Game 23 : Milwaukee Bucks (15-8) @ Denver Nuggets (12-10) - 9:30PM

[ducler]

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[skywalker33]

Nice Title duclar, should be Milwaukee

[Mickey8]

This team wont make the play off's this season, as it is , with the coach who lost his team.

[THE J0KER]

Bucks are not the team you can survive another 0-15 3rd quarter collapse. Also, when Murray and Porter, supposed to be part of the Nuggets BIG3 shooting 7-26, the team is always in big trouble. Jokic outplayed Giannis, Barton scored season-high, Millsap was good on both ends tonight, and Hampton proved his rebounds are no joke (7 this time in just 17 minutes), but that is obviously not enough. It is easy to note what makes the difference, Murray scored 9 points in 1st quarter but only 2 free throws in the rest of the game while Barton scored 20 at halftime just 4 till the end, so another halftime lead was turned into a double-digit loss. Porter's confidence shooting-crisis continues, but he was not negatively impactful tonight like in the previous game, so his playing time was restricted again by 25 minutes without enough reasons. Barton better looks as SG than SF, he is undersized vs Middleton so in the end despite a great offensive game it is Barton with the lowest +/- today while 29-8-12 Middleton was a true man of the match today (Jokic 35-12-6 numbers are expected while Middleton arguably overperformed).

This team wont make the play off's this season, as it is , with the coach who lost his team.

Bold statements after team losing vs teams like Bucks or Lakers are just wrong. With Jokic stays healthy and in MVP mode of course we will reach the playoff, but the problem is what we are going to do in a playoff with Murray not established as 2nd all-star and MPJ as 3rd star because coach priority is Will Barton and also small-ball rotations (when enough guards are healthy).

[DaFan334]

They need to force Murray to sit out a week. It just seems like he isn't healthy and he is hurting the team playing this way. Maybe I am wrong but there are times that something just doesn't look right and he is laboring through games.

I also noticed some body language tonight that seemed as though Jokic was frustrated with Porter's play. It somewhat worries me that he doesn't have a high enough basketball IQ.

Some bright spots... RJ Hampton is bringing some hustle, defense, and rebounding. Paul Milsap had a good game.

[psimanic1]

For MPJ to get where we want him, Malone has to actually coach, you cant just let Jokic do your work, he cant and even if he can, he shouldn't be playing 48 minutes for your team to succeed.. Thats the reason why we can lose 10+ pt leads in few minutes Jokic sits out. Porter needs some x and o's drawn for him to succeed this early in his career as he doesnt have Jokics IQ, you cant insert him in Bartons role and expect him to answer the same as Barton does, also, he is jot good fit with Millsap at this point of Millsaps career where everyone is standing around 3 and waiting for something to happen.. If we are to make trades, who can say it will help if Malone keeps doing same stuff over and over again. He was lucky enough for Murray, Jokic and Grant to take him far into the playoffs last year, but Grants ability to drive more than Millsap does also helped Porter.. You can't switch that easily like you can when everyone is waiting for 3. Also, Malones "shoot more 3s" logic doesnt help either, you lose whole attack thinking how to get to that 3pt shot, thats where we lose a lot of back cuts to the basket that we had last year.. Its just not what this team is built for, especially bench unit, and thats why we had some games where bench had better outputs than our starters playing with Jokic. You either trade for Seth, JJ Redick, or you let them play their game fully and lets 3s come to them naturally.

[Richard Miller]

This team wont make the play off's this season, as it is , with the coach who lost his team.

Bold statements after team losing vs teams like Bucks or Lakers are just wrong. With Jokic stays healthy and in MVP mode of course we will reach the playoff, but the problem is what we are going to do in a playoff with Murray not established as 2nd all-star and MPJ as 3rd star because coach priority is Will Barton and also small-ball rotations (when enough guards are healthy).

'Lost' is probably too much but definitely they seem disjointed and don't think I've ever seen Jokic this frustrated. They were undermanned many times in the past seasons, but they still seemed like a team, now they are like a bunch of square pegs in round holes

[NuggetsWY]

Starters minutes: 39, 39, 37, 30, 27 = 34.4 minutes average.
How much did that affect the game? Well, the Nuggets two worst quarters were the 2nd & 4th.

Milwaukee scored 30+ in three quarters - defense takes energy & effort.

Nice to see Hampton get some minutes. Nine players played, I'm fine with that. But we need the minutes balanced better - my opinion.

[Mickey8]

Bucks are not the team you can survive another 0-15 3rd quarter collapse. Also, when Murray and Porter, supposed to be part of the Nuggets BIG3 shooting 7-26, the team is always in big trouble. Jokic outplayed Giannis, Barton scored season-high, Millsap was good on both ends tonight, and Hampton proved his rebounds are no joke (7 this time in just 17 minutes), but that is obviously not enough. It is easy to note what makes the difference, Murray scored 9 points in 1st quarter but only 2 free throws in the rest of the game while Barton scored 20 at halftime just 4 till the end, so another halftime lead was turned into a double-digit loss. Porter's confidence shooting-crisis continues, but he was not negatively impactful tonight like in the previous game, so his playing time was restricted again by 25 minutes without enough reasons. Barton better looks as SG than SF, he is undersized vs Middleton so in the end despite a great offensive game it is Barton with the lowest +/- today while 29-8-12 Middleton was a true man of the match today (Jokic 35-12-6 numbers are expected while Middleton arguably overperformed).

This team wont make the play off's this season, as it is , with the coach who lost his team.

Bold statements after team losing vs teams like Bucks or Lakers are just wrong. With Jokic stays healthy and in MVP mode of course we will reach the playoff, but the problem is what we are going to do in a playoff with Murray not established as 2nd all-star and MPJ as 3rd star because coach priority is Will Barton and also small-ball rotations (when enough guards are healthy).

Lots of teams have improved in the Western Conference, Suns,Grizzlies, San Antonio, while Denver got worse this season, they lost season series to the Kings, already, there is nothing certain about this Denver team, Malone doesn't know what the hell he's doing right know , this team can't stay healthy , so its possible for Denver to miss the play off's.

[THE J0KER]

Spoiler:

Bucks are not the team you can survive another 0-15 3rd quarter collapse. Also, when Murray and Porter, supposed to be part of the Nuggets BIG3 shooting 7-26, the team is always in big trouble. Jokic outplayed Giannis, Barton scored season-high, Millsap was good on both ends tonight, and Hampton proved his rebounds are no joke (7 this time in just 17 minutes), but that is obviously not enough. It is easy to note what makes the difference, Murray scored 9 points in 1st quarter but only 2 free throws in the rest of the game while Barton scored 20 at halftime just 4 till the end, so another halftime lead was turned into a double-digit loss. Porter's confidence shooting-crisis continues, but he was not negatively impactful tonight like in the previous game, so his playing time was restricted again by 25 minutes without enough reasons. Barton better looks as SG than SF, he is undersized vs Middleton so in the end despite a great offensive game it is Barton with the lowest +/- today while 29-8-12 Middleton was a true man of the match today (Jokic 35-12-6 numbers are expected while Middleton arguably overperformed).

This team wont make the play off's this season, as it is , with the coach who lost his team.

Bold statements after team losing vs teams like Bucks or Lakers are just wrong. With Jokic stays healthy and in MVP mode of course we will reach the playoff, but the problem is what we are going to do in a playoff with Murray not established as 2nd all-star and MPJ as 3rd star because coach priority is Will Barton and also small-ball rotations (when enough guards are healthy).

Lots of teams have improved in the Western Conference, Suns,Grizzlies, San Antonio, while Denver got worse this season, they lost season series to the Kings, already, there is nothing certain about this Denver team, Malone doesn't know what the hell he's doing right know , this team can't stay healthy , so its possible for Denver to miss the play off's.

I can't see Denver missing the playoff without Jokic long-term injury, and he is known as a player with the lowest risk of injury of all current NBA stars with his famous lack of speed and vertical jumps.

The problem with the 2021 playoff format is that only TOP6 qualify, while #7-#10 must play Wild Card games for the remaining 2 spots. But I will still call Denver chances to play in 2021 the 4th best on West after LA teams and Utah.

[Richard Miller]

The Nuggets were 2nd last season and had real chance to be the 1st at certain points and in the end didn't mean much, they were literally minutes away from being swept by the Jazz, I'm not worrying much about the regular season.

[skywalker33]

The Nuggets were 2nd last season and had real chance to be the 1st at certain points and in the end didn't mean much, they were literally minutes away from being swept by the Jazz, I'm not worrying much about the regular season.

I can see your point about the regular season but isn't that just preparing and position,ing yourself for the playoffs ?? It's about getting your team ready and it's hard to avoid noticing that Malone is just now getting RJ some minutes and Zeke and Bol aren't even seeing the floor even though that's where we need help the most, at the forward positions. MPJ just rejoined the SL and frankly it shows, he'll need more time to develop chemistry, confidence all while finding his role in this offense and developing his defense. Malone misses even the minute opportunities to look to the future so he can try to "build his own legacy of RS wins" by over-playing the vets (who really are more in need of rest IMO). Wouldn't surprise me if we take a 1st/2nd rd exit this year from the playoffs, also wouldn't surprise me to see Malone fired after that.

[Richard Miller]

The Nuggets were 2nd last season and had real chance to be the 1st at certain points and in the end didn't mean much, they were literally minutes away from being swept by the Jazz, I'm not worrying much about the regular season.

I can see your point about the regular season but isn't that just preparing and position,ing yourself for the playoffs ??

Common sense would say yes, but I'm not so sure anymore. Gary missed months of play before the bubble and he was the difference maker as soon as he stepped on court, it hardly mattered that he missed all that time. RJ not getting minutes was understandable if all of Murray/Morris/PJ/Facu are healthy available.

Tbh MPJ's case is kinda mind-boggling. RJ is barely 2 months with the team and he's already getting comfortable with his role, MPJ after two years seems to still has no clue what's his role. Ofc, he was injured and missed a year, but he was with the team, that has to count for something too.

If I'm not mistaken GLeague is about to start, maybe Zeke and Bol could get some time there?