2025 NBA PLAYOFFS West Semifinals: #1 Oklahoma City Thunder vs #4 Denver Nuggets (Series tied 3-3)

[KGDirkTD_Fan]

Just want to give credit to Adelman for having the balls to bench Westbrook when he was playing out of control. That move is what settled Westbrook down and gave Strawther confidence.

For those of you who always question the impact of coaching, and what makes a good/bad coach, just look at that single move and the impact it had on the game.

yeah sometimes you look around the league and it seems like one team needs to play his roster tighter (less minutes for the 8-10 guys) and one team should play deeper. But some of the better coaches in roster management is just knowing when you have to do that. Who's on the floor, who's on the other team, are we exhausted, are they exhausted, pick your variables and how you can put in a guy with poor defense for 5 minutes to juice your offense. Playoffs do a good job exposing who really deal with this in-game adjustments and who can't.

[SpurNani]

So if you're a Thunder fan, how comfortable are you with Daigneault right now? He looks like a deer in headlights out there.

Huh? What was he supposed to do? If a guy catches fire theres very little they can do to stop it. Same with Dort last game.

His managing of Chet's minutes are kind of baffling. He only played 30 minutes tonight. He subbed him out in the first 4 minutes of the game, which kind of set the tone for the game.

Chets minutes were very perplexing.

[MarcusBrody]

Huh? What was he supposed to do? If a guy catches fire theres very little they can do to stop it. Same with Dort last game.

His managing of Chet's minutes are kind of baffling. He only played 30 minutes tonight. He subbed him out in the first 4 minutes of the game, which kind of set the tone for the game.

Chets minutes were very perplexing.

I agree. People are talking about Chet not being ready, but I thought he played well tonight. He wasn't great from three, but he worked well as a cutter, played pretty good defense (when not being asked to guard Jokic who is too strong for him), and rebounded well. It wasn't a bad game for him and I - who was rooting for the Nuggets - was happy when he was off the floor.

[Capn'O]

Just want to give credit to Adelman for having the balls to bench Westbrook when he was playing out of control. That move is what settled Westbrook down and gave Strawther confidence.

For those of you who always question the impact of coaching, and what makes a good/bad coach, just look at that single move and the impact it had on the game.

Adelman has been great and Daignault has been rough. Though they're both roughly the same age, Daignault only has idea about how to get places whereas Adelman was hearing playoff war stories his whole life.

[AleksandarN]

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[Snake3]

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Yeah. He said he didn't know about his status yet. So, we'll find out.

This has been a great series. I don't want it to be ruined by an injury.

[Infinite Llamas]

So who starts if Aaron is out? I’m assuming Watson but Watson has been such a disaster on the offensive end.

[Patches Perry]

Well despite all the whiplash from game to game, I predicted this would go 7 games before game 1 and hoped I'd be wrong, but here we are. I'll be throwing a handsome amount of money on Denver because if OKC is going to lose this series, you're going to have to pay me a devilish amount.

Props to Murray, Braun and Watson tonight. Absolutely big time games. As underwhelming as Denver roleplayers have been in their losses, they've been absolutely championship level in their wins.

I've been saying all year that OKC may have a Jdub problem. As great as he is in his overall floor game and defensively, if he can't be a reliable 2nd option guy, he isn't worth the max. And I don't say that joyfully because he has been my favorite player on the team since they drafted him.

Shai and Chet played very well, everyone else was trash.

[Jazz9]

Man I would love for the Nuggets to win but I just can't see them doing it.
I'd have felt differently if G7 was in Denver but I feel playing in front of their crowd is gonna give the young guys in OKC the confidence boost they need to start the game strong and keep Denver at a distance the whole way.

I just wish this Nuggets team was as good as the '23 one.
Looking at how these playoffs turned out, they'd be the favorites imo.
Don't feel the same way about the current iteration unfortunately...

[Snake3]

Man I would love for the Nuggets to win but I just can't see them doing it.
I'd have felt differently if G7 was in Denver but I feel playing in front of their crowd is gonna give the young guys in OKC the confident boost they need to start the game strong and keep Denver at a distance the whole way.

I just wish this Nuggets team was as good as the '23 one.
Looking at how these playoffs turned out, they'd be the favorites imo.
Don't feel the same way about the current iteration unfortunately...

Calvin Booth gambled and failed with supplying Nuggets with a bench.

But OKC has a few problems too. J-Dub has been disappointing so far as a second option. The offense in general is shaky without SGA. Luckily their defense is there. Caruso has been great. They can win the series for sure tho. It's just shocking that this series has been pushed this far.

I don't think they are going to lose, but if they do expect some changes.

[AleksandarN]

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[CIN-C-STAR]

Being called for 12 more fouls certainly a factor here that isn’t getting enough credit

Yeah too many silly hacks, reaches and bumps.
They could clean that up but otoh the turnovers it produces when the refs swallow their whistle really fuels their offense. And it’s kind of become their identity too.
Hard to see them going away from it for a game 7 but we’ll see I guess.

[DonaldSanders]

Being called for 12 more fouls certainly a factor here that isn’t getting enough credit

OKC fouls more. We all have been talking about this for weeks before this series.

[karmew32]

Man I would love for the Nuggets to win but I just can't see them doing it.
I'd have felt differently if G7 was in Denver but I feel playing in front of their crowd is gonna give the young guys in OKC the confidence boost they need to start the game strong and keep Denver at a distance the whole way.

I just wish this Nuggets team was as good as the '23 one.
Looking at how these playoffs turned out, they'd be the favorites imo.
Don't feel the same way about the current iteration unfortunately...

I actually feel better about the Nuggets going on the road in Game 7 than if they were at home.

That OKC crowd will be anxious. We're not getting typical Loud City. This is a 68-14 team being taken to 7 by a shallow team most expected them to dispatch in 5. The Nuggets will feed off of the anxiety.

Most of the greats have a signature winner-take-all road win. Russell in 1969. MJ in 1989. Hakeem in 1995. Shaq & Kobe in 2002. Duncan in 2008 (I was there; cried when I got home). LeBron in 2016. Curry & KD in 2018. Giannis in 2021. Luka in 2022.

Jokic technically had his in 2020, but that was a neutral site. This is his chance to be a heartbreaker.

[cjx]

Game 7 is a battle of willpower and knowledge between King Joker and Caruso

See you at Game 7, Fam

Nuggets Country, We Shall Prevail !

[Ritzo]

I love watching the Nuggets. They always give the fans an amazing series

[Wolfgang630]

Being called for 12 more fouls certainly a factor here that isn’t getting enough credit

OKC fouls more. We all have been talking about this for weeks before this series.

It’s about time they called it more. OKC should always get more foul calls with the hacking they do.

[OverAndOut]

Of course the Gordon injury happens with only 1:50 left in the game.

[OldSchoolNoBull]

Man I would love for the Nuggets to win but I just can't see them doing it.
I'd have felt differently if G7 was in Denver but I feel playing in front of their crowd is gonna give the young guys in OKC the confidence boost they need to start the game strong and keep Denver at a distance the whole way.

I just wish this Nuggets team was as good as the '23 one.
Looking at how these playoffs turned out, they'd be the favorites imo.
Don't feel the same way about the current iteration unfortunately...

I actually feel better about the Nuggets going on the road in Game 7 than if they were at home.

That OKC crowd will be anxious. We're not getting typical Loud City. This is a 68-14 team being taken to 7 by a shallow team most expected them to dispatch in 5. The Nuggets will feed off of the anxiety.

Most of the greats have a signature winner-take-all road win. Russell in 1969. MJ in 1989. Hakeem in 1995. Shaq & Kobe in 2002. Duncan in 2008 (I was there; cried when I got home). LeBron in 2016. Curry & KD in 2018. Giannis in 2021. Luka in 2022.

Jokic technically had his in 2020, but that was a neutral site. This is his chance to be a heartbreaker.

I know it wasn't a winner-take-all, but MJ's Salt Lake City 98 Game 6 - when he scored 45 points to carry his fading team across the finish line of their second three-peat, capped off with perhaps the most iconic playoff game-winner in the history of the NBA - felt like winner-take-all in the second half because of Scottie's back and the very real chance that he wouldn't be available for a Game 7(this is with the 2-3-2 format so Game 7 would've been in Utah too). I feel like a lot of people watching that one felt like the Bulls either pull that game out or don't win the championship.

[Wingy]

So if you're a Thunder fan, how comfortable are you with Daigneault right now? He looks like a deer in headlights out there.

Rotation wise, he's still acting as if it's the regular season. They played 10 guys meaningful minutes. SGA only had 35, Chet only 30, and Williams 38. Nobody else on the team had more than 27 minutes.

SGA and Chet need to get into the high 30's, low 40's.

I also didn’t like how he had SGA in for so long late 1st half to get that 4th foul. That really ignited their crowd and shifted the momentum. MD is making a lot of questionable decisions, right from the end of game 1.