Game 32: Denver Nuggets @ Portland Trail Blazers 10:00 PM ET

skywalker33 · Post #2 » by **skywalker33** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 1:35 am

Well, another division game...if we can't beat them with Lillard out, we're really in a tough place. Time for Jokic to take one to Nurkic...and cut down on the turnovers, give them to Nurkic !!

Acountant_Z · Post #3 » by **Acountant_Z** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 4:01 am

Nuggets look so much better with Plumlee on the bench.

skywalker33 · Post #4 » by **skywalker33** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 4:16 am

Up by 11pts at the half, Joker's playing well but has 2PF's already.

Post #5 » by **NuggetsWY** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 4:37 am

Acountant_Z wrote:Nuggets look so much better with Plumlee on the bench.

I think your prejudice is showing. His stat line isn't impressive but it includes a little bit of everything. That's not all that important. What is important is to look at Nurkic's stat line. Plumlee is spending a lot of time on Nurkic and his stat line is not very impressive at all.

skywalker33 · Post #6 » by **skywalker33** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 4:38 am

Seems strange that Malone has Jokic playing PF, know there's a size matchup that favors Joker in this matchup. Would've rather but this to be Joker/Nurkic rather than Joker/Plumlee IMO.

Mickey8 · Post #7 » by **Mickey8** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 4:39 am

Good game plan by Malone this time, to involve Jokic up against Nurkic, unlike two last meetings these teams had .

Post #8 » by **NuggetsWY** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 4:39 am

skywalker33 wrote:Up by 11pts at the half, Joker's playing well but has 2PF's already.

Yeah, he took care of the 2 fouls in less than 2 minutes of the 2nd half. :lol:

4 fouls that fast. At least we don't have to worry about double digits in fouls. :noway:

What's he doing? Picking one stat each game to try and make it as bad as possible?

Mickey8 · Post #9 » by **Mickey8** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 4:40 am

skywalker33 wrote:Seems strange that Malone has Jokic playing PF, know there's a size matchup that favors Joker in this matchup. Would've rather but this to be Joker/Nurkic rather than Joker/Plumlee IMO.

Nurkic demanded much of the ball scoring, Plumlee is not. I still don't like this two center line up but is working tonight.

Post #10 » by **NuggetsWY** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 4:43 am

Wish Malone would live up to his sound bytes. Just a few days ago, he said players would have to produce to play. Last game he should have pulled Chandler. This game Chandler seems engaged. But watch Barton. He's not blocking out. He's shying away from contact. His defense is about as bad as his defense gets.

Only 8 Nuggets have played so far. Malone said "9-man rotation" and I didn't think he could keep it down to 10. Guess he's proving me wrong. :lol:

Post #11 » by **NuggetsWY** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 4:55 am

Minutes are stacking up. Will the Nuggets run out of steam? Their lead isn't big enough to take a nap.

skywalker33 · Post #12 » by **skywalker33** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 5:04 am

Mickey8 wrote:
skywalker33 wrote:Seems strange that Malone has Jokic playing PF, know there's a size matchup that favors Joker in this matchup. Would've rather but this to be Joker/Nurkic rather than Joker/Plumlee IMO.

Nurkic demanded much of the ball scoring, Plumlee is not. I still don't like this two center line up but is working tonight.

I'll take a Jokic vs Aminu matchup everytime !!

Post #13 » by **NuggetsWY** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 5:06 am

Love seeing Jokic taking 20 shots per game! Best player needs to shoot and the more he shoots, the easier the assists should come.

skywalker33 · Post #14 » by **skywalker33** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 5:08 am

I'd like Chandler a bit more if he played even 1/2 his games like he's playing tonight.

Post #15 » by **NuggetsWY** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 5:08 am

NuggetsWY wrote:
skywalker33 wrote:Up by 11pts at the half, Joker's playing well but has 2PF's already.

Yeah, he took care of the 2 fouls in less than 2 minutes of the 2nd half. 4 fouls that fast. At least we don't have to worry about double digits in fouls. What's he doing? Picking one stat each game to try and make it as bad as possible?

Remember how often Malone yanks Jokic for 3 or 4 fouls and now Jokic shows he can play with fouls! Think Malone can learn? Don't answer that - it might require words that are not allowed on RealGM. :lol:

Post #16 » by **NuggetsWY** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 5:13 am

Weird stat: Only Blazer starter to take a free throw was Nurkic - 2 of 4.

skywalker33 · Post #17 » by **skywalker33** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 5:14 am

Don't read this much....Nice DIVISION ROAD WIN by the Nuggets. Jokic played great, Chandler actually played and there was some D in this one.

HoopsMalone · Post #18 » by **HoopsMalone** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 5:32 am

Man I am glad we got rid of Nurkic. He is the worst! 1 rebound, 0 assists, 4 turnovers... shot poorly. He's like a poor man's Dwight Howard :lol:

Lillard picked a great game to rest. He is their entire offense practically.

Even Chandler had a nice game tonight

skywalker33 · Post #19 » by **skywalker33** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 5:36 am

Gary Harris really made his presence known tonight, he played great.

Post #20 » by **THE J0KER** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 5:44 am

Jokic played 37 minutes including career-high 19:30 in the first half. Together with the season-best game from Chandler, that make a difference tonight for this surprisingly easy "double win" (don't forget that road win vs direct playoff opponent should be counted twice) on the court where we not won since 2013.

BTW 28-8-6 game in 37 minutes is proportional to 20-6-4.5 performance in 28 minutes, so that is why franchise players are always used to play 35+ minutes in important matches, which is finally the case with Nikola tonight. After another Gobert injury, we are probably locked for a playoff, but we should try to reach Western #7 or even #6 place in the fight with POR and NOP, and wins like this is best things we can do in that direction.