2025 NBA PLAYOFFS West First Round: #4 Denver Nuggets vs #5 LA Clippers (Series tied 2-2)

[Exp0sed]

Nuggets are in trouble. They literally won by 2 in a game that the Clippers entire team basically didn’t show up on a play that arguably shouldn’t count. Lost a 22 point lead

And Murray , CB didn’t show up. It goes both ways

Braun was basically at his season averages and definitely showed up. He outplayed Harden for 3 quarters. I think when you have Jokic... you can survive a bad Jamal game than the Clippers with BOTH Kawhi and Harden having bad games (until the 4th they woke up a little). But either way, Nuggets shouldn't have been up 22 to begin with on the road, so the Clippers 100% deserved to lose.

Clippers really fked themselves because now Denver has some confidence back going home for 2 of 3, and Jokic can be trusted way more than Harden or Kawhi to leave it all on the floor the rest of the series. If they had gone up 3-1 it gives them a margin for error a bit. Now they have zero. This is a career swinging moment for Harden and Kawhi. If they drop off bad these next 3 games (along with yesterday), they are taking a big hit as playoff chokes/ disappointments again (Kawhi in 2020, Harden in a couple other years like 2015). Jokic's legacy will obviously benefit from beating a team that swung to being very favored last game.

The one thing I will call out though about Denver is they keep dramaticizing the hell out of their injuries, yet the players keep playing fine. Aaron Gordon claiming he literally can't jump off the floor, MPJ claiming he can't lift his arm... just feels like bull. You don't go into an NBA game catching lobs, dunking, hitting multiple 3's if you're truly that injured. So it feels like a weak cop out for if they lost or underperformed.

nah, i'll admit I didn't think the Nuggets would win another game in this series but I also thought a couple of WB\Murray\MPJ and AG might not even play.

the Nuggets starters played 42+ mins each and heavy mins in the first 2 games (3rd they got some rest because of the blowout). this has been the case all season long and particularly for Jokic.this series as played at a very high level, the wheels are gonna come off pretty soon. MPJ played heroically and well but he was clearly limited and can't even dribble (more than usual lol) cuz of his shoulder, Lue will adjust to that..Murray isn't a 100% and has played horribly all series long and has missed multiple weeks before the playoffs, he's still not really in game shape and form and he won't get there by game 5 or game 6. AG is nursing that calf, WB status is unclear - you can't win a long series vs. an elite team with 2.5 guys

their bench scored 4 pts last night lol (and they won!) - that's not sustainable

game 7 vs. the Wolves last season they hit that wall, they just didn't have enough legs under them to compete vs. a strong, deep,athletic and physical Wolves team and it'd be the same story this season, where neither of their key guys was particularly healthy and Jokic has carried an insane workload

[OkcSinceSGA]

And Murray , CB didn’t show up. It goes both ways

Braun was basically at his season averages and definitely showed up. He outplayed Harden for 3 quarters. I think when you have Jokic... you can survive a bad Jamal game than the Clippers with BOTH Kawhi and Harden having bad games (until the 4th they woke up a little). But either way, Nuggets shouldn't have been up 22 to begin with on the road, so the Clippers 100% deserved to lose.

Clippers really fked themselves because now Denver has some confidence back going home for 2 of 3, and Jokic can be trusted way more than Harden or Kawhi to leave it all on the floor the rest of the series. If they had gone up 3-1 it gives them a margin for error a bit. Now they have zero. This is a career swinging moment for Harden and Kawhi. If they drop off bad these next 3 games (along with yesterday), they are taking a big hit as playoff chokes/ disappointments again (Kawhi in 2020, Harden in a couple other years like 2015). Jokic's legacy will obviously benefit from beating a team that swung to being very favored last game.

The one thing I will call out though about Denver is they keep dramaticizing the hell out of their injuries, yet the players keep playing fine. Aaron Gordon claiming he literally can't jump off the floor, MPJ claiming he can't lift his arm... just feels like bull. You don't go into an NBA game catching lobs, dunking, hitting multiple 3's if you're truly that injured. So it feels like a weak cop out for if they lost or underperformed.

nah, i'll admit I didn't think the Nuggets would win another game in this series but I also thought a couple of WB\Murray\MPJ and AG might not even play.

the Nuggets starters played 42+ mins each and heavy mins in the first 2 games (3rd they got some rest because of the blowout). this has been the case all season long and particularly for Jokic.this series as played at a very high level, the wheels are gonna come off pretty soon. MPJ played heroically and well but he was clearly limited and can't even dribble (more than usual lol) cuz of his shoulder, Lue will adjust to that..Murray isn't a 100% and has played horribly all series long and has missed multiple weeks before the playoffs, he's still not really in game shape and form and he won't get there by game 5 or game 6. AG is nursing that calf, WB status is unclear - you can't win a long series vs. an elite team with 2.5 guys

their bench scored 4 pts last night lol (and they won!) - that's not sustainable

game 7 vs. the Wolves last season they hit that wall, they just didn't have enough legs under them to compete vs. a strong, deep,athletic and physical Wolves team and it'd be the same story this season, where neither of their key guys was particularly healthy and Jokic has carried an insane workload

Depth is definitely a huge huge issue. They are literally playing starters like 44 minutes a game like you said. The problem is the Clippers and Nuggets are basically rushing to who can get their ass beat by OKC who will be well rested and fully healthy basically lol. The Clippers at least can push it to 6 due to depth and matchups... but I would be shocked if the Nuggets can win 1 game vs OKC who will push the pace and pressure way up.

[KL2]

I was today years old when I learned that the rim is considered to be within immediate vicinity of the bench

The refs didn’t do anything on the lengthy review. Nor did anyone in the replay center give instructions. While they can still fine or suspend him they won’t. If I’m the Clippers I’m still sending the tape in.

For those who say he’s still in the vicinity of the bench is BS. He was standing at the corner of the court then storms to underneath the basket. Before he can move forward again 2-3 of the assistant coaches coral him. If he was safely near the basket and within the rules they wouldn’t have acted that way. You can see the panic from them.

His post game of aw shucks I didn’t know the rules while smiling the whole time knows he got away with not being ejected. He’s working the media hoping to avoid being suspended. It’ll work too.

[kazyv]

Murray still has not had a single “playoff Murray” game.

"playoff murray" isn't really a thing. more like, there's "disney murray" also known as "bubble murray", but he's never coming back (unless you count on another pandemic breaking out).

obviously also there's murray, the regular kind. a streaky shooter that can run really really hot in a series and skew his playoff stats for the year to make you believe he is something that he is not. a mythical legendary "playoff murray". but as we know, that's not really a thing.

and what he is more often than not is just a decent second option. a taller, better version of jason terry, if you will.

i remember pretty well Murray's playoff performance when nuggets won the title

you don't, really. you just look at the stats for the year and think he's got something. and I admit, 26/6/7 on 58.6 % TS sounds pretty good. but it's all just the product of the lakers series.

go ahead, take a look. outside of the lakers series, it's the same old streaky guy that might or might not show up

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/m/murraja01/gamelog/2023/#all_player_game_log_post

[Sharkboy242]

"playoff murray" isn't really a thing. more like, there's "disney murray" also known as "bubble murray", but he's never coming back (unless you count on another pandemic breaking out).

obviously also there's murray, the regular kind. a streaky shooter that can run really really hot in a series and skew his playoff stats for the year to make you believe he is something that he is not. a mythical legendary "playoff murray". but as we know, that's not really a thing.

and what he is more often than not is just a decent second option. a taller, better version of jason terry, if you will.

i remember pretty well Murray's playoff performance when nuggets won the title

you don't, really. you just look at the stats for the year and think he's got something. and I admit, 26/6/7 on 58.6 % TS sounds pretty good. but it's all just the product of the lakers series.

go ahead, take a look. outside of the lakers series, it's the same old streaky guy that might or might not show up

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/m/murraja01/gamelog/2023/#all_player_game_log_post

I see 5X 30 point games,10 APG in the finals.

This aint the knock you think it is.

[kazyv]

i remember pretty well Murray's playoff performance when nuggets won the title

you don't, really. you just look at the stats for the year and think he's got something. and I admit, 26/6/7 on 58.6 % TS sounds pretty good. but it's all just the product of the lakers series.

go ahead, take a look. outside of the lakers series, it's the same old streaky guy that might or might not show up

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/m/murraja01/gamelog/2023/#all_player_game_log_post

I see 5X 30 point games,10 APG in the finals.

This aint the knock you think it is.

Well, I did say that he's the bigger better JET. So I'd say it's exactly the knock I think it is. There's no playoff murray. There's no allstar murray. There's just murray. An inconsistent streaky shooter that could never dream of being the first option of any team and shouldn't be getting paid the kind of money he's getting paid. And yeah, he does take care of the ball quite well while distributing it, usually. Not vs the clippers so far though.

[Exp0sed]

Depth is definitely a huge huge issue. They are literally playing starters like 44 minutes a game like you said. The problem is the Clippers and Nuggets are basically rushing to who can get their ass beat by OKC who will be well rested and fully healthy basically lol. The Clippers at least can push it to 6 due to depth and matchups... but I would be shocked if the Nuggets can win 1 game vs OKC who will push the pace and pressure way up.

agreed

I think OKC is just THAT good and is gonna stroll to a chip. obviously the consensus is the C's are the 2nd best team and in theory it should be a competitive series but honestly, Tatum and Brown's kryptonite is their handle and their decision making and OKC just has so many tools to create insane on-ball pressure, i don't think the C's have the ball handling, i.q and composure to beat OKC in a 7 games series, without HCA to boot

I think the Clippers can actually be more competitive vs. the Thunder specifically but yeah, it'll like be oe OKC in 6

Denver at full strength actually matches up well with OKC imo and if they would have stolen say, game one in OKC - the dynamics of that potential series can change but with their current health and overall readiness, I doubt they take more than one game from the Thunder. it'd hard to beat a team as good as Denver 4 times in a row but 4-1 seems about right

we'll probably never find out as the Clippers will prevail in the first rd

Jokic can't play like this, at these mins as well for 3 more games and no way they win a game in which he isn't in godmode

[Sharkboy242]

you don't, really. you just look at the stats for the year and think he's got something. and I admit, 26/6/7 on 58.6 % TS sounds pretty good. but it's all just the product of the lakers series.

go ahead, take a look. outside of the lakers series, it's the same old streaky guy that might or might not show up

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/m/murraja01/gamelog/2023/#all_player_game_log_post

I see 5X 30 point games,10 APG in the finals.

This aint the knock you think it is.

Well, I did say that he's the bigger better JET. So I'd say it's exactly the knock I think it is. There's no playoff murray. There's no allstar murray. There's just murray. An inconsistent streaky shooter that could never dream of being the first option of any team and shouldn't be getting paid the kind of money he's getting paid. And yeah, he does take care of the ball quite well while distributing it, usually. Not vs the clippers so far though.

There’s 100 reasons to rightfully criticize Murray. You really cant say **** about his 2023 run though, its A level. Trying to nitpick just makes you look irrational

[KL2]

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[Wolfgang630]

Every nuggets starter player played 42 minutes. That’s the first time since 1997