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Will Barton is expected to play tonight, doubt he starts though. Any expectation ? number of mins ? will he end up back on IR ?

Denver and Porter have great 1st halves this playoff until this game. Not looks promising...

Just shut MPJ down and get ready for the next game. He's been a liability on offense and defense.

GeorgeSears wrote:Just shut MPJ down and get ready for the next game. He's been a liability on offense and defense.

Porter is our key player in this series. Jokic playing MVP games is not enough for this Suns, we need another all-star around and only Porter have that potential. Before this game MPJ at least played like true all-star 1st halves of the games but underperforming badly in the 2nd. Instead to fix it, Malone today only find a way to broke his game since early start of the game.

I couldn't be more disappointed with the way Monte has played in this series so far. I expected Facu and Rivers to struggle, but Monte was supposed to be that stabilizing force that could play the 2-man game with Jokic. He's been terrible on offense and defense.

I chalked up game 1 to a sloppy performance. The Nuggets just didn't come to play in this one.

Now, Game 3 is do or die.

Didn't get to see the game (guess I'm the lucky one there), but looking at the boxscore, a LOT of no-show for the Nuggets. Barton's returned helped (to my surprise), but our forwards are starting 5 sans Jokic are being dismissed

It was nice to see Will Barton back, even in limited playing time.

Hopefully, he can play longer in games 3 and 4.

There is no question in my mind that our guards excluding Barton are intimidated by the Sun's. I think that is why Gordon picked a shoving match with Crowder. After that at least guys started driving in the lane a little more.

All this talk about Ayton is a joke, Nurkic did better one on one in the lasts erie's, but the Sun's are doubling Jokic and nobody is calling out the doubles or hitting their shots when Jokic sees it.

MPJ looked terrible last night, I would rather have him healthy then Barton If we had the choice.

Some guys almost look satisfied just because we got past the 1st round Not only are we missing his shooting, but we are desperately needing the fire that Murray brings emotionally. Jokic cannot do it alone.

Jokic had a very good first half, got Ayton into the foul trouble, still he was way too passive , he needs to be aggressive as in the series against Portland , he needs to score more especially when everyone is struggling , he can't let his teammates missing the shots for the stretch of the few minutes without him being involved . Also Campazzo and Rivers have to hit the bench, they are barely the bench players in the league and they are forcing too much offensively and they are not that good . Morris is a much better fit with Jokic in the starting five and at least he can execute the simple pick and roll with him . The next game is pretty much the season for the Nuggets , they have to win it, hopefully with more fans in the building they will be energized more and take the care of the game.

Mickey8 wrote:Jokic had a very good first half, got Ayton into the foul trouble, still he was way too passive , he needs to be aggressive as in the series against Portland , he needs to score more especially when everyone is struggling , he can't let his teammates missing the shots for the stretch of the few minutes without him being involved . Also Campazzo and Rivers have to hit the bench, they are barely the bench players in the league and they are forcing too much offensively and they are not that good . Morris is a much better fit with Jokic in the starting five and at least he can execute the simple pick and roll with him . The next game is pretty much the season for the Nuggets , they have to win it, hopefully with more fans in the building they will be energized more and take the care of the game.

You hit the nail on the head. Jokic MUST be aggressive throughout the game. Ayton should have about 4 fouls by the 4th quarter. Jokic should be taking at least 20 shots, and if he does, this team will be very successful.

He can't be passive and rely on Austin Rivers and Facu Campazzo to hit open shots, they can't do that consistently.