Game 14 : Oklahoma City Thunder (6-6) @ Denver Nuggets (6-7) - 9:00PM

ducler · Post #1 » by **ducler** » Tue Jan 19, 2021 9:00 pm

Post #2 » by **NuggetsWY** » Wed Jan 20, 2021 12:52 am

A friend said Denver is favored by 10 points but he was betting on Oklahoma because Denver keeps losing against the odds. So, ... can Denver beat OKC by 10 points?

Denver scores a lot, but their preferred defense is what I call "watching". :lol:

In fairness, I see effort on defense, but not effective effort.

I'm not sure what to think about our Nuggets, but I do believe they win this game - by less than those 10 pts though.

Post #3 » by **THE J0KER** » Wed Jan 20, 2021 2:04 am

NuggetsWY wrote:A friend said Denver is favored by 10 points but he was betting on Oklahoma because Denver keeps losing against the odds. So, ... can Denver beat OKC by 10 points?

Denver scores a lot, but their preferred defense is what I call "watching". In fairness, I see effort on defense, but not effective effort.

I'm not sure what to think about our Nuggets, but I do believe they win this game - by less than those 10 pts though.

Denver played WC final while OKC lost all their starters except SGA so BEFORE the start of the season everything other than Denver's blowout win would be a surprise in the DEN-OKC game. But somehow OKC has a better record so far this season, so everything is possible tonight (except the OKC win), including Denver's one-digit win. According to Denver's pattern so far this season, if someone wants to bet in Nuggets favor right now better to bet on the halftime result, I guess odds on Denver's 5+ points lead on halftime are equal to 10+ win at the end of the game.

Let's hope this is the last game Denver playing without Porter, but I guess it is more realistic that he will miss both games in Phoenix too.

Post #4 » by **THE J0KER** » Wed Jan 20, 2021 2:41 am

What a bizarre 1st quarter. Jokic, Barton, and Dozier scored 29 out of Nuggets 31 points shooting 10-15, while the rest of the team scored just 2 points with terrible 1-15 shooting. But the biggest disappointment is another no-defense quarter, so OKC starters scored easy 29 points. But OKC's 2nd unit is bad (it is 3rd unit last season) so they scored just 2 points. Our bench should make difference.

Post #5 » by **THE J0KER** » Wed Jan 20, 2021 3:21 am

+13 on halftime, so the expected routine win scenario seems now much more realistic than after 1st quarter. Bench and overall better defense in the 2nd quarter make the difference. Also, Jokic matured, he realizes other starters struggle to score so he goes to points and finished the quarter with just 2 assists (not his fault) but 19 points.

Barton and Dozier look much better when they are not forced to play PF. The best part in the game vs Utah was rebounding, and that continues today vs Thunder (31-20 on halftime). This is what happens when no 4-guard lineup so Jokic has 8, Millsap 7, Green 6, and Hartenstein 5 rebounds already in 1st half.

Post #6 » by **THE J0KER** » Wed Jan 20, 2021 3:49 am

Good 1st half is actually nothing new for the Nuggets this season, but 32-22 third quarter is refreshing to see.

Post #7 » by **THE J0KER** » Wed Jan 20, 2021 4:36 am

Very good win. The only real complaint is why Murray played at all today if he was obviously injured. I hope it will not cost him missing some of the upcoming games.

Jokic was 27-12-6 in just 3 quarters, but he is in MVP mode all season anyway, so the real difference makers today are 13-12-3 double-double Millsap and very efficient Monte Morris (15-5-4). Barton is good in 1st half, but in 2nd half when he takes some playmaking duties from Murray he has some unnecessary turnovers, so Morris was definitely a better replacement in that role. Harris makes a great job in defense with SGA, and in 2nd half, he makes much better shot selections gave up from layups which he obviously lost. When Harris and Barton playing a 3&D type of game combined with easy baskets after Jokic cut passes that are best for all.

As I said at halftime, rebounds are key, so Nuggets did not win this game because they BETTER shooting today but because they MORE shooting (105-86 in FGA) thanks to 58-41 domination in rebounds.

The next game is in Phoenix against the Suns. Porter will back maybe, but maybe we will play without Murray... but it is good to see the team is again 0.500, just one win behind TOP8 zone.

skywalker33 · Post #8 » by **skywalker33** » Wed Jan 20, 2021 4:47 am

THE J0KER wrote:Very good win. The only real complaint is why Murray played at all today if he was obviously injured. I hope it will not cost him missing some of the upcoming games.

You're correct in wondering why he was out there, he needs to heal up. With Porter coming back, now may the best time to bench him to get right.

Mickey8 · Post #9 » by **Mickey8** » Wed Jan 20, 2021 5:08 am

The defense is still trash , even against the bad team like Oklahoma, the first quarter was just brutal, defensive holes everywhere.

skywalker33 · Post #10 » by **skywalker33** » Wed Jan 20, 2021 5:22 am

At least Malone is starting to see A light, he got Jokic and Murray some rest while dishing out some garbage time minutes to the bench-warmers

Post #11 » by **NuggetsWY** » Wed Jan 20, 2021 7:06 am

Jokic had 3 FTA, Millsap 2, Murray 1, Barton & Harris 0 - imagine what the score would be like if they'd start attacking the basket. Our bench had 8 FTA to the starters' 6. All of them by Hartenstein, Dozier, Hampton. Hampton only had 7 minutes but he attacked the basket!

Rebounds were the biggest difference in the game IMO. It lead to 19 more FGA.
Jokic & Millsap both had 12 rebounds
Hartenstein & Green had 15 combined - Morris added 4 --- our 5 leading rebounders in this game, but overall the team did a good job on the boards.

It was nice to see Hartenstein get 13 minutes. Bol & Hampton & Nnaji & Cancar & Howard all received a few minutes too.

In my opinion, Jokic is what we all know but our other starters are all playing like 5th options or bench players. Hartentstein & Green & Dozier deserve more minutes. If we played the guys making the effort (assuming Porter is back);

Jokic - Green - Porter - Dozier - Morris with Hartenstein the 1st big off the bench.

skywalker33 · Post #12 » by **skywalker33** » Wed Jan 20, 2021 9:48 pm

NuggetsWY wrote:In my opinion, Jokic is what we all know but our other starters are all playing like 5th options or bench players. Hartentstein & Green & Dozier deserve more minutes. If we played the guys making the effort (assuming Porter is back);

Jokic - Green - Porter - Dozier - Morris with Hartenstein the 1st big off the bench.

Agreed about Jokic, he seems to become the player/leader/dominating force we all have wanted him to become. Barton showed he could step up but he still would be more impactful off the bench. Murray is hurt, we need to take him off the floor to with MPJ coming back, he's been needed for scoring with our starter but MPJ should fill that role allowing Blue Arrow time to recover full strength. In my opinion, I wouldn't mind seeing PJ replacing Murray in the starting lineup while he's out. It would allow Morris to keep stabilizing the 2nd unit, build chemistry with Barton (after MPJ resumes SF duties), and allows PJ to gain some confidence. I also think it will give Dozier a chance to re-establish his play-making PG skills and create a mismatch for him on the court. Harris is still our defensive stalwart but yet still not as effective on the offensive end as we'd all like. I'd still want to see RJ start his grooming for a backcourt position with a bit more than garbage minutes, guessing he is still working on his shooting struggles. Millsap seems to be my biggest issue, his on-again, off-again play is better suited to the bench at this stage, put Green is the SL. Putting Millsap against 2nd unit players seems the best idea to me regardless of his $10M salary.

We almost agree with the change in the SL but still, you should just acknowledge I am right, as usual 8-)

Post #13 » by **NuggetsWY** » Thu Jan 21, 2021 12:32 am

skywalker33 wrote:
NuggetsWY wrote:In my opinion, Jokic is what we all know but our other starters are all playing like 5th options or bench players. Hartentstein & Green & Dozier deserve more minutes. If we played the guys making the effort (assuming Porter is back);

Jokic - Green - Porter - Dozier - Morris with Hartenstein the 1st big off the bench.

Agreed about Jokic, he seems to become the player/leader/dominating force we all have wanted him to become. Barton showed he could step up but he still would be more impactful off the bench. Murray is hurt, we need to take him off the floor to with MPJ coming back, he's been needed for scoring with our starter but MPJ should fill that role allowing Blue Arrow time to recover full strength. In my opinion, I wouldn't mind seeing PJ replacing Murray in the starting lineup while he's out. It would allow Morris to keep stabilizing the 2nd unit, build chemistry with Barton (after MPJ resumes SF duties), and allows PJ to gain some confidence. I also think it will give Dozier a chance to re-establish his play-making PG skills and create a mismatch for him on the court. Harris is still our defensive stalwart but yet still not as effective on the offensive end as we'd all like. I'd still want to see RJ start his grooming for a backcourt position with a bit more than garbage minutes, guessing he is still working on his shooting struggles. Millsap seems to be my biggest issue, his on-again, off-again play is better suited to the bench at this stage, put Green is the SL. Putting Millsap against 2nd unit players seems the best idea to me regardless of his $10M salary.

We almost agree with the change in the SL but still, you should just acknowledge I am right, as usual