NBA PLAYOFFS: RD 2 l Game 1 - (3) Denver Nuggets @ (2) Phoenix Suns l Monday l 7:00 l TNT l Series (0-0)

[King4Day]

The petty part of me wants to go back to start of the year games topics and start quoting all the DA bashers that I was constantly arguing with

I was def one of them.
A couple times I said he's gonna get max, and then that Bridges would get paid more than DA.

He grew up big time this season and learned to play. No doubt about it.

Dude is just 22 years old....

22 and he's playing this well in the post season. That's not normal. Imagine where he's at 5 years from now when he hits his prime?!

[BobbieL]

Jokic was named MVP
well deserved winner
Thought it would be him or Embid
but with Murray going down still finishing the way they did - really good player

[Barkley6]

I don't want to be overly optimistic, but I really think this Nuggets team is limited by their health. Without Murray and Barton, they've got two guys that are role players at best (one of whom was signed to a 10-day initially) playing against two All-Star guards.

Watching the game, and looking at the box score...the role players, except Rivers and Morris, did everything they were expected to.
Campazzo - 14 pts, 6 Asst
Millsap - 9 points in 13 minutes
Green - 10 pts, 11 Rebs


But they still lost badly. I don't think those guys are going to put up those numbers every night, (granted, nor do I think Bridges will score 23 every night), but it seems like they more or less got what they wanted from their role players and still lost. Campazzo and Green in particular performed well above their averages. I don't think Gordon is going to score 18 points a night in this series.

So it puts a lot of pressure on guys like Jokic and MPJr to perform at their very best if they want to win, because the supporting cast did the job in Game 1, and it wasn't good enough.

[spanishninja]

Jokic was named MVP
well deserved winner
Thought it would be him or Embid
but with Murray going down still finishing the way they did - really good player

obviously they will wait to present that trophy until game 3 lol.

[lilfishi22]

The petty part of me wants to go back to start of the year games topics and start quoting all the DA bashers that I was constantly arguing with

I was def one of them.
A couple times I said he's gonna get max, and then that Bridges would get paid more than DA.

He grew up big time this season and learned to play. No doubt about it.

Dude is just 22 years old....

22 and he's playing this well in the post season. That's not normal. Imagine where he's at 5 years from now when he hits his prime?!

I think some of the really hot takes they should probably take back but I thought there was a ton of solid realistic takes as well from "haters". The fact is this and everyone is on the same page, when Ayton is ON, he's ON. When he's wafting about, his impact is wavers. The ask from everyone is that he stays consistent and stays engaged. When he isn't engaged and he isn't focused, he gets called out by posters here, I don't think it makes these posters haters.

[starbosa10]

The petty part of me wants to go back to start of the year games topics and start quoting all the DA bashers that I was constantly arguing with

I was def one of them.
A couple times I said he's gonna get max, and then that Bridges would get paid more than DA.

He grew up big time this season and learned to play. No doubt about it.

Dude is just 22 years old....

22 and he's playing this well in the post season. That's not normal. Imagine where he's at 5 years from now when he hits his prime?!

I think some of the really hot takes they should probably take back but I thought there was a ton of solid realistic takes as well from "haters". The fact is this and everyone is on the same page, when Ayton is ON, he's ON. When he's wafting about, his impact is wavers. The ask from everyone is that he stays consistent and stays engaged. When he isn't engaged and he isn't focused, he gets called out by posters here, I don't think it makes these posters haters.

Exactly. I personally was very hard on DA and have posted a few times over the past few years that I wanted Luka from the start. That being said my issue with Ayton had always been with his effort/consistency. Like you said, when he's ON , he's ON. I felt like we didn't see that side of him consistently enough over the last few years.

He has stepped it up immensely this postseason and I don't think we could ask for anything more. He's been fantastic

[bwgood77]

The petty part of me wants to go back to start of the year games topics and start quoting all the DA bashers that I was constantly arguing with

I was def one of them.
A couple times I said he's gonna get max, and then that Bridges would get paid more than DA.

He grew up big time this season and learned to play. No doubt about it.

Dude is just 22 years old....

22 and he's playing this well in the post season. That's not normal. Imagine where he's at 5 years from now when he hits his prime?!

I think some of the really hot takes they should probably take back but I thought there was a ton of solid realistic takes as well from "haters". The fact is this and everyone is on the same page, when Ayton is ON, he's ON. When he's wafting about, his impact is wavers. The ask from everyone is that he stays consistent and stays engaged. When he isn't engaged and he isn't focused, he gets called out by posters here, I don't think it makes these posters haters.

The same is true for all of our players though. He just is the main one nitpicked. I'd say 3 guys bring it every game for the most part..maybe 4....CP3, Craig, Crowder and Payne...though Payne made some definite miscues a few games ago..not sure if he wasn't focused or what. But whether it be Bridges being a little shy, Cam going shy as he fears his slump, Dario very very hesitant (though he took some hate), Booker on D (mostly off ball/team defense this season..or sticking to man when he doesn't have ball) along with lazy turnovers, Frank and others. Bridges is locked in most of the time though..just does his part.

[King4Day]

The petty part of me wants to go back to start of the year games topics and start quoting all the DA bashers that I was constantly arguing with

I was def one of them.
A couple times I said he's gonna get max, and then that Bridges would get paid more than DA.

He grew up big time this season and learned to play. No doubt about it.

Dude is just 22 years old....

22 and he's playing this well in the post season. That's not normal. Imagine where he's at 5 years from now when he hits his prime?!

I think some of the really hot takes they should probably take back but I thought there was a ton of solid realistic takes as well from "haters". The fact is this and everyone is on the same page, when Ayton is ON, he's ON. When he's wafting about, his impact is wavers. The ask from everyone is that he stays consistent and stays engaged. When he isn't engaged and he isn't focused, he gets called out by posters here, I don't think it makes these posters haters.

Agreed. It has been noticeable that, despite how slow it's been, we've seen less and less versions of that DA. As is tradition, big men are slow to develop. Playoff DA gives us hope that he's on the rise

[lilfishi22]

I was def one of them.
A couple times I said he's gonna get max, and then that Bridges would get paid more than DA.

He grew up big time this season and learned to play. No doubt about it.

Dude is just 22 years old....

22 and he's playing this well in the post season. That's not normal. Imagine where he's at 5 years from now when he hits his prime?!

I think some of the really hot takes they should probably take back but I thought there was a ton of solid realistic takes as well from "haters". The fact is this and everyone is on the same page, when Ayton is ON, he's ON. When he's wafting about, his impact is wavers. The ask from everyone is that he stays consistent and stays engaged. When he isn't engaged and he isn't focused, he gets called out by posters here, I don't think it makes these posters haters.

Agreed. It has been noticeable that, despite how slow it's been, we've seen less and less versions of that DA. As is tradition, big men are slow to develop. Playoff DA gives us hope that he's on the rise

Playoff DA is the only vrsion we haven't seen since now and it's been a revelation. Almost makes his regular season ebbs and flows in effort irrelevant (not really but you know what I mean). In the thread from last season about who's the 2nd most important player, I said it was Ayton because he was the one who would be raising our ceiling.