GAME 04 : Denver Nuggets (2-1) @ Portland Trail Blazers (3-0)

[THE J0KER]

Portland beat back-to-back two playoff-level opponents (Suns and Leakers) and is one of just two unbeaten teams in the West. Lillard and Nurkic are healthy and in good shape, Simons grew into a true starter-level guard, and with former Nuggets Grant forward line is finally not their weakness. With all these facts and the fact that this game will be played in Portland, all-healthy Denver should be considered the favorite to win this game!

[skywalker33]

With UTH's first loss, with a win tonight we'll vault into 1st place in the division.

[skywalker33]

DAJ misses an easy layup then gets caught slow-footed on the defensive end.....

[skywalker33]

Hyland drilling the 3's

[skywalker33]

Nuggets rolling, even the bench held their own !!

[skywalker33]

DAJ misses two FT's,

[skywalker33]

Now Murray misses two FT's

[THE J0KER]

Good 1st half, but we should lead in double-digits, not just +6. Three minutes before halftime Denver led +13 when Malone benched Jokic because of 3rd foul. How many more years Malone needs to learn that Jokic was not a rookie anymore?

[Mickey8]

Its good thing that he benched him, the dude is again in that stage when he doesn't look to score the ball, he didn't attempt single shot in the first quarter, pathetic . He entered the game not being aggressive and picked up bunch of dumb fouls.

[skywalker33]

Jokic has only taken 3 shots, wondering if his wrist is bothering him again ?

[GeorgeSears]

Beyond embarrassing. Truly, an awful performance.

Jokic needs to stop trying to force MPJ and Murray back into form. They'll get there naturally through the flow of the game. Murray isn't back to form yet and looks like a liability.

[skywalker33]

Its good thing that he benched him, the dude is again in that stage when he doesn't look to score the ball, he didn't attempt single shot in the first quarter, pathetic . He entered the game not being aggressive and picked up bunch of dumb fouls.

Yeah, he's a terrible MVP

[DaFan334]

This one's on Malone. Lack of a challenge on Joks 5th foul killed us. Jok also needs to be more aggressive and I can only fault Mike Malone for not coaching that. I'm not much of a hater on him, but the team needs to run through its best player, at least until Murray can contribute regularly.

[Mickey8]

Well he played like the garbage tonight and this loss is on him , every season he has the stretches when he doesn't look to score the ball , except the last season. In order for Denver to be successful Jokic has to play like the top 5 player every night. Ok you have the teammates that are back but you are still the best player on the team, taking zero shot attempts in the quarter is unacceptable, he got himself out of the rhythm . Against OKC he was doubled constantly but for tonight there was no excuse.

[Richard Miller]

Meh, 4 games in 5 days and almost all on the road, wouldn't read too much into it. Next.

[Manolito]

It is simply unacceptable that jokic shoots 4 Field Goals. Probably this will be a fluke and he will be back to business, but that can happen anymore. Same as conceding 3 absurd faults that hampered his production.

On the other side, MPJ has logged 116 minutes and Murray 80 in three games. I think that is a lot of minutes for two guys with long absences. The bringup should be considerable smoother (at least one month with minutes restrictions). I thought that was part of the plan keeping Ish on the roster

[Mickey8]

You know your team is in the trouble when Gordon is your leader on the offense.

[THE J0KER]

Its good thing that he benched him, the dude is again in that stage when he doesn't look to score the ball, he didn't attempt single shot in the first quarter, pathetic . He entered the game not being aggressive and picked up bunch of dumb fouls.

Malone literally killed our momentum by benching Jokic at +13 in the 1st half when Blazers looks hopeless and everything worked and seems perfect for the Nuggets. Portland use that unexpected opportunity in these last 3 minutes to get close at +6 at halftime which is still an open game, so they are in a much better position to fight back in 2nd half. It is ridiculous how Malone always instantly benched 27yo superstar franchise player who have foul troubles only during his rookie and sophomore years when he gets 2nd foul in the 1st, 3rd foul in the 2nd, or 4th foul in the 3rd quarter. The same happens in Utah in 2nd quarter when the opponent already has a big lead, so instead make a better case for 2nd half comeback it was already -22 at halftime.

Another wrong "benching" case this season for me is MPJ. Only in 1st game vs Utah, he played a full 35mpg PT, while in the next three played just 26-28 minutes despite being our clearly 2nd most dangerous weapon and 2nd best defensive rebounder. Porter should play some 5 extra minutes as PF when Jokic is on the bench and BraUn is on the floor as SF. 4 games are a small sample, but still, MPJ so far this season is an NBA TOP5 shooter with 4.0 3pt, 50%3p%, 68%TS%, currently lead the team in +/- column, so no reason for him to have limited playing time.

What was the case in both our losses this season was disastrous half where we played on the amateur level. We are humiliated by -22 vs Utah in 1st half and -31 vs Portland in 2nd. Add to that fact that in another road game vs GSW after +18 at halftime we have just +1 in the very last minute of the game.

[Mickey8]

Your superstar player, two time MVP of the league, can't come out and refuse to shoot the ball . Him not taking a single shot in the quarter is unacceptable , I don't care that his teammates were hitting their shots , he has to score the ball, to get himself in the rhythm off the bat , when he's aggressive he puts the pressure on the opposing defense, its not the same when Jokic have the big scoring games and players like Gordon have a big scoring games, it doesn't bear the same weight. Gordon is the player with the tunnel vision who stalls Denver offense. If I was Denver's coach I would bench him every time he dribbles the ball from his half of the court and goes straight to the paint , it always ends up with loose ball or a bad shot attempt . His job is to be the hustle guy, garbage man, not the player who initiate the offense, he should be 5th or 6th option on the team, shoot the ball only when he's wide open or somebody assists to him for the lay up or dunk, thats it. He needs to play hard defense which he doesn't at all , thats why he was brought up to Denver in the first place and not to be an offensive juggernaut , which he will never be, because he's limited by the talent.

[skywalker33]

Your superstar player, two time MVP of the league, can't come out and refuse to shoot the ball . Him not taking a single shot in the quarter is unacceptable , I don't care that his teammates were hitting their shots , he has to score the ball, to get himself in the rhythm off the bat , when he's aggressive he puts the pressure on the opposing defense, its not the same when Jokic have the big scoring games and players like Gordon have a big scoring games, it doesn't bear the same weight. Gordon is the player with the tunnel vision who stalls Denver offense. If I was Denver's coach I would bench him every time he dribbles the ball from his half of the court and goes straight to the paint , it always ends up with loose ball or a bad shot attempt . His job is to be the hustle guy, garbage man, not the player who initiate the offense, he should be 5th or 6th option on the team, shoot the ball only when he's wide open or somebody assists to him for the lay up or dunk, thats it. He needs to play hard defense which he doesn't at all , thats why he was brought up to Denver in the first place and not to be an offensive juggernaut , which he will never be, because he's limited by the talent.

See, I KNEW you weren't/aren't a Nuggets fan otherwise it would be OUR not Your.....GTFO, moron !!