WCS Game 1: Minnesota at Denver, Saturday

[Klomp]

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[Klomp]

Alright KAT, it's time to get your head right!

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[Klomp]

It's your time, Ant!

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[Klomp]

There are two questions that I personally want to see answered before feeling confident about winning this series.

Can we slow down Jamal Murray?
Can we slow down Michael Porter Jr.?

That's it. It's nothing against Nikola Jokic. In fact, it's actually a credit to Nikola Jokic. Jokic is a lot like prime Kevin Garnett in that way, in that maybe his greatest "skill" on offense is his connectivity on offense and his ability to get everyone else cooking. That's when Denver is truly dangerous.

I am stunned to see Denver essentially only played six guys last night. If that continues, I feel even more confident about the series. But we still have to answer those two questions.

[winforlose]

There are two questions that I personally want to see answered before feeling confident about winning this series.

Can we slow down Jamal Murray?
Can we slow down Michael Porter Jr.?

That's it. It's nothing against Nikola Jokic. In fact, it's actually a credit to Nikola Jokic. Jokic is a lot like prime Kevin Garnett in that way, in that maybe his greatest "skill" on offense is his connectivity on offense and his ability to get everyone else cooking. That's when Denver is truly dangerous.

I am stunned to see Denver essentially only played six guys last night. If that continues, I feel even more confident about the series. But we still have to answer those two questions.

I spent a lot of time thinking about this. The best answer I came up with is Jaden on MPJ. If MPJ cannot score (Booker and Beal games 1-3,) then KCP and Gordon are gonna end up taking a lot more shots. Ant will obviously need to do a good job on Murray with help from Gobert and Conley. Karl will need to be able to defend Joker without picking up fouls. I am not looking for lock down defense against Joker. In fact I want Karl to basically play soft against him. Joker doesn’t want to shoot 30 shots a game, he wants to facilitate and get easy buckets in the flow of the offense. Rudy will obviously guard Gordon and cheat off of him to shut down the paint. Mike will be outsized by KCP, but has quick hands and strong instincts and should be fine staying in front. Obviously there will be a lot of switching and a lot of throw aheads to try and prevent us from setting up in the half court. But, if we control the glass and put Jaden on MPJ I think we have a good chance of getting to the WCF.

[Klomp]

There are two questions that I personally want to see answered before feeling confident about winning this series.

Can we slow down Jamal Murray?
Can we slow down Michael Porter Jr.?

That's it. It's nothing against Nikola Jokic. In fact, it's actually a credit to Nikola Jokic. Jokic is a lot like prime Kevin Garnett in that way, in that maybe his greatest "skill" on offense is his connectivity on offense and his ability to get everyone else cooking. That's when Denver is truly dangerous.

I am stunned to see Denver essentially only played six guys last night. If that continues, I feel even more confident about the series. But we still have to answer those two questions.

I spent a lot of time thinking about this. The best answer I came up with is Jaden on MPJ. If MPJ cannot score (Booker and Beal games 1-3,) then KCP and Gordon are gonna end up taking a lot more shots. Ant will obviously need to do a good job on Murray with help from Gobert and Conley. Karl will need to be able to defend Joker without picking up fouls. I am not looking for lock down defense against Joker. In fact I want Karl to basically play soft against him. Joker doesn’t want to shoot 30 shots a game, he wants to facilitate and get easy buckets in the flow of the offense. Rudy will obviously guard Gordon and cheat off of him to shut down the paint. Mike will be outsized by KCP, but has quick hands and strong instincts and should be fine staying in front. Obviously there will be a lot of switching and a lot of throw aheads to try and prevent us from setting up in the half court. But, if we control the glass and put Jaden on MPJ I think we have a good chance of getting to the WCF.

You are close.

McDaniels' primary assignment will be Murray. Put Ant on MPJ and Conley can run around with KCP (they swapped those last two at times last year and could do it again). When NAW and Jaden share the floor, they can slide Jaden to MPJ.

[life_saver]

Whenever we plan to double Jokic, we need to be smart about whom to leave open while doubling...need to make sure MPJ is never left open even while doubling Jokic, this was a mistake Lakers made on some of the possessions where they were doubling Jokic but foolishly left MPJ open. MPJ is one of the elite C&S guys in the league and you can never leave him open. Dude is like pre-injury Klay when it comes to Catch & Shooting.

[life_saver]

There are two questions that I personally want to see answered before feeling confident about winning this series.

Can we slow down Jamal Murray?
Can we slow down Michael Porter Jr.?

That's it. It's nothing against Nikola Jokic. In fact, it's actually a credit to Nikola Jokic. Jokic is a lot like prime Kevin Garnett in that way, in that maybe his greatest "skill" on offense is his connectivity on offense and his ability to get everyone else cooking. That's when Denver is truly dangerous.

I am stunned to see Denver essentially only played six guys last night. If that continues, I feel even more confident about the series. But we still have to answer those two questions.

I spent a lot of time thinking about this. The best answer I came up with is Jaden on MPJ. If MPJ cannot score (Booker and Beal games 1-3,) then KCP and Gordon are gonna end up taking a lot more shots. Ant will obviously need to do a good job on Murray with help from Gobert and Conley. Karl will need to be able to defend Joker without picking up fouls. I am not looking for lock down defense against Joker. In fact I want Karl to basically play soft against him. Joker doesn’t want to shoot 30 shots a game, he wants to facilitate and get easy buckets in the flow of the offense. Rudy will obviously guard Gordon and cheat off of him to shut down the paint. Mike will be outsized by KCP, but has quick hands and strong instincts and should be fine staying in front. Obviously there will be a lot of switching and a lot of throw aheads to try and prevent us from setting up in the half court. But, if we control the glass and put Jaden on MPJ I think we have a good chance of getting to the WCF.

You are close.

McDaniels' primary assignment will be Murray. Put Ant on MPJ and Conley can run around with KCP (they swapped those last two at times last year and could do it again). When NAW and Jaden share the floor, they can slide Jaden to MPJ.

I'd rather put Ant on Murray than MPJ. With MPJ, key is to navigating screens, being more careful about off-ball movement...Ant gets lost sometimes off-the ball defensively. We need to have either Jaden or NAW on MPJ all the time.

[Klomp]

I spent a lot of time thinking about this. The best answer I came up with is Jaden on MPJ. If MPJ cannot score (Booker and Beal games 1-3,) then KCP and Gordon are gonna end up taking a lot more shots. Ant will obviously need to do a good job on Murray with help from Gobert and Conley. Karl will need to be able to defend Joker without picking up fouls. I am not looking for lock down defense against Joker. In fact I want Karl to basically play soft against him. Joker doesn’t want to shoot 30 shots a game, he wants to facilitate and get easy buckets in the flow of the offense. Rudy will obviously guard Gordon and cheat off of him to shut down the paint. Mike will be outsized by KCP, but has quick hands and strong instincts and should be fine staying in front. Obviously there will be a lot of switching and a lot of throw aheads to try and prevent us from setting up in the half court. But, if we control the glass and put Jaden on MPJ I think we have a good chance of getting to the WCF.

You are close.

McDaniels' primary assignment will be Murray. Put Ant on MPJ and Conley can run around with KCP (they swapped those last two at times last year and could do it again). When NAW and Jaden share the floor, they can slide Jaden to MPJ.

I'd rather put Ant on Murray than MPJ. With MPJ, key is to navigating screens, being more careful about off-ball movement...Ant gets lost sometimes off-the ball defensively. We need to have either Jaden or NAW on MPJ all the time.

Like I said, they might even put Mike on him for that reason.

[life_saver]

You are close.

McDaniels' primary assignment will be Murray. Put Ant on MPJ and Conley can run around with KCP (they swapped those last two at times last year and could do it again). When NAW and Jaden share the floor, they can slide Jaden to MPJ.

I'd rather put Ant on Murray than MPJ. With MPJ, key is to navigating screens, being more careful about off-ball movement...Ant gets lost sometimes off-the ball defensively. We need to have either Jaden or NAW on MPJ all the time.

Like I said, they might even put Mike on him for that reason.

But I am not sure Mike has the length to bother MPJ. I do wonder if NAW's minutes increase in this series

[Klomp]

I'd rather put Ant on Murray than MPJ. With MPJ, key is to navigating screens, being more careful about off-ball movement...Ant gets lost sometimes off-the ball defensively. We need to have either Jaden or NAW on MPJ all the time.

Like I said, they might even put Mike on him for that reason.

But I am not sure Mike has the length to bother MPJ. I do wonder if NAW's minutes increase in this series

Don't get me wrong, Porter was good in the series last year. But he wasn't other-worldly. Mike did enough against him, in my opinion. Of course we'll see a lot of NAW. But it's more about giving Murray different looks than about doing something different against Porter or hiding Mike in the series.

[Guest84]

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This is where Chuck drives me crazy. He'll complain about Kat shooting 3s as if he's shooting 10/game. But said nothing about Miles Turner going 7/9 the other night.

Part of me thinks it's because they KNOW Kat has the talent to dominate but the mentality or scheme isn't there to do "certain" things consistently i.e. "post up".

I stopped worrying about Kat in the post because quite frankly, his technique isn't the best. He has a solid set of moves but he doesn't get deep post position for it to always be effective. However, I do agree that Kat is always going to be the X-factor. He's a tough matchup for any team but he just needs to harness the stray voltage to put it in to play.

Can't wait for Sat!

[Domejandro]

Absolute agony listening to them describe the Rudy Gobert vs. Nikola Jokić match-up, when we are two years deep into Karl-Anthony Towns being his primary defender.

[Klomp]

Absolute agony listening to them describe the Rudy Gobert vs. Nikola Jokić match-up, when we are two years deep into Karl-Anthony Towns being his primary defender.

They're gonna be like, "wow, what a great adjustment!"

[TimberKat]

Alright KAT, it's time to get your head right!

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You know, that is the stuff that got him into foul troubles and running over people on the way to the basket

[TimberKat]

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This is where Chuck drives me crazy. He'll complain about Kat shooting 3s as if he's shooting 10/game. But said nothing about Miles Turner going 7/9 the other night.

Part of me thinks it's because they KNOW Kat has the talent to dominate but the mentality or scheme isn't there to do "certain" things consistently i.e. "post up".

I stopped worrying about Kat in the post because quite frankly, his technique isn't the best. He has a solid set of moves but he doesn't get deep post position for it to always be effective. However, I do agree that Kat is always going to be the X-factor. He's a tough matchup for any team but he just needs to harness the stray voltage to put it in to play.

Can't wait for Sat!

This is the only part I somewhat agree with Chuck. Towns should continue to shoot 3s but need to mix in use his size in the low post, like the baby hook in game 4 or pass out of the double team. Start from the post sometimes especially if they take away his 3s will a smaller player.

[Colbinii]

I'd rather put Ant on Murray than MPJ. With MPJ, key is to navigating screens, being more careful about off-ball movement...Ant gets lost sometimes off-the ball defensively. We need to have either Jaden or NAW on MPJ all the time.

Like I said, they might even put Mike on him for that reason.

But I am not sure Mike has the length to bother MPJ. I do wonder if NAW's minutes increase in this series

Size isn't how you beat MPJ. MPJ is like Durant--struggles when a smaller, stronger guy can get into his body and suck up any space to shoot.

Tony Allen did it to Durant and ANT will be doing it with MPJ.

McDaniels needs to be on Jamal since you need length on him in the P&R.

[Clav]

This is going to be one of the best series of the playoffs!

I'm putting Ant on MPJ / McDaniels or NAW on Murray / Conley on KCP / KAT on Jokic / Gobert on Gordon

If I'm Denver I'm putting Gordon on Ant / KCP on McDaniels / Jokic on Gobert / Murray on Conley / MPJ on KAT


At least at first glance.... I'm not sure DEN can adequately guard Edwards (who can?). I think there's a lot to like about our depth on the bench too. Braun and Reggie Jackson are not the same level as Naz and Anderson.

[Klomp]

This is going to be one of the best series of the playoffs!

I'm putting Ant on MPJ / McDaniels or NAW on Murray / Conley on KCP / KAT on Jokic / Gobert on Gordon

If I'm Denver I'm putting Gordon on Ant / KCP on McDaniels / Jokic on Gobert / Murray on Conley / MPJ on KAT


At least at first glance.... I'm not sure DEN can adequately guard Edwards (who can?). I think there's a lot to like about our depth on the bench too. Braun and Reggie Jackson are not the same level as Naz and Anderson.

The story of the series for me is going to be who Gordon is guarding and how we respond to that.

[Clav]

This is going to be one of the best series of the playoffs!

I'm putting Ant on MPJ / McDaniels or NAW on Murray / Conley on KCP / KAT on Jokic / Gobert on Gordon

If I'm Denver I'm putting Gordon on Ant / KCP on McDaniels / Jokic on Gobert / Murray on Conley / MPJ on KAT


At least at first glance.... I'm not sure DEN can adequately guard Edwards (who can?). I think there's a lot to like about our depth on the bench too. Braun and Reggie Jackson are not the same level as Naz and Anderson.

The story of the series for me is going to be who Gordon is guarding and how we respond to that.

I'm with you, will be fascinating to see how he's deployed because I can also see AG being switched a lot if DEN thinks KCP or Murray can guard KAT.