Playoffs Game 5 Round 1: San Antonio Spurs (7) @ Denver Nuggets (2) - 9:30 PM ET

ducler · Post #1 » by **ducler** » Tue Apr 23, 2019 8:59 pm

Post #2 » by **NuggetsWY** » Wed Apr 24, 2019 12:03 am

Spurs will probably come out with a more physical game - the Nuggets are notorious for losing their cool when being played too rough. The Nuggets' starting five seem to prefer avoiding contact but they are not easily shoved around when they chose to respond in a physical manner. Physical should not frighten the Nuggets. The Nuggets' three bigs are all averaging less than 4 fouls per game in this series and if they avoid the silly fouls that especially Jokic likes to take, they can afford to play more physical and no other Nugget has average more than 2 fouls per game in this series, so they can certainly afford to play more physical. I'm not talking "totally different from our game", but just a little more physical.

No doubt White (and backups) will try to drive the lane so our guards absolutely must stay in front of their guards. Except for Forbes & Belinelli, non of the Spurs have attempted more than two 3 pt shots per game in this series and those two have taken less than eight 3pt shots per game in this series. Compare their top-two 3pt shooters to the Nuggets who have two players shooting almost five 3pt shots per game and three more players who each have taken four 3pt shots per game. That's any two of our top five 3pt shooters have taken more than their top-two 3pt shooters. Our guards should stop trailing over the top of screens - stop worrying about 3pt shots.

Post #3 » by **THE J0KER** » Wed Apr 24, 2019 1:02 am

I was very scared before game#1 (unfortunately, with a reason), but very confident before game#2 (without reason actually, Spurs lead at some point +19). Today I'm an optimist, we are no more absolute beginners in a playoff after 4 games, and this is a matchup where the home court should be the biggest advantage (between TOP2 homecourt specialists). The playoff is a different thing than the regular season, but it would be crazy if 3 out of 5 games between these two teams lose the home team.

With Jokic continues to play near 40 minutes, and Barton out of starting lineup, Pop has a small window to find some notable Nuggets weakness.

skywalker33 · Post #4 » by **skywalker33** » Wed Apr 24, 2019 2:14 am

Well, we finally won the 1st qtr, time to take care of business as usual

Post #5 » by **THE J0KER** » Wed Apr 24, 2019 2:46 am

Am I'm dreaming?!? Nuggets playing defense in 1st half!?!

skywalker33 · Post #6 » by **skywalker33** » Wed Apr 24, 2019 3:39 am

Time to sit the starters, rest em for the final game !!

SkillzFromThe6 · Post #7 » by **SkillzFromThe6** » Wed Apr 24, 2019 3:54 am

It's so nice to watch Nuggets when Barton comes off the bench again. He's a 6th man type player, and they need to keep it that way. Great win.

Post #8 » by **THE J0KER** » Wed Apr 24, 2019 3:59 am

This is it!

skywalker33 · Post #9 » by **skywalker33** » Wed Apr 24, 2019 4:04 am

Murray 23/7 is what I expect to see him avg next year. Barton has been excellent off the bench, he has the type of production that 6MOTY candidates make. And Jokic is doing somethings that say M-V-P I-M-O

TunaFish · Post #10 » by **TunaFish** » Wed Apr 24, 2019 4:21 am

I have seen very few games that the Nuggets have played better.

Post #11 » by **NuggetsWY** » Wed Apr 24, 2019 11:51 am

Wow!!!

Loved the Jokic-Murray plays and saw a few nice Harris-cut-to-the-basket. That's Nuggets' basketball.

Very important stat: Nuggets won the rebounding game and the Spurs have been the better rebounding team throughout the season. Of course Jokic had 11 but Craig had 10!!! Another shocker, we had twice as many blocks as San Antonio.

Seven players in double figures - Craig only took one FG but his contribution on offense is not essential and he didn't push it (love his fit with the starters). Barton was back to his old 6th man role and was great. Did you notice he actually had more minutes than he'd been getting as a starter?

Plumlee still struggling to get rebounds - part of that is probably because on defense he seems to love switching out on guards and not looking to switch back. That leaves him a long way from the boards.

Post #12 » by **THE J0KER** » Wed Apr 24, 2019 1:02 pm

Very important thing in this series is Nikola Jokic dramatically increased playing time, and I insist on that detail. He played yesterday 33 minutes without playing in 4th due blowout lead, which means he was on the bench just 3 minutes overall in first three quarters, and I don't see signs of fatigue in his game. Actually, he literally scored half of his points in last 2 minutes on the floor. Plus, minutes on the court he shares together with Barton (bad fit) are reduced last two games where Barton is not starter anymore, which makes life more easy for both this players.