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

[infinite11285]

Game 1: Nuggets win 125-107
Game 2: Nuggets win 97-87
Game 3: Suns win 121-114
Game 4: Suns win 129-124
Game 5: Nuggets win 118-102
Game 6: Nuggets win 125-100
NUGGETS WIN 4-2



Previous thread

[infinite11285]

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[CodeBreaker]

I still got Denver in 7

[Wolfgang630]

I expect joker to take a step back in this game. I expect the role players for Denver to be better and Jamal Murray to have a close to Bubble Murray game.

[Sgt Major]

Malone, you idiot, play more bench guys! Jeff Green? Gimme a break!

[Wolfgang630]

:lol:

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Omg LMAO

[nbafan38]

The suns really should win this series with the way Booker is playing and having KD. I know their depth is terrible though and winning in Denver is hard so nuggets in 7.

[Jadoogar]

Malone, you idiot, play more bench guys! Jeff Green? Gimme a break!

Which bench guys is he not playing? Someone suggested Peyton Watson. No coach in their right mind is going to throw out a rookie who averaged 3 ppg into the second round of the playoffs against Kevin Durant and Booker.

Malone can try to make some adjustments on defensive schemes but there isn't anyone on the bench that's going to come in and save them. You think Deandre Jordan is the answer?

[Woodsanity]

Malone, you idiot, play more bench guys! Jeff Green? Gimme a break!

Which bench guys is he not playing? Someone suggested Peyton Watson. No coach in their right mind is going to throw out a rookie who averaged 3 ppg into the second round of the playoffs against Kevin Durant and Booker.

Malone can try to make some adjustments on defensive schemes but there isn't anyone on the bench that's going to come in and save them. You think Deandre Jordan is the answer?

Truthfully most of the bench guys stink. Maybe give Reggie Jackson more of a try who also stinks.

[spanishninja]

The suns really should win this series with the way Booker is playing and having KD. I know their depth is terrible though and winning in Denver is hard so nuggets in 7.

is the bench terrible? or were they just not used as much as they should have been? and so far Denver is still only playing 3 bench guys. one is a rookie, one is old. I am still not seeing why people are saying the Nuggets bench is so much better than the Suns'.

[Mickey8]

Malone, you idiot, play more bench guys! Jeff Green? Gimme a break!

Which bench guys is he not playing? Someone suggested Peyton Watson. No coach in their right mind is going to throw out a rookie who averaged 3 ppg into the second round of the playoffs against Kevin Durant and Booker.

Malone can try to make some adjustments on defensive schemes but there isn't anyone on the bench that's going to come in and save them. You think Deandre Jordan is the answer?

He can't now in crucial game 5. But he could have tried in games that were played in Phoenix. He should have played Nnaji,Jackson and even Payton. You have to try with the new players when your regulars are not producing. KCP,Green and Brown were horrible.

[Jadoogar]

Malone, you idiot, play more bench guys! Jeff Green? Gimme a break!

Which bench guys is he not playing? Someone suggested Peyton Watson. No coach in their right mind is going to throw out a rookie who averaged 3 ppg into the second round of the playoffs against Kevin Durant and Booker.

Malone can try to make some adjustments on defensive schemes but there isn't anyone on the bench that's going to come in and save them. You think Deandre Jordan is the answer?

He can't now in crucial game 5. But he could have tried in games that were played in Phoenix. He should have played Nnaji,Jackson and event Payton. You have to try with the new players when your regulars are not producing. KCP,Green and Brown were horrible.

No coach tries new players in the playoffs. You have to roll with who got you there. KCP and Brown were great in denver, i would rather take a chance on those guys returning to form than throwing out random unproven players.

[iggymcfrack]

Malone, you idiot, play more bench guys! Jeff Green? Gimme a break!

Which bench guys is he not playing? Someone suggested Peyton Watson. No coach in their right mind is going to throw out a rookie who averaged 3 ppg into the second round of the playoffs against Kevin Durant and Booker.

Malone can try to make some adjustments on defensive schemes but there isn't anyone on the bench that's going to come in and save them. You think Deandre Jordan is the answer?

I think for the most part, criticism of Malone has been greatly overblown and he’s done fine, but if you’re gonna make an adjustment, I’d play Jeff Green less and play Christian Braun more. He’s arguably the best guy to defend Booker on the entire team, he’s a much better offensive player than Green, he has the second best NetRtg on the team in the playoffs, and he’s playing 12 MPG. He played 8 and 9 minutes in the last 2 losses. He should definitely be getting more burn. But yeah, other than swapping the amount of minutes for Green and Braun which is a very minor adjustment, I think Malone’s doing fine.

[Mickey8]

Which bench guys is he not playing? Someone suggested Peyton Watson. No coach in their right mind is going to throw out a rookie who averaged 3 ppg into the second round of the playoffs against Kevin Durant and Booker.

Malone can try to make some adjustments on defensive schemes but there isn't anyone on the bench that's going to come in and save them. You think Deandre Jordan is the answer?

He can't now in crucial game 5. But he could have tried in games that were played in Phoenix. He should have played Nnaji,Jackson and event Payton. You have to try with the new players when your regulars are not producing. KCP,Green and Brown were horrible.

No coach tries new players in the playoffs. You have to roll with who got you there. KCP and Brown were great in denver, i would rather take a chance on those guys returning to form than throwing out random unproven players.

Good coaches will improvise on the fly. He doesn't have to play those players big minutes but he can try and give them some burn. Look at Williams, he didn't play his bench guys until Paul went down. Both Warren and Ross are producing now for them. I am not saying with certainty that the players are named would be productive but you have to try and see. You are losing games anyways. Maybe one of those players would give you much needed spark off the bench.

[California Gold]

Yet another year where Durant and Booker go down before sniffing the conference finals.

[Bobbymcgee]

Denver needs CP3 to return ASAP!

[spanishninja]

ok, no suspension. focus back to basketball where it belongs

[Young Stapler]

Jokic will be fined 25k according to @NBAPR.

Let the series continue!

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[Patches Perry]

The league did the right thing. Now we get an epic game 5!

[scrabbarista]

Jackson, Bryant, and Ish Smith cannot play. These guys couldn't help a tenth seed, much less a one seed. EDIT For Kindness' Sake: I mean, they can help in practices, in the regular season, in the locker room, on the bench, etc.. I don't mean to imply they don't have value to the team. I just mean that if you put them out there against a high-quality NBA opponent, you're asking for trouble.

The guys who might be able to help, in order (imo), are Nnaji, Watson, and Cancar. Nnaji can provide extra possessions and great energy. Watson can provide great defense on and off the ball - and maybe cause TO's and get the team in transition. Cancar gives you a guy with size who can shoot and play off of Jokic. The operative word in my brief scouting reports is "can:" obviously, these three all have their faults, but you ought to at least see if their strengths can help in a given game, rather than locking yourself into six guys plus Jeff Green and a too-short leash on Braun. The PHO bench played almost twice as many minutes as the DEN bench last night. That's gross.

DeAndre Jordan is fine if you're only giving him a minute or two and you draw up some plays to help him score. He's not good, but he has a very high BBIQ, so he's not going to just blow coverages and put you in a quick hole.

Anyways, one of my least favorite things in all of NBA basketball is a coach who plays too short of a rotation. There are so many reasons why I can't stand it. It can be pretty maddening.

I agree with Mickey8 that's it's a lot harder to improvise in a crucial Game 5 than in the first four games. But if you keep trotting out the same losing lineups with the starters over-taxing themselves, you're going to lose.