2025 NBA PLAYOFFS West Semifinals: #1 Oklahoma City Thunder vs #4 Denver Nuggets (OKC leads 3-2)

[Statlanta]

Calvin Booth may have sucked but it's up to Adelman to make proper coaching gambles that help his team. Porter should not be in the game if he's 1/7. Where's your bench? It's not like every player there is a two way contract or a pending retired player like DeAndre Jordan.

I'm happy for Chet though. He deserves this run to eliminate the comparisons to Banchero and Wembanyama and cut out his mistakes whereas they will lack experience compared to him.

[jokeboy86]

Man you guys gotta stop making excuses for this man.

How are you the best player in the world yet you blaming his teammates. Imagine prime LeBron getting these excuses for those to terrible Cavs roster he was carrying to the Finals every year.


When you are the best player in the world you're supposed to close the deal point blank. You don't get that title and not get the blame. Ask LeBron what it's really like to be the best player in the world. He got blame every year.

His team mates went 1/15 in the 4th. Prime LeBron or MJ isn’t getting that over the line lol

Prime LeBron and MJ aren't getting excuses because of their teammates either.

You don't get excuses as the best player in the world.

That's the thing I'm trying to figure out here. He loss the game why are we praising him in a losing effort. The standard has changed. Losers don't get credit.

Your mistake is mentioning Jokic in the same breath as LeBron and Jordan because anybody that watched them play in their primes would never do that. Jokic is one of the all time greats but I would never put him in the same category as LeBron, Jordan or even Magic, Bird or even Duncan so anybody having those expectations for him, shouldn’t. I feel the same way about Steph, KD, Giannis and even Kobe. There are levels to this.

Is Jokic having a bad series? Yes, and it’s not all due to the defense of OKC because the missed bunnies, FTs and just bad turnovers lie at his feet. But again context matters especially when it comes to team results. Is Jamal Murray a HOFer or even trending to be a HOFer? Reason that matters because name a great player who won 2 or more rings w/o an eventual HOFer or hell even a teammate that made the All-NBA team that same year. It’s kind of baffling that people who point out the results of Jokic’s teams either refuse to acknowledge this or just flat out ignore it.

[JustBuzzin]

His team mates went 1/15 in the 4th. Prime LeBron or MJ isn’t getting that over the line lol

Prime LeBron and MJ aren't getting excuses because of their teammates either.

You don't get excuses as the best player in the world.

That's the thing I'm trying to figure out here. He loss the game why are we praising him in a losing effort. The standard has changed. Losers don't get credit.

Your mistake is mentioning Jokic in the same breath as LeBron and Jordan because anybody that watched them play in their primes would never do that. Jokic is one of the all time greats but I would never put him in the same category as LeBron, Jordan or even Magic, Bird or even Duncan so anybody having those expectations for him, shouldn’t. I feel the same way about Steph, KD, Giannis and even Kobe. There are levels to this.

Is Jokic having a bad series? Yes, and it’s not all due to the defense of OKC because the missed bunnies, FTs and just bad turnovers lie at his feet. But again context matters especially when it comes to team results. Is Jamal Murray a HOFer or even trending to be a HOFer? Reason that matters because name a great player who won 2 or more rings w/o an eventual HOFer or hell even a teammate that made the All-NBA team that same year. It’s kind of baffling that people who point out the results of Jokic’s teams either refuse to acknowledge this or just flat out ignore it.

Im comparing Jokic to LeBron and MJ because he's the current best player in the world lol.

Do you understand what comes with that title? You can't make excuses when you know what comes with that title.

Sorry, but I'm not making excuses. Jokic team loss the game. You don't get credit just because you played well. This game is about winning. Not sure when the opinion changed, but I never celebrated losers.

[bullsfan78]

Jokic’s team absolutely blew it in the 4th.

Denver just can't play defense. No stops. You can't swap baskets all game

Their defense wasn't great, but I thought it was primarily the inability of anyone besides Jokic to make an open shot in the 4th quarter that doomed them last night.

[Soonercrazy84]

Calvin Booth may have sucked but it's up to Adelman to make proper coaching gambles that help his team. Porter should not be in the game if he's 1/7. Where's your bench? It's not like every player there is a two way contract or a pending retired player like DeAndre Jordan.

I'm happy for Chet though. He deserves this run to eliminate the comparisons to Banchero and Wembanyama and cut out his mistakes whereas they will lack experience compared to him.

OKC fan here and dude you it it ont he head ...he is matured so much this postseason..

I would not trade Chet for anything including Giannis.

Sent from my moto g power (2021) using Tapatalk

[Calvin Klein]

His team mates went 1/15 in the 4th. Prime LeBron or MJ isn’t getting that over the line lol

Prime LeBron and MJ aren't getting excuses because of their teammates either.

You don't get excuses as the best player in the world.

That's the thing I'm trying to figure out here. He loss the game why are we praising him in a losing effort. The standard has changed. Losers don't get credit.

Your mistake is mentioning Jokic in the same breath as LeBron and Jordan because anybody that watched them play in their primes would never do that. Jokic is one of the all time greats but I would never put him in the same category as LeBron, Jordan or even Magic, Bird or even Duncan so anybody having those expectations for him, shouldn’t. I feel the same way about Steph, KD, Giannis and even Kobe. There are levels to this.

Is Jokic having a bad series? Yes, and it’s not all due to the defense of OKC because the missed bunnies, FTs and just bad turnovers lie at his feet. But again context matters especially when it comes to team results. Is Jamal Murray a HOFer or even trending to be a HOFer? Reason that matters because name a great player who won 2 or more rings w/o an eventual HOFer or hell even a teammate that made the All-NBA team that same year. It’s kind of baffling that people who point out the results of Jokic’s teams either refuse to acknowledge this or just flat out ignore it.

sorry but your mistake is taking the bait from an obvious troll. ignore him

[MMyhre]

SGA has the incredible luxury of coasting most of the game while the rest of his team does the heavy lifting. Then he takes over late in games when Denver's starters are gassed and looks like the hero.

He's extremely fortunate that he's playing a very flawed Denver team that has no shooting around Jokic. Otherwise he would be getting exposed big time right now and the narrative would be very different surrounding him.

Watched a completely different game than me-

Sga is playing as the leader of a team -

He isn’t coasting when he is constantly leading in plus minus and plays defense hard when his shots not falling.

But just like Jokic, he defers when the other guys have it rolling - yet still ended up with 31 a bunch of assist and rebounds and steals in the win…

Punishing SgA and Tatum for having strong teams when there are multiple games the nuggets lose if role players don’t make game winning 3s or dunks is illogical

If you want to see 1 v 1 and that’s the only way to judge a player - watch ufc

Only one of those players gets punished for having a good team. Read any iteration of the MVP thread.

Lol, as if Tatum was close to SGA this year? Guy is cheeks sometimes.

[bbms]

Shai stepped up big time in the second half. He got out of his head and just started attacking early in the clock and lo and behold great things followed.

That’s their formula. OKC playing tentative is beatable. OKC playing purposeful and aggressive offense is unbeatable

SGA has the incredible luxury of coasting for large portions of the game while the rest of his team does the heavy lifting. Then he takes over late in games when Denver's starters are gassed and looks like the hero.

He's extremely fortunate that he's playing a very flawed Denver team that has no shooting around Jokic. Otherwise he would be getting exposed big time right now and the narrative would be very different surrounding him.

i love how jokic fans just ignore the existence of something called defense. thunder defense has no weak link and sga is one of the best playmaking links, didn't took a possession off in all this series

jokic is the one that has been coasting half the game (the defende half) hidden behind a zone, praying the thunder keep missing wide open 3s forever and not even pretending to protect the rim in busted played where he's exposed

[GeorgeSears]

The Nuggets faded late, once again: lack of depth and reliable players missing shots. They did show some heart in the first 3 quarters, but once the Thunder cut the lead to 6, the writing was on the wall.

[GeorgeSears]

Shai stepped up big time in the second half. He got out of his head and just started attacking early in the clock and lo and behold great things followed.

That’s their formula. OKC playing tentative is beatable. OKC playing purposeful and aggressive offense is unbeatable

SGA has the incredible luxury of coasting for large portions of the game while the rest of his team does the heavy lifting. Then he takes over late in games when Denver's starters are gassed and looks like the hero.

He's extremely fortunate that he's playing a very flawed Denver team that has no shooting around Jokic. Otherwise he would be getting exposed big time right now and the narrative would be very different surrounding him.

i love how jokic fans just ignore the existence of something called defense

jokic is the one that has been coasting half the game (the defende half) hidden behind a zone, praying the thunder keep missing wide open 3s forever and not even pretending to protect the rim in busted played where he's exposed

We acknowledge it. We also acknowledge that there are concessions that need to be made especially since he's being asked to play 44 minutes per game just to give the team a chance.

[_NoMas]

Calvin Booth may have sucked but it's up to Adelman to make proper coaching gambles that help his team. Porter should not be in the game if he's 1/7. Where's your bench? It's not like every player there is a two way contract or a pending retired player like DeAndre Jordan.

I'm happy for Chet though. He deserves this run to eliminate the comparisons to Banchero and Wembanyama and cut out his mistakes whereas they will lack experience compared to him.

I’m surprised he hasn’t even tried Zeke Naji. He had a decent run towards the end of the regular season with AG out. Even if his shots not falling he’s a far better defender then MPJ, surely worth a try

[_NoMas]

Shai stepped up big time in the second half. He got out of his head and just started attacking early in the clock and lo and behold great things followed.

That’s their formula. OKC playing tentative is beatable. OKC playing purposeful and aggressive offense is unbeatable

SGA has the incredible luxury of coasting for large portions of the game while the rest of his team does the heavy lifting. Then he takes over late in games when Denver's starters are gassed and looks like the hero.

He's extremely fortunate that he's playing a very flawed Denver team that has no shooting around Jokic. Otherwise he would be getting exposed big time right now and the narrative would be very different surrounding him.

i love how jokic fans just ignore the existence of something called defense. thunder defense has no weak link and sga is one of the best playmaking links, didn't took a possession off in all this series

jokic is the one that has been coasting half the game (the defende half) hidden behind a zone, praying the thunder keep missing wide open 3s forever and not even pretending to protect the rim in busted played where he's exposed

If you swap Jokic and SGA, and for arguments sake throw in Ihart too so Denver still has a centre. Does the series see a game 6? Does it even see a game 5?

[bbms]

SGA has the incredible luxury of coasting for large portions of the game while the rest of his team does the heavy lifting. Then he takes over late in games when Denver's starters are gassed and looks like the hero.

He's extremely fortunate that he's playing a very flawed Denver team that has no shooting around Jokic. Otherwise he would be getting exposed big time right now and the narrative would be very different surrounding him.

i love how jokic fans just ignore the existence of something called defense. thunder defense has no weak link and sga is one of the best playmaking links, didn't took a possession off in all this series

jokic is the one that has been coasting half the game (the defende half) hidden behind a zone, praying the thunder keep missing wide open 3s forever and not even pretending to protect the rim in busted played where he's exposed

If you swap Jokic and SGA, and for arguments sake throw in Ihart too so Denver still has a centre. Does the series see a game 6? Does it even see a game 5?

both teams get worse

[GeorgeSears]

Watching roster make up around Jokić is pure crime against basketball.

It's not as criminal as it may appear. If they're all clicking, they're very hard to beat. The problem arises when one of them is injured. In this case, MPJ clearly shouldn't be playing. But an injured MPJ is still the more favorable option over Watson. Murray was banged up last postseason. It is what it is.

[pepe1991]

Watching roster make up around Jokić is pure crime against basketball.

It's not as criminal as it may appear. If they're all clicking, they're very hard to beat. The problem arises when one of them is injured. In this case, MPJ clearly shouldn't be playing. But an injured MPJ is still the more favorable option over Watson. Murray was banged up last postseason. It is what it is.

you would expect from a team with best player on it, in his prime, to have more than 6 playable bodies - if everybody is healthy.
Six.

[bbms]

SGA has the incredible luxury of coasting for large portions of the game while the rest of his team does the heavy lifting. Then he takes over late in games when Denver's starters are gassed and looks like the hero.

He's extremely fortunate that he's playing a very flawed Denver team that has no shooting around Jokic. Otherwise he would be getting exposed big time right now and the narrative would be very different surrounding him.

i love how jokic fans just ignore the existence of something called defense

jokic is the one that has been coasting half the game (the defende half) hidden behind a zone, praying the thunder keep missing wide open 3s forever and not even pretending to protect the rim in busted played where he's exposed

We acknowledge it. We also acknowledge that there are concessions that need to be made especially since he's being asked to play 44 minutes per game just to give the team a chance.

you guys don't acknowledge it because when you sga is coasting, you are overlooking the fact thunder's success is built on one of the best defenses of the century that has no weak link, and sga happens to be one of the best playmaking links of the chain, that made disruptive plays all game, and even when he has had bad scoring stretches on this series, he's still playing his ass off on the other side of the ball delivering impact.

obviously jokic is better than sga on offense. his defense, however, has also made his team unstable. get real. nuggets defensive game plans is praying the thunder misses wide open threes. and thunder has missed them a lot.

[Handlez]

Jokic waited too late to get aggressive.

They went 7 minutes without a FG.

He finally got aggressive after OKC made the come back.

Great performance, but he's got to step in earlier.

[kazyv]

i love how jokic fans just ignore the existence of something called defense. thunder defense has no weak link and sga is one of the best playmaking links, didn't took a possession off in all this series

jokic is the one that has been coasting half the game (the defende half) hidden behind a zone, praying the thunder keep missing wide open 3s forever and not even pretending to protect the rim in busted played where he's exposed

If you swap Jokic and SGA, and for arguments sake throw in Ihart too so Denver still has a centre. Does the series see a game 6? Does it even see a game 5?

both teams get worse

???? that's delusional. for starters, jokic is easily better on defense than ihart. and we aren't even mentioning the kind of defensive attention he would command and the kind of dunks/easy shots he could get for the one way thunder players

[GeorgeSears]

i love how jokic fans just ignore the existence of something called defense

jokic is the one that has been coasting half the game (the defende half) hidden behind a zone, praying the thunder keep missing wide open 3s forever and not even pretending to protect the rim in busted played where he's exposed

We acknowledge it. We also acknowledge that there are concessions that need to be made especially since he's being asked to play 44 minutes per game just to give the team a chance.

you guys don't acknowledge it because when you sga is coasting, you are overlooking the fact thunder's success is built on one of the best defenses of the century that has no weak link, and sga happens to be one of the best playmaking links of the chain, that made disruptive plays all game, and even when he has had bad scoring stretches on this series, he's still playing his ass off on the other side of the ball delivering impact.

obviously jokic is better than sga on offense. his defense, however, has also made his team unstable. get real. nuggets defensive game plans is praying the thunder misses wide open threes. and thunder has missed them a lot.

The idea that Jokic can maintain this offensive level required for the Nuggets to even be competitive and then also ask him to contest every shot at the rim is ludicrous. He's doing what needs to be done and there are naturally concessions to be made.

He's not a defensive anchor.

[hardenASG13]

SGA has the incredible luxury of coasting for large portions of the game while the rest of his team does the heavy lifting. Then he takes over late in games when Denver's starters are gassed and looks like the hero.

He's extremely fortunate that he's playing a very flawed Denver team that has no shooting around Jokic. Otherwise he would be getting exposed big time right now and the narrative would be very different surrounding him.

i love how jokic fans just ignore the existence of something called defense

jokic is the one that has been coasting half the game (the defende half) hidden behind a zone, praying the thunder keep missing wide open 3s forever and not even pretending to protect the rim in busted played where he's exposed

We acknowledge it. We also acknowledge that there are concessions that need to be made especially since he's being asked to play 44 minutes per game just to give the team a chance.

Yes he has to play 44 minutes a game. Like many, many, star players before him. Look at Jordan's playoff game log. Look at Shaqs. Look at Lebrons. Look at Duncan's. Looks at Ewings. Look at Iversons. Looks at durants. Look at Currys. There are many more. It happens all the time. The shooting around Jokic has been fine this series. He's had 2 great games, sandwiched around 3 bad ones. His non existent rim protection has been a factor, forcing their zone and somewhat getting by with it, as OKCs shooting has been pretty underwhelming most of the series. He's been excellent in game 1 and 5 offensively. Why he doesn't go to the rim/offensive glas like he did in the first half last night more often confuses me. OKC is no match for him in there. If fatigue is an issue, that's a problem.