2025 NBA PLAYOFFS West Semifinals: #1 Oklahoma City Thunder vs #4 Denver Nuggets (DEN leads 1-0)

[Sgt Major]

It just appears that OKC isn't quite ready. You can't give that kind of game away and expect to win a series against the defending champs with the best player in basketball.

The Nuggets are not the defending champions, though.

[rolling_91]

Aaron Gordon has made a leap these last few years. I had Denver rated around a 5 in terms of a threat level during the season and they ticked up to around a 7 near the end of the season largely due to Gordon becoming a bigger offensive threat. He's the main reason why I had the Clippers over the Nuggets wrong. I expected Kawhi to win that matchup and it didn't happen. And the Nuggets proved that they were the better team. This is a winning player.

[ibraheim718]

It just appears that OKC isn't quite ready. You can't give that kind of game away and expect to win a series against the defending champs with the best player in basketball.

The Nuggets are not the defending champions, though.

Former champs.

[MrPainfulTruth]

What a great game. I was unhappy with the officiating but it didnt matter in the end. I thought a lot of contact went uncalled on Jokic, like when Holmgren fouled him but after review they called it somehow on Jokic; or when Dort fouled him but they called only the flagrant afterwards.

Anyway i think the OKC were surprised and that helped Denver for this game. They seemed to take an easy win for granted; just like Cleveland and Boston. OKC will be a lot harder to beat from now on; on the other hand, Denver regulars know that this wasnt really a good game for the Joker (i am not a box score guy), subpar from Braun, even less for Murray and catastrophic for MPJ. I think they all showed up for one game in the Clippers series and that was devestating. When they come to play, not even OKC can stop them, but it happens so rarely you just cant count on them.

[RB34]

Slightly over 200lbs at 7'1 is nuts. There a fast break last night where Westbrook also bodied his skinny ass.

Chets gotta really hit the weight room and start eating this offseason. I could easily see that being one of the major takeaways if OKC falls short.

I wonder what Chet’s diet is like. Does the guy only eat one meal a day or something?

He probably has a fast meanolism and I don't think his frame can handle more weight. It's why I said he can't play C against real bigs when he entered the league. Same with Wemby. These guys have the KD body type.

I don’t think people realise how insanely difficult it is for someone of that height to put on noticeable weight, especially during the season and without anabolic assistance.

His calorie intake just to maintain his weight would be 4000-4500 calories. If you’re eating clean, that’s quite a bit of food. Then when you take into account the schedule etc. He could have someone prepare everything for him though which would make it a bit easier.

You also don’t really want to be packing a heap of weight on a frame like that too quickly. His body needs time to adapt.

[Hitachi77]

Nuggets are still +260 which is kind of crazy to me. Don’t really care who wins this series but I might have to jump on that.

[bbms]

If anything he should have had the ball more.

Denver was shading and just waiting to double. I'm surprised that OKC didn't have a player who could take advantage of that consistently.

OKC did not appear ready for that Denver defensive look. I'm sure Denver will go back to it so OKC better prepare.

I give Adelman credit because I don't know if Malone would have been that aggressive in trying to get the ball out of SGA's hands.

It actually reminded me of how clueless the other Nuggets can be, especially in the past, when teams sell out to stop Jokic.

the thunder has struggled with those gimmicky zone schemes this season. okc v cleveland 1 for example. they did adjust and attacked much better that zone and demolished cleveland on okc v cleveland 2 - blowout vs arguably the most complete team in the league.

let's see how it plays out. i had okc in 6 before the game, and i still do.

[Hitachi77]

I wonder what Chet’s diet is like. Does the guy only eat one meal a day or something?

He probably has a fast meanolism and I don't think his frame can handle more weight. It's why I said he can't play C against real bigs when he entered the league. Same with Wemby. These guys have the KD body type.

I don’t think people realise how insanely difficult it is for someone of that height to put on noticeable weight, especially during the season and without anabolic assistance.

His calorie intake just to maintain his weight would be 4000-4500 calories. If you’re eating clean, that’s quite a bit of food. Then when you take into account the schedule etc. He could have someone prepare everything for him though which would make it a bit easier.

You also don’t really want to be packing a heap of weight on a frame like that too quickly. His body needs time to adapt.

He def has someone preparing for him. All the extra time spent on research / cooking / other prep etc shouldn’t apply to elite athletes. That is a huge help, not just a bit. They have a lot less excuses than average people to not be in ideal shape.

That said, like you and others said, maybe they have determined this is the ideal frame for him, for now.

[bbms]

What a great game. I was unhappy with the officiating but it didnt matter in the end. I thought a lot of contact went uncalled on Jokic, like when Holmgren fouled him but after review they called it somehow on Jokic; or when Dort fouled him but they called only the flagrant afterwards.

Anyway i think the OKC were surprised and that helped Denver for this game. They seemed to take an easy win for granted; just like Cleveland and Boston. OKC will be a lot harder to beat from now on; on the other hand, Denver regulars know that this wasnt really a good game for the Joker (i am not a box score guy), subpar from Braun, even less for Murray and catastrophic for MPJ. I think they all showed up for one game in the Clippers series and that was devestating. When they come to play, not even OKC can stop them, but it happens so rarely you just cant count on them.

i agree. as a joker casual spectator and fan (why not?), despite the crazy stat line, i can tell he didn't have a really good game. you can see he himself was very frustrated with how the game went.

i see people slandering chet, despite some really awful fumbles in the 4th quarter, that was some defensive masterclass by chet on joker, that's some of the most turnover prone joker i've seen, specially with caruso on. too bad for thunder fans, this team can't really rebound on a chet x joker matchup. can't have it both ways, i think mark has to decide between a somewhat honest rebounding (ihart) and defensive playmaking (chet) and pick his poison.

[Wolfgang630]

What a great game. I was unhappy with the officiating but it didnt matter in the end. I thought a lot of contact went uncalled on Jokic, like when Holmgren fouled him but after review they called it somehow on Jokic; or when Dort fouled him but they called only the flagrant afterwards.

Anyway i think the OKC were surprised and that helped Denver for this game. They seemed to take an easy win for granted; just like Cleveland and Boston. OKC will be a lot harder to beat from now on; on the other hand, Denver regulars know that this wasnt really a good game for the Joker (i am not a box score guy), subpar from Braun, even less for Murray and catastrophic for MPJ. I think they all showed up for one game in the Clippers series and that was devestating. When they come to play, not even OKC can stop them, but it happens so rarely you just cant count on them.

i agree. as a joker casual spectator and fan (why not?), despite the crazy stat line, i can tell he didn't have a really good game. you can see he himself was very frustrated with how the game went.

i see people slandering chet, despite some really awful fumbles in the 4th quarter, that was some defensive masterclass by chet on joker, that's some of the most turnover prone joker i've seen, specially with caruso on. too bad for thunder fans, this team can't really rebound on a chet x joker matchup. can't have it both ways, i think mark has to decide between a somewhat honest rebounding (ihart) and defensive playmaking (chet) and pick his poison.

“Defensive masterclass” nothing close to it

[bisme37]

That walk-off interview with AG last night lol. He just hit a huge shot to win a playoff game and Stephanie Ready is like, "yo why did you chuck a 3 down only 1?" Awkward.

[bbms]

What a great game. I was unhappy with the officiating but it didnt matter in the end. I thought a lot of contact went uncalled on Jokic, like when Holmgren fouled him but after review they called it somehow on Jokic; or when Dort fouled him but they called only the flagrant afterwards.

Anyway i think the OKC were surprised and that helped Denver for this game. They seemed to take an easy win for granted; just like Cleveland and Boston. OKC will be a lot harder to beat from now on; on the other hand, Denver regulars know that this wasnt really a good game for the Joker (i am not a box score guy), subpar from Braun, even less for Murray and catastrophic for MPJ. I think they all showed up for one game in the Clippers series and that was devestating. When they come to play, not even OKC can stop them, but it happens so rarely you just cant count on them.

i agree. as a joker casual spectator and fan (why not?), despite the crazy stat line, i can tell he didn't have a really good game. you can see he himself was very frustrated with how the game went.

i see people slandering chet, despite some really awful fumbles in the 4th quarter, that was some defensive masterclass by chet on joker, that's some of the most turnover prone joker i've seen, specially with caruso on. too bad for thunder fans, this team can't really rebound on a chet x joker matchup. can't have it both ways, i think mark has to decide between a somewhat honest rebounding (ihart) and defensive playmaking (chet) and pick his poison.

“Defensive masterclass” nothing close to it

i don't know maybe you don't watch jokic, but this fat ass is pretty good at basketball and just rip defenses to shreads with passing like a maestro with effortless efficient scoring. yesterday was much more of a grind than i've seen from him since like...

the olympic games vs team usa.

[Exp0sed]

The question now is how does OKC respond? As great as they are, they just haven’t faced much adversity as a unit and they don’t have a lot of experience in these moments.

Denver on the other hand has seen it all. Their core has been doing this together for so long. There’s no late game situation they haven’t been in before, and there’s nothing OKC can throw at them that they haven’t already seen. Oh, and they’ve got the best player in the world. So many people underestimated their toughness and resilience. I thought that was the most impressive part of their performance last night, especially on such short rest after that game 7.

This should be a great series. I think all outcomes are on the table for game 2.

fwiw, being down one in a series, for a 68 wins team isn't exactly "adversity", especially as they are more than capable of beating the Nuggets in Denver, in the first game of the season the Thunder blew out the Nuggets in Denver by like 40 pts

if they go down 0-2 and head to Denver - that, i'd call "adversity"

[Wolfgang630]

The question now is how does OKC respond? As great as they are, they just haven’t faced much adversity as a unit and they don’t have a lot of experience in these moments.

Denver on the other hand has seen it all. Their core has been doing this together for so long. There’s no late game situation they haven’t been in before, and there’s nothing OKC can throw at them that they haven’t already seen. Oh, and they’ve got the best player in the world. So many people underestimated their toughness and resilience. I thought that was the most impressive part of their performance last night, especially on such short rest after that game 7.

This should be a great series. I think all outcomes are on the table for game 2.

fwiw, being down one in a series, for a 68 wins team isn't exactly "adversity", especially as they are more than capable of beating the Nuggets in Denver, in the first game of the season the Thunder blew out the Nuggets in Denver by like 40 pts

if they go down 0-2 and head to Denver - that, i'd call "adversity"

First game of the season is irrelevant. This isn’t the same Denver team as day 1

[LethalRangee]

What's the deal with MPJ? Is he injured or something? His contract is looking like an albatross at this point, his defense/offense is looking nonexistent and his effort/hustle is at a 0.

[Raps in 4]

What's the deal with MPJ? Is he injured or something? His contract is looking like an albatross at this point, his defense/offense is looking nonexistent and his effort/hustle is at a 0.

He's always sucked.

[knicksNOTslick]

What's the deal with MPJ? Is he injured or something? His contract is looking like an albatross at this point, his defense/offense is looking nonexistent and his effort/hustle is at a 0.

He's always sucked.

This. They should've traded MPJ while he still had little value. Now I don't see a team willing to take him on. But I could be wrong. There are a lot of bad GMs in the league.

[MoneyTalks41890]

I’m really not trying to start anything but I just learned about MPJr’s podcast and it actually makes things
make a lot more sense.

[Capn'O]

Chet's weight is less of an issue then turning into jello in pressure situations.

[Revived]

I’m really not trying to start anything but I just learned about MPJr’s podcast and it actually makes things
make a lot more sense.

Care to share more about what you learned? He’s hardly the only player with a podcast.