthat Minnesota last year in the
playoffs they were our toughestmatchup and I think they're
going to be again.
I think they're even betterthan last year.
If you'll remember, last yearthey had both Nas Reed and Jaden
McDaniels, which are two oftheir top players.
Both of them were injured lastyear and did not play.
(18:06):
So I think they're going to bebetter because they're healthier
, but also because AnthonyEdwards has just, he's become a
superstar.
He's so talented.
Obviously, everybody loveswatching him play, but I think
it helps too that he has areally fun personality, um, and
people just kind of loveeverything about him and he is
(18:30):
going to be a beast and I lovehim and I'll apologize in
advance because I willbasketball hate him for two
weeks and then I'll go back toloving him.
The teowolves defense is legit.
They have have Carl AnthonyTowns and Rudy Gobert, two
seven-footers, to throw at Jokic.
(18:52):
Jaden McDaniels is just, he'sall arms and legs, so he's going
to swallow up Jamal Murray, andif he doesn't, they have Nikhil
Alexander-Walker, and so it'sgoing to be a tough series.
These guys, they play defensewith joy and that's unusual they
(19:16):
seem to love shutting peopledown, and so it's really going
to be an interesting kind ofbattle of wills, because the
Nuggets offense is beautiful andthe T-Wolves defense is
beautiful, and so really I'mexpecting a battle.
I would be shocked if eitherteam won in less than six or
seven games.
So we'll have to see how itplays out.
(19:38):
And before I sign off for today, I just did want to give a few
quick keys to the series as faras what I think, and we'll see
how it kind of plays out.
So number one is can we slowdown Anthony Edwards?
I would not be surprised if hekind of pulls a Devin Booker
from last year where he averagessomething ridiculous like 40
(20:02):
points against the Nuggets forthe round, but the Nuggets still
win.
He is that talented and I'mjust kind of mentally preparing
myself that we can still win,but he's going to get a ton of
points.
On the Minnesota side I'minterested to see who guards
Jokic.
Often they will put a smallerplayer, such as Kyle Anderson or
(20:27):
someone like that on Jokic andthen let Rudy Gobert just be
kind of lurking behind him as ahelp defender.
I think Jokic is used to thatstrategy.
Every team uses somethingsimilar to that.
Gobert is the best at beingthat help defender and I think
it does bother Jokic justbecause he's so long.
(20:48):
But Jokic is a basketballcomputer.
He has everything figured out,and so I'm really interested to
see if his strategy is just toget the smaller guy in foul
trouble, just to go right atGobert and then pass out to open
three-point shooter.
It's really going to beinteresting to see how they
approach it and if they ever useCarl Anthony Towns on Jokic.
(21:13):
He's not the best defender, buthe is big.
But Towns does seem to takehimself out of games pretty
often with foul trouble or justmaking silly mistakes and
getting frustrated with thereferees.
So it's going to be reallyinteresting.
No one can guard Jokic, butMinnesota does, I think,
probably the best job of anyonein the league.
(21:36):
My third key is our KCP andJamal going to be healthy.
Um, the game was on Mondaynight last night and the first
game of the Minnesota series ison Saturday.
So that's great to get a fewdays off, but with.
I think it was probably anankle sprain for KCP and then
it's a um, a tight calf, or apulled calf muscle, I'm not sure
(21:59):
with Jamal, but I'm sure theycould use a couple of weeks off
to get healthy.
So I'm just not sure if eitherone of them are going to be
healthy, if either one of themare going to be able to play in
game one um, we need both ofthem.
Minnesota is that good where weneed both of them, so hopefully
they will be and we can uh,hopefully not get any more
(22:23):
injuries.
Fourth key is Peyton Watson andChristian Brown injuries.
Fourth key is Peyton Watson andChristian Brown.
The Lakers series just was notthe series for those guys.
They really struggled in theirminutes and they ended up not
getting very many minutes, andso I'm really interested to see
if they can attack theTimberwolves a little bit
(22:44):
differently.
I think both of them would be agood option on either Mike
Conley, jaden McDaniels, kyleAnderson, those type of guys.
They were just getting muscledby Anthony Davis and LeBron, so
it just wasn't a good matchupfor them.
But I think the Minnesota onewill be.
So I'm really hoping those guyscan bounce back and kind of be
(23:05):
positive contributors.
And then, last key is who'sgoing to step up and be the
unsung hero, either for one gameor multiple games On Minnesota.
It could very easily beMcDaniels or Nas Reed or Mike
Conley.
It seems like Mike Conley nevermisses a three-pointer against
(23:25):
us.
He's just for some some reasonhe loves playing against the
Nuggets and for Denver.
Is MPJ going to be able to keepup his, his shooting AG?
Is he gonna be able to just outmuscle all these guys that
they're?
They're?
They're good defenders, butthey're not as big as him or KCP
?
If he's healthy, can he just bea sniper from the corner and
(23:46):
just hit open three after openthree, like it'll?
It'll be really fun to see whoout of those non superstars can
really be the difference,because I think, uh, these teams
are so evenly matched.
It could come down to some ofthe bench guys.
So that's my update for now.
Nuggets fans, we should be sohappy that we got through that
(24:09):
Lakers series the way we did.
It would have been such a painto have to go seven games if we
didn't come back in a few ofthose and just be so thankful
for the team that we have.
And it's going to be fun,starting on Saturday watching
Nuggets versus Minnesota.
All right, thanks everyone.
All right, nuggets fans, we can take a breath.
The Nuggets just finished upone of the most unusual series
you will ever see against theLakers, where the Lakers led
pretty much most of the time inevery game.
And yet the Nuggets finish offa four to one gentlemen's sweep.
(00:29):
And each game was just sounusual.
And the last game was nodifferent.
And it is now Tuesday.
The game was on Monday night andI'm equal parts exhausted and
excited and just wanted to kindof share some thoughts I had for
both last night and for thisseries.
(00:51):
The first person we need totalk about from last night is
obviously Jamal Murray.
He hit the game-winning shotfor the second time in the
series and he probably shouldn'thave even played.
After the game, coach Malonesaid that he and Jamal had a
pretty emotional conversationand I guess Coach Malone was
(01:14):
pretty much saying, like Jamal,it's okay, you don't have to
play, you could cause furtherinjury, we're trying to look out
for you.
Like I understand, the teamunderstands and I guess Jamal
was just very adamant saying,hey, I, I wouldn't be able to, I
(01:34):
wouldn't be able to accept thefact that I let my my teammates
down if I didn't play tonight orat least give it a try.
And so once I heard he wasplaying I thought he was going
to hobble around a little bitand just give it a go.
But just wouldn't be able to domuch.
But he came out on fire.
He scored like 12 points prettyquickly and obviously that game
(01:56):
winning shot he looked likeplayoff Jamal and so that
mentality is just so impressive.
And so that mentality is justso impressive.
I'm still really scared thathe's going to injure himself
further and we're going to losehim for the rest of the playoffs
.
But for last night I think heshowed his teammates, he showed
(02:17):
his coach, he showed the fansobviously just how much he wants
to play and be out there.
And there's other playersobviously that do not have that
same mentality.
They will sit out if they havea little hangnail.
But I'm just so thankful Jamaldid play last night because I
don't think we would have wonwithout him and it was just
(02:40):
really cool to see his emotionsafter the game.
Obviously he hit thegame-winning shot.
The Lakers threw up ahalf-court heave that missed,
and then Jamal just was soakingit in from the crowd.
He went right over to his dadwho was pretty close to the
court there and was just sopumped up.
You could tell that that was areally cool moment for them.
(03:01):
When he was getting interviewedafter the game, he he was kind
of speechless.
He just he didn't know what todo Cause you you can tell he was
probably scared of going outthere too and risking further
injury.
But the the way the night workedout was just really special.
Um, it'd be interesting to seewhich game winning shot meant
more to him.
(03:21):
Uh it, in the moment after thegame he said that it was that
game five.
Uh one, because it it kind ofclinched the series.
But obviously the other one waspretty special as well, being a
buzzer beater, and it waspretty nice that both of them
came at home and the nuggetsfans just got to explode seeing
both of those shots.
So it was just a really coolexperience as a fan to see
(03:48):
someone kind of gut it out likethat, probably being a little
bit too risky with an injury,but for the good of the team it
worked out pretty much as goodas you could have hoped for and
I think the Nuggets have a lotof guys like that and I kind of
want to go over a couple of themain guys, just because this
(04:10):
series really showed a mentaltoughness and really just kind
of about what makes this team sospecial and the fact that we
have a group of guys that allkind of are on the same
wavelength as far as like, hey,this is a team, I do what's best
for the team and if that meansgoing out there when I'm bumped,
(04:31):
bruised muscle strains,anything it's going to, uh, it's
going to have to happen.
So last thing on Jamal is justit's it's kind of ridiculous at
this point how different aplayer he is in the regular
season and in the playoffs.
He doesn't like the nicknamePlayoff Jamal, but you can't
(04:52):
deny it.
He has the NBA record for hispoint per game average,
increasing from the regularseason to the playoffs.
And then just all these bigmoments.
You can make an entirehighlight reel of just his big
playoff moments.
And yet it's very possible thathe's going to go down as one of
the greatest playoff performersever and he doesn't take the
(05:15):
regular season serious enough,to the point where he might
never be an all-star.
The West is so loaded with justyoung guards and talent overall
that it's very possible hedoesn't get those accolades for
the regular season.
Yet he'll go down as one of themost clutch big time playoff
performers ever and hopefullythat leads to multiple
(05:36):
championships.
And I'm sure, if you ask jamal,that's what?
Uh, that's what he really caresabout.
The next guy I gotta talk aboutis mp.
The whole series there weresome players on the Nuggets that
it just didn't look like theywere giving full effort or kind
of in cruise control a littlebit.
But MPJ was not one of thoseguys.
(05:58):
I feel like he was alwaysgiving top level effort and he
just shot so well this entireseries.
He was making big shot afterbig shot.
In LA he had that huge playwhere he dove on the ground for
a loose ball and then passed itto Jokic.
Just his mentality, he led byexample.
(06:21):
He scored a bunch of points.
Those threes were huge.
His threes always seemed to beworth more than just three
points.
They always seem to be bigshots coming at a big time or
kind of back breakers that ifthe Nuggets are on a run, you
know MPJ is going to get openand swish a three and it just
kind of demoralizes the otherteam.
(06:41):
So he was so steady and soawesome the entire series.
It's kind of hard to think aboutnow because it's been maybe a
week or two since all this stuffhappened, but he's going
through one of the hardestperiods off the court in his
life right now.
One brother just got bannedfrom the NBA for life for
(07:02):
gambling and then his otherbrother was sentenced to jail
for a drunken driving incident.
So he's dealing with all sortsof stuff off the court but you
wouldn't be able to tell by theway he's playing on the court.
He is locked in and it's justso fun to see him Like.
(07:23):
He has that big smile.
It's so fun to see him.
He's loving life out thereright now because his shot is so
pure and he's looking.
You couldn't ask for a betterthird or fourth option on the
Nuggets.
But that's the beauty of theteam aspect that we're going
over right now is there's nightswhere he's the fifth option,
(07:44):
but then there's nights wherehe's the first option.
He's so talented and hasaccepted his role as part of
this team so well that theNuggets they just fit so well
together with so much talentthat that's why people keep
using the word inevitable forthem.
When the Nuggets are on,they're just so hard to beat.
(08:08):
Ag kind of falls along that sameline, he will do what is
necessary to win.
Last night it was morerebounding and defense.
He had a huge night in LA andhe scored.
I think it was like 29 pointsand 15 rebounds.
He was a monster, but lastnight he was doing the dirty
stuff just kind of he'll guardthe brawn, he'll guard ad, he'll
(08:31):
do whatever needs to be done tohelp the team win.
And one thing I think that'skind of underrated from last
night he hit a giantthree-pointer right before
halftime and obviously when,when we only win by two points,
every shot counts and that thatshot, I think, was a little bit
underrated.
Obviously it's not our topchoice for ag to be taking three
(08:53):
pointers, but he sunk that oneand it ended up being huge and I
just I I love him.
I know, uh, we got some somemagic fans out there that aren't
super happy that he couldn'tbecome a star with them, but
he's fit so perfectly on ourteam and I think this next
series he'll be even moreimportant, just with how big
(09:16):
Minnesota is as well.
Kcp also got injured in the gamelast night.
He fought through it, though hecould hardly walk when game
action wasn't going going.
So it's going to be interestingto see if he's going to be able
to play in game one or game two.
I haven't heard how bad hisinjury was, but man, he gutted
it out and he he had some bigplays, he had a big
(09:39):
three-pointer.
Um, he obviously is our bestperimeter defender and he took
that on last night.
But he was constantly gettingswitched on to LeBron and
LeBron's a monster, obviously,so he scored on him.
But man, kcp was battling and Ithink, like Jamal, it just I
don't think it was even anoption for KCP not to play last
(10:01):
night.
He knew his teammates neededhim and, man, he, he gave what
he had and it was enough.
And I just I I give it up forkcp because you could tell he
was in some pain.
And then obviously gotta talkabout yokich.
What a confusing night for thebig fella.
(10:23):
He, this whole series he neverreally looked like he was
putting forth full effort.
Um, he's a basketball genius.
He's one of the best playersever.
So it's tough to question himbecause I feel like he was
putting a in just enough effortand he knew exactly what was
(10:46):
just enough.
Obviously, by the way, that wekept coming back.
Um, last night he was especiallypassive.
As far as he knew, the Lakerswere doing a double team every
time he touched the ball and sohe was passing almost
immediately trying to find theopen guy, trying to get his
teammates going, and it was alittle bit frustrating watching
(11:09):
because I've seen him before.
He can split a double team, hecan still score with two guys,
three guys on him, and lastnight he just wasn't even
looking at the basket for themajority of the game.
But you got to give it up forJokic.
He knows what he's doing.
Hopefully he was saving himselfa little bit of energy that
(11:33):
he'll be able to take on allthose seven-footers that
Minnesota is going to throw athim.
But when we win 5-1, I can'tcomplain.
He just wasn't playing to thelevel we know he can play to.
Eric on the DNVR podcast lastnight, I think, said it best
(11:53):
that Jokic has reached a levelthat we can only compare him to
himself, and so we've seen himdominate games both as a scorer,
both as a passer, a defender.
Just with his mind he candominate a game, and so seeing
him kind of passively just passout of these double teams every
(12:16):
single time was, like I said,confusing, but it obviously
worked and when you compare himto other players, his numbers
are just absolutely ridiculous.
Last night he had another 20-20and nine assists.
He didn't quite get anothertriple-double with 20-20.
But for the series he ended upaveraging 28.16 rebounds and 10
(12:41):
assists.
That would be a career game for99% of the players that have
ever played.
Yet that was his average forthe series and I think most
nuggets fans would say that henever really had a great Jokic
game.
And so with Eric's comment lastnight I really did kind of take
(13:04):
a step back and think like man,if I'm disappointed with a 2029
game and he averages 28, 16 and10, I'm pretty spoiled.
Right now.
As a basketball fan, I have tobe so thankful that he is on our
team and that he has done whathe's done already and will
(13:24):
probably do for many more years.
So it was a good perspective,because it is frustrating
sometimes, but at the same timehe's so amazing and I just love
watching him so much and justthink what he could do if he
ever got to shoot a free throw.
He was getting beat up lastnight and got zero free throws.
(13:48):
Coach Malone called it out inthe post-game press conference
right away and he kind of did itin a tongue-in-cheek way of
saying yeah, it's really amazing, jokic didn't miss a single
free throw tonight.
He went zero for zero and thenjust kind of paused for effect,
and so it really is ridiculous,because he's so big and powerful
(14:09):
that the refs just kind of letother players just maul him to
death and that's how he gets allthose scratches on his arms and
they're yanking at his jerseyall the time and everything.
But he's a beast, he, he powersthrough it and, uh, puts up
those giant numbers and then,spoiled me, sits at home and was
like, oh, why didn't you domore?
(14:29):
But he's the best.
So, as we look back on theseries as a whole, like I said,
it was a gentleman's sweep,which means we let them win one
game but we took care ofbusiness otherwise.
I talked about how Jokic andsome of the players kind of
seemed like they were in cruisecontrol for quite a large
(14:49):
portion of the series and I'malmost wondering were they just
trying to save energy or was italmost like a you hate to say it
, but like a little bit of alack of respect for the Lakers?
The Nuggets won 11 games in arow against the Lakers.
The Nuggets won 11 games in arow against the Lakers, even
(15:10):
though after we swept the Lakerslast year, the Lakers were
talking quite a bit during thetraining camp before the season
started, saying they'd had someconversations and they had made
some adjustments and they wereready to go.
And then we proceeded to beatthem on opening night, we beat
them on the Kobe statue night,we beat them again on the night
(15:33):
that LeBron passed 40,000 careerpoints and then we went ahead
and just beat them four out offive games in the playoffs.
So it's obvious the Nuggets area better team.
But I just wonder, were theysaving some energy or was it a
little bit of lack of respect?
So I just thought that wasinteresting.
Uh, it's.
(15:54):
It's looking like it's going tobe the end of the lakers as we
know them.
There's already reports todaysaying they're going to fire
their head coach, that lebron'sprobably going to opt out of his
contract and look at otheroptions.
That doesn't necessarily meanthat he won't come back, because
obviously he loves LA and hejust likes kind of putting
pressure on teams so thatthey'll make moves.
So who knows, that pressure mayend up meaning Anthony Davis
(16:19):
gets traded or a bunch of theirkind of complementary players
get traded.
So it'll be interesting to seewhat they look like next season
and I'm sure they'll have moreconversations and make more
adjustments and the nuggets willstill beat them.
So one thing that just kind ofsticks out with this series in
general is yokich should belooked at as an all-time great.
(16:43):
Murray should be looked at asan all-time great playoff
performer but it's the team ingeneral, and then obviously
coach Malone of how he leads theteam.
I hope that we're getting tothe point where this Nuggets
starting five gets remembered asa great starting unit in
general.
(17:04):
Throughout this series everybodyhad moments where they just
came up huge and it's just sofun to see them get excited for
each other when they're, whenthe other guys have the big
moments, and it seems like theyreally love playing with each
other, and I think Denver's justlucky to have a team like this.
Um, it's beautiful basketball.
(17:24):
The guys seem to have the rightattitude and the guys are young
, so hopefully we can do thisfor a couple more years and just
enjoy this golden era thatwe're in.
But now we have to look forwardto the second round and
Minnesota.
They swept their way past theSuns, which oh my goodness, the
(17:46):
Suns were such a mess this year,but I think everybody knows
that.
Minnesota last oh my goodness,the Suns were such a mess this
year.
But I think everybody knowsthat Minnesota last year in the
playoffs they were our toughestmatchup and I think they're
going to be again.
I think they're even betterthan last year.
If you'll remember, last yearthey had both Nas Reed and Jaden
McDaniels, which are two oftheir top players.
Both of them were injured lastyear and did not play.
(18:06):
So I think they're going to bebetter because they're healthier
, but also because AnthonyEdwards has just, he's become a
superstar.
He's so talented.
Obviously, everybody loveswatching him play, but I think
it helps too that he has areally fun personality, um, and
people just kind of loveeverything about him and he is
(18:30):
going to be a beast and I lovehim and I'll apologize in
advance because I willbasketball hate him for two
weeks and then I'll go back toloving him.
The teowolves defense is legit.
They have have Carl AnthonyTowns and Rudy Gobert, two
seven-footers, to throw at Jokic.
(18:52):
Jaden McDaniels is just, he'sall arms and legs, so he's going
to swallow up Jamal Murray, andif he doesn't, they have Nikhil
Alexander-Walker, and so it'sgoing to be a tough series.
These guys, they play defensewith joy and that's unusual they
(19:16):
seem to love shutting peopledown, and so it's really going
to be an interesting kind ofbattle of wills, because the
Nuggets offense is beautiful andthe T-Wolves defense is
beautiful, and so really I'mexpecting a battle.
I would be shocked if eitherteam won in less than six or
seven games.
So we'll have to see how itplays out.
(19:38):
And before I sign off for today, I just did want to give a few
quick keys to the series as faras what I think, and we'll see
how it kind of plays out.
So number one is can we slowdown Anthony Edwards?
I would not be surprised if hekind of pulls a Devin Booker
from last year where he averagessomething ridiculous like 40
(20:02):
points against the Nuggets forthe round, but the Nuggets still
win.
He is that talented and I'mjust kind of mentally preparing
myself that we can still win,but he's going to get a ton of
points.
On the Minnesota side I'minterested to see who guards
Jokic.
Often they will put a smallerplayer, such as Kyle Anderson or
(20:27):
someone like that on Jokic andthen let Rudy Gobert just be
kind of lurking behind him as ahelp defender.
I think Jokic is used to thatstrategy.
Every team uses somethingsimilar to that.
Gobert is the best at beingthat help defender and I think
it does bother Jokic justbecause he's so long.
(20:48):
But Jokic is a basketballcomputer.
He has everything figured out,and so I'm really interested to
see if his strategy is just toget the smaller guy in foul
trouble, just to go right atGobert and then pass out to open
three-point shooter.
It's really going to beinteresting to see how they
approach it and if they ever useCarl Anthony Towns on Jokic.
(21:13):
He's not the best defender, buthe is big.
But Towns does seem to takehimself out of games pretty
often with foul trouble or justmaking silly mistakes and
getting frustrated with thereferees.
So it's going to be reallyinteresting.
No one can guard Jokic, butMinnesota does, I think,
probably the best job of anyonein the league.
(21:36):
My third key is our KCP andJamal going to be healthy.
Um, the game was on Mondaynight last night and the first
game of the Minnesota series ison Saturday.
So that's great to get a fewdays off, but with.
I think it was probably anankle sprain for KCP and then
it's a um, a tight calf, or apulled calf muscle, I'm not sure
(21:59):
with Jamal, but I'm sure theycould use a couple of weeks off
to get healthy.
So I'm just not sure if eitherone of them are going to be
healthy, if either one of themare going to be able to play in
game one um, we need both ofthem.
Minnesota is that good where weneed both of them, so hopefully
they will be and we can uh,hopefully not get any more
(22:23):
injuries.
Fourth key is Peyton Watson andChristian Brown injuries.
Fourth key is Peyton Watson andChristian Brown.
The Lakers series just was notthe series for those guys.
They really struggled in theirminutes and they ended up not
getting very many minutes, andso I'm really interested to see
if they can attack theTimberwolves a little bit
(22:44):
differently.
I think both of them would be agood option on either Mike
Conley, jaden McDaniels, kyleAnderson, those type of guys.
They were just getting muscledby Anthony Davis and LeBron, so
it just wasn't a good matchupfor them.
But I think the Minnesota onewill be.
So I'm really hoping those guyscan bounce back and kind of be
(23:05):
positive contributors.
And then, last key is who'sgoing to step up and be the
unsung hero, either for one gameor multiple games On Minnesota.
It could very easily beMcDaniels or Nas Reed or Mike
Conley.
It seems like Mike Conley nevermisses a three-pointer against
(23:25):
us.
He's just for some some reasonhe loves playing against the
Nuggets and for Denver.
Is MPJ going to be able to keepup his, his shooting AG?
Is he gonna be able to just outmuscle all these guys that
they're?
They're?
They're good defenders, butthey're not as big as him or KCP
?
If he's healthy, can he just bea sniper from the corner and
(23:46):
just hit open three after openthree, like it'll?
It'll be really fun to see whoout of those non superstars can
really be the difference,because I think, uh, these teams
are so evenly matched.
It could come down to some ofthe bench guys.
So that's my update for now.
Nuggets fans, we should be sohappy that we got through that
(24:09):
Lakers series the way we did.
It would have been such a painto have to go seven games if we
didn't come back in a few ofthose and just be so thankful
for the team that we have.
And it's going to be fun,starting on Saturday watching
Nuggets versus Minnesota.
All right, thanks everyone.
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