2023 West Semifinals | (1) Denver Nuggets VS (4) Phoenix Suns (DEN WINS 4-2)

[Chuck Everett]

yup its all his fault

Who said it was all his fault? I just cited the plus/minus. This is more a referendum on the people who disrespect Ayton. You can't just plug in guys like Landale and Biyombo and think that will work against a talent like Jokic. They are completely overmatched.

and booker is -31, i guess they should play Damion Lee more

i did say in another post that Ayton is clearly missed, just seems weird pointing out Biz like that

I don't care Lolcats fan. Biyombo isn't in Charlotte anymore. Stop being so damn sensitive.

[KingFox]

I saw the first 5 minutes and although Denver was missing shots, you could see they came in with a different level of intensity. As if they were the ones down 3-2

[AleksandarN]

jokic straight toying with folks right now. this is crazy.

imagine the nuggets trade jokic instead of nurkic lol.

Portland has at least two chips lol

[nbafan38]

I was going to say, I thought he was stifling a smile. Man.......

And his teammates. I posted way back in the thread "Ayton looks extremely pleased with how things are unfolding." He's thinking, "Y'all don't think I'm so useless now, huh?"

He'd have a case had he been a difference maker. This game was a matter of how big the double digit lead would be.

He's clearly a difference maker on defense.......

[dWadeOwnzYou]

So what on earth can Monty say to the team during halftime to fire them up? Is it even possible?

[JDR720]

The Suns are in the same situation the Nets were in. No depth, injury prone stars. The way you build a contender these days is via the draft, not trading for stars.

[cjx]

Crown King Joker , RealGM, appreciate and crown him now!! Crown our King!

[G R E Y]

For being 89 years old, Hubie Brown is still very sharp and has aged very well. Doesn’t sound like he’s 89 at all. Would gladly love to age like him.

Hubie's the best!

[Zeno]

Wonder how Matt Ishbia is liking forcing that trade now. Guy completely leveraged his new toy. He should know firsthand mortgages suck (for the borrower).

[The_Ghost_of_JB]

I don't know how the Suns build a contending squad going forward.

They can try and move Ayton and see if they can get a couple players in return.

Besides that I think they're kind of all in with this squad and have to hope by some miracle Paul can actually play in the playoffs.

[Mk0]

For being 89 years old, Hubie Brown is still very sharp and has aged very well. Doesn’t sound like he’s 89 at all. Would gladly love to age like him.

Hubie is the man. He is the one guy who could actually tell you a real player comparison. You want to know how good someone is/was? Hubie is pretty much the authority.

Hell, if anyone was going to make the NBA all 75 list it should have just been him. The man has seen it all and he has no biases.

[Jkam31]

KD the most overrated player in NBA history

Sayy thatt now but wait till he goes to a super team annd we hear he’s the Goat

[djsunyc]

only place a guy like ayton can flourish is the lakers under lebron or in miami. he would be the same low motor guy on any other team.

[durden_tyler]

Embiid 1 assist and 4 turnovers for a whole game. Jokic 7 assist and 0 turnovers before halftime.

Lol, why even reference this?

After what the Jokic supporters have suffered this has to be referenced 'til the end of these playoffs.

[ConSarnit]

For all the talk of the Denver depth being the difference, swap Jokic and KD and its role reversal. Does anyone thing Denver would still win the series?

Suddenly Terrance Ross and Josh Okogie would look like solid role players and Denver’s offence reverts to KD/Murray isos. Jokic is the complete difference maker here

This is a bad take. Okogie is taking 1.4 3pt fga in the playoffs. 1.3 of those are wide-open (no defender within 6 feet). He’s shooting 15% from 3. Jokic can not make terrible shooters hit unguarded shots.

Ross’ issue is that he is terrible defensively, which again, is not something Jokic can solve.

The Suns bench is terrible and has been made even more terrible by injury.

Remove the stars (Booker, Durant and Jokic) for each team from the equation and how many Nuggets players would you pick before you picked another Sun? I count at least 5. PHX depth is horrible.

I’m not taking anything away from Jokic but most of these PHX guys shouldn’t be playing any minutes on a contender.

[KDS91]

Read on Twitter

[zeebneeb]

Biyombo is -26 in one half. Jeez.

yup its all his fault

This has me absolutely rolling.

[BigGargamel]

only place a guy like ayton can flourish is the lakers under lebron or in miami. he would be the same low motor guy on any other team.

Not that his obvious dogging is excusable, but what did Phoenix think? They lowballed him and dared him to sign somewhere else then pulled him back in knowing they didn't really want him around. I'd tell the Suns to screw off too.

[c4rbs]

Monty Williams fired and going to bucks

[Ckay]

That's just sad!