2025 NBA PLAYOFFS West Semifinals: #1 Oklahoma City Thunder vs #4 Denver Nuggets (Series tied 2-2)

[Pistol_Pete]

Jokic is the reason for this loss. Guy missed FTs, missed shots, terrible defense.

Do people actually believe this or is this like a running gag going on here? Got two guys shooting 3 for 19 on wide open shots created by all the attention Jokic draws, a team that melt down the second Jokic sat, and he’s the one to blame? These posts are so weird lol

You realize Jokic shot 7-22 right? We’re comparing him to All Time legends because he is one so he’s gonna be held to that same expectation. If 30 yr old LeBron shot 7-22 in a playoff game then he would be getting rightful criticism for it too.

Yeah the rest for his teammates shot like crap too but he’s the superstar and he still needs to be more efficient and do better. It’s one thing to have one-off game but it’s now two games in a row for him.

And no it’s not a “running gag” and I’m not a Jokic hater either. You can see my post below from few days ago for further proof. Guy’s probably my second most favorite player in the league. But at the time, I don’t have rose-colored glasses either and I’m always gonna call a spade a spade. I’m sure Jokic himself would say he played like complete trash and would blame himself for the loss even more than his terrible shooting teammates.

viewtopic.php?p=118495840#p118495840

I love Nikola Jokic, and he’s definitely one of the GOATS of the game. You can forgive one or two bad games, but 3 in a row at this level is unacceptable.

[ThunderBolt]

I just hope he can have a bunch of general board threads making definitive career statements about every player, coach and mascot involved based upon this game.

[Fat]

Can’t win with Westbrook it’s that simple. Play more Jalen Pickett and the nuggets sweep OKC

[jokeboy86]

If he's a fake superstar, Jokic is one too.

Okc isn't winning it all.

My biggest takeaway from these playoffs is that this current era is full of dumb basketball. I haven't seen anyone play a game where I was like "That is a championship team"

All of these teams are playing awful basketball and either relying on the refs or chucking 3s and praying for the math to save them.

And for all of the "Dynasty Warriors shot 3s!" arguments they also hit the paint, and had mid range scorers like Livingston and Barbossa attacking the lane.

Outside of Steph and KD and Klay, who were otherworldly shooters, Warriors are very deliberate about how they generate 3s.
You generally don’t see the chucking like other teams.
I agree with you the bball IQ in the NBA is the lowest in decades. Playbooks have shrunk and the over reliance on “talent” has really set these teams up to fail in the playoffs.
Those quick reads and simple actions in transition players rely on really dry up in the playoffs, and then half the guys don’t know what to do and continue to chuck and rely on their “skill” rather than knowing ho to problem solve.
I think that’s why we are seeing such proliferation of zone defenses. Should be easy to figure out but these guys have no clue. It’s so much iso and two-man game, which doesn’t work against zone.

I also don’t think it’s a coincidence that zone defenses are still working in college either. Most of today’s basketball players on all levels are not as well rounded offensively as they used to be. The traditional smart pg in the vein of Kidd, Billups, or even Rondo seems to be going extinct too

[Ugly0598]

Yea it’s gonna be hard to forget this series in the all time rankings discussions. This just would never happen to Shaq. It would have never happened to Duncan either.

At the end of the day, Duncan would just put either one of those bigs on block and jump hook/drop step them to death.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

And his patented bank shot.

Duncan is higher on my list than Jokic.

Duncan so underrated.

If people were honest and not obsessed with “highlights” or “charisma”, the truth is Duncan is clearly the 2nd best player since Jordan retired and who knows maybe there’s a case to say he’s the best. The Kobe, Steph, KD, Jokic over Duncan conversations are absurd in my opinion

Tim Duncan is a top 10, arguably top 5 player of all time. The way he made defense look effortless was unbelievable.

[MrPainfulTruth]

The two MVP candidates competing for who’s going to play the absolute worst.

Jokic winning thus far.

Lol, yep.

But you'd think by this board Jokic has been dropping 50 a GM while Shai is trash.

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Which "board" are you reading? I see 20 "Jokic is trash/got exposed/is the worst" comments for one "SGA could have been better". The reality is, both are so good that the entire defense has zeroed in on them, and mostly SGA got more help than Jokic (except for one game). Today, the two max players Murray and MPJ were completely useless despite being wide open. And its so common that i predicted it.

[lethalizer]

Good game Denver, they gave everything they had.

The deepest team in the NBA finally got some needed bench production in some needed late game minutes and that's what we needed, really.

Shout out to Caruso, Wallace and Wiggins.

See you Tuesday night.

[Tomhomes33]

GG okc
This was Nuggets 11th game in 23 days in the playoffs. Starters are playing 40+ minutes, it will be hard to have any energy left.
Nuggets won multiple games they should have lost in these playoffs, this is the first one they let slip away

Exactly what were they doing so far is just not sustainable for much longer..today was maybe turning point

[Mk0]

Yea it’s gonna be hard to forget this series in the all time rankings discussions. This just would never happen to Shaq. It would have never happened to Duncan either.

At the end of the day, Duncan would just put either one of those bigs on block and jump hook/drop step them to death.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

And his patented bank shot.

Duncan is higher on my list than Jokic.

Duncan so underrated.

If people were honest and not obsessed with “highlights” or “charisma”, the truth is Duncan is clearly the 2nd best player since Jordan retired and who knows maybe there’s a case to say he’s the best. The Kobe, Steph, KD, Jokic over Duncan conversations are absurd in my opinion

Duncan was a guaranteed 50 win season. Not even hyperbole. the man never won less than 50 god damned games.
He was disgustingly good.

*Even in the 1999 lockout shortened season the Spurs were 37-13 which is a 74% win rate

[RRR3]

The two MVP candidates competing for who’s going to play the absolute worst.

Jokic winning thus far.

Lol, yep.

But you'd think by this board Jokic has been dropping 50 a GM while Shai is trash.

Sent from my Pixel 6 using RealGM mobile app

Which "board" are you reading? I see 20 "Jokic is trash/got exposed/is the worst" comments for one "SGA could have been better". The reality is, both are so good that the entire defense has zeroed in on them, and mostly SGA got more help than Jokic (except for one game). Today, the two max players Murray and MPJ were completely useless despite being wide open. And its so common that i predicted it.

Jokic has been completely useless for 3 straight games, stop making excuses. If LeBron put up the dismal shooting numbers Jokic was putting up you'd be making threads about it

[jokeboy86]

Do people actually believe this or is this like a running gag going on here? Got two guys shooting 3 for 19 on wide open shots created by all the attention Jokic draws, a team that melt down the second Jokic sat, and he’s the one to blame? These posts are so weird lol

You realize Jokic shot 7-22 right? We’re comparing him to All Time legends because he is one so he’s gonna be held to that same expectation. If 30 yr old LeBron shot 7-22 in a playoff game then he would be getting rightful criticism for it too.

Yeah the rest for his teammates shot like crap too but he’s the superstar and he still needs to be more efficient and do better. It’s one thing to have one-off game but it’s now two games in a row for him.

And no it’s not a “running gag” and I’m not a Jokic hater either. You can see my post below from few days ago for further proof. Guy’s probably my second most favorite player in the league. But at the time, I don’t have rose-colored glasses either and I’m always gonna call a spade a spade. I’m sure Jokic himself would say he played like complete trash and would blame himself for the loss even more than his terrible shooting teammates.

viewtopic.php?p=118495840#p118495840

I love Nikola Jokic, and he’s definitely one of the GOATS of the game. You can forgive one or two bad games, but 3 in a row at this level is unacceptable.

It’s the turnovers, missed bunnies, and open 3’s that’s simply too hard to overlook.

[Johnny Firpo]

That's enough Jokic is the best player ever talk I think

I'll take "things no one ever actually said" for 500 bucks.

[HotRocks34]

Lesson tonight for Adelman. Sometimes you just have to keep a guy in.

The real fault lies with Booth and Malone though. Booth got no real backup center and Malone never played guys like Jay Huff who could have helped with that issue.

Cant blame Adelman IMO..Jokic was gassed..so are the other starters..MPJ plays injured..Russ is being Russ..and you dint have anybody else on the bench. I know Saric is bad , but should throw him in for 3-5min instead of Watson just to see id he can produce anything..he can shot 3..he can rebound..he has no D I know but still..

Yeah. The quick turnaround after the Game 3 OT was tough for Denver.

I agree, I think Adelman is going to have to try to work in a few more guys early in games.

But you're right, Denver was gassed late and they gave OKC back the momentum early 4Q with Jokic sitting.

[CelticSooner]

I don’t think OKC can finish this in the road so it goes 7. Just depends on if Denver runs out of gas or not.

[GeorgeSears]

Shai hasn't been great in these playoffs either. It's been a mid-off between the two MVP candidates, with one playing a bit worse than the other.

[levon]

And his patented bank shot.

Duncan is higher on my list than Jokic.

Duncan so underrated.

If people were honest and not obsessed with “highlights” or “charisma”, the truth is Duncan is clearly the 2nd best player since Jordan retired and who knows maybe there’s a case to say he’s the best. The Kobe, Steph, KD, Jokic over Duncan conversations are absurd in my opinion

Duncan was a guaranteed 50 win season. Not even hyperbole. the man never won less than 50 god damned games.
He was disgustingly good.

*Even in the 1999 lockout shortened season the Spurs were 37-13 which is a 74% win rate

Pop was a guaranteed 50. The two years after Duncan retired they were a 60+ win team. Then after trading Kawhi they still won 48 with Aldridge and DeRozan.

[Alatan]

Jokic is the reason for this loss. Guy missed FTs, missed shots, terrible defense.

Do people actually believe this or is this like a running gag going on here? Got two guys shooting 3 for 19 on wide open shots created by all the attention Jokic draws, a team that melt down the second Jokic sat, and he’s the one to blame? These posts are so weird lol

You realize Jokic shot 7-22 right? We’re comparing him to All Time legends because he is one so he’s gonna be held to that same expectation. If 30 yr old LeBron shot 7-22 in a playoff game then he would be getting rightful criticism for it too.

Yeah the rest for his teammates shot like crap too but he’s the superstar and he still needs to be more efficient and do better. It’s one thing to have one-off game but it’s now two games in a row for him.

And no it’s not a “running gag” and I’m not a Jokic hater either. You can see my post below from few days ago for further proof. Guy’s probably my second most favorite player in the league. But at the time, I don’t have rose-colored glasses either and I’m always gonna call a spade a spade. I’m sure Jokic himself would say he played like complete trash and would blame himself for the loss even more than his terrible shooting teammates.

viewtopic.php?p=118495840#p118495840

Jokic did shoot badly but he didnt play bad defense. He actually played pretty good D this game. That being said he needed to bring more offensively. He needs to find a way to create more if he is aiming at the top ten ever ranking.

[uncleduck13]

You have to think OKC has another good shooting game from 3 again, and there's gotta be a Shai game coming right? I'm not counting Denver out though. Thunder look super fallible.

Yeah OKC does look very vulnerable. Not sure if they get past Minnesota next round.

[___Rand___]

Both teams were bad it's just OKC managed to prevent embarrassment from losing to a team that scored 8 points in a quarter.

Hold on people. There is such a thing as DEFENSE. Both teams defended very well.

[maxpower8888]

You can't place all the blame on any one player but as the superstar, Jokic needs to step up and take over some games. No offense to Chet or Hart but he's made it way too easy for them to play D on him.