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

[Mrakar]

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Man look at this rotation, its sad, their GM should be fired today, oh wait he already is.
Its impossible to play with this pace a 7 game series, let alone whole playoffs. Guys who are attacking Jokic for not rebounding or being agressive more or playing more defense should just look at this depth chart. Who the **** can play so many minutes and do everything on the court?

Not committing fouls probably top priority in this team.

That is why i laught at people saying Nuggets are not contesting shots. Imagine contesting every shot while having to play 42+ minutes on this team?
Closing lineup tonight would be Picket-Hunter-Watson-Naji-Jordan in that case....
They cant allow themselves to get into foul trouble. Thats why Jokic is just staying down on those Harden layups.

[JM00n69]

What a way to put it to the Clips fans hahahahhahah. Nearly got ran out of your own building and then that to end it. Who's your daddy seems to be an LA thing not only reserved for the lakers

[lethalizer]

As a fan, I appreciate Denver winning game 4.

I was afraid the Clippers were about to wrap this up quickly after that game 3.

I expect MPJ to be suspended for game 5, I wonder who will get his 40ish minutes from tonight. It'll be an absolute battle that game.

[JM00n69]

aaron gordon should be fined. players should reign themselves in. it's the goddamn playoffs. don't do stupid things because of your pissed off ego. if he had gotten ejected the season would be over. learn from draymond in the 2016 finals. i hope someone gives him an earful. zubac is a true sportsman too.

LOL what a take. Get shoved in the face by the most unlikeble bitch in the league and stand down. You clearly never played ball you sausage

[BruttoNostra]

OMG what a game!

Denver is back. But they Clippers need Russ back ASAP.

FTFY

[JM00n69]

As a fan, I appreciate Denver winning game 4.

I was afraid the Clippers were about to wrap this up quickly after that game 3.

I expect MPJ to be suspended for game 5, I wonder who will get his 40ish minutes from tonight. It'll be an absolute battle that game.

They wont suspend him for standing in the corner in the playoffs get real bro

[Lakers In 5]

[BruttoNostra]

Does it matter is the ball is in a downward trajectory?

No. I mean they clearly saw something I didn't, but if the hand is on the ball at the buzzer it's no good.

I don't know if that's the rule, but if it is it doesn't make sense to me.

"Ball on the hand" should be reserved for a player being in the process of taking a shot.

In Gordon's case, he had already put the ball through the hoop, his fingertip may possible have been touching the top of the ball but I don't think that should be considered Gordon still being in the process of shooting (or dunking) anymore.

This. I'm curious what the rulebook says and it might be possible there is a no clear rule for such a play at all.

I mean, there is def a rule for if he still touches the ball with 0.0 left, it's not a basket.
There is probably another rule that if it's already inside (the whole of it? 50% of it?) - it's a basket.
But how these two rules interacts? Which one prevails?

Jokic haters (let's be honest, less than 10% of negative emotions in this thread are from Clips fans) point out to the former.
Nuggets fans point out to the latter one.

I'm a Jokic fan and have no idea what should have been called. He def still touches the ball with his fingers with 0.0 on the clock - despite what refs said on the floor.

What an awesome series we all got, and even if Clippers make the second round, it will be well deserved - so sad so many people in this thread focus on downplaying the opponent (i.e. all these Jokic nicknames) instead of enjoying a great series, def one of the best in years.

[lethalizer]

As a fan, I appreciate Denver winning game 4.

I was afraid the Clippers were about to wrap this up quickly after that game 3.

I expect MPJ to be suspended for game 5, I wonder who will get his 40ish minutes from tonight. It'll be an absolute battle that game.

They wont suspend him for standing in the corner in the playoffs get real bro

The rule says he should be suspended, I expect the NBA to follow its rules.

[JM00n69]

As a fan, I appreciate Denver winning game 4.

I was afraid the Clippers were about to wrap this up quickly after that game 3.

I expect MPJ to be suspended for game 5, I wonder who will get his 40ish minutes from tonight. It'll be an absolute battle that game.

They wont suspend him for standing in the corner in the playoffs get real bro

The rule says he should be suspended, I expect the NBA to follow its rules.

You must be new to this

[dWadeOwnzYou]

Is Steve Balmer ok?

[Johnny Firpo]

As a fan, I appreciate Denver winning game 4.

I was afraid the Clippers were about to wrap this up quickly after that game 3.

I expect MPJ to be suspended for game 5, I wonder who will get his 40ish minutes from tonight. It'll be an absolute battle that game.

They wont suspend him for standing in the corner in the playoffs get real bro

The rule says he should be suspended, I expect the NBA to follow its rules.

No, the rule actually does not say that if you leave the bench, you are suspended. The rule says this:

“all players not participating in the game must remain in the immediate vicinity of their bench"

So there is a grey area, "immediate vicinity" could be 2 feet, 3 feet, 4 feet, whatever you say it is. They held him back, and he did not join the altercation, so they might not suspend him. It could also just as likely happen, we'll see. I think it's going to be the correct decision either way. Is there precedence for suspending players who only took a couple of steps before being held back?

[Johnny Firpo]

No. I mean they clearly saw something I didn't, but if the hand is on the ball at the buzzer it's no good.

I don't know if that's the rule, but if it is it doesn't make sense to me.

"Ball on the hand" should be reserved for a player being in the process of taking a shot.

In Gordon's case, he had already put the ball through the hoop, his fingertip may possible have been touching the top of the ball but I don't think that should be considered Gordon still being in the process of shooting (or dunking) anymore.

This. I'm curious what the rulebook says and it might be possible there is a no clear rule for such a play at all.

I mean, there is def a rule for if he still touches the ball with 0.0 left, it's not a basket.
There is probably another rule that if it's already inside (the whole of it? 50% of it?) - it's a basket.
But how these two rules interacts? Which one prevails?

Jokic haters (let's be honest, less than 10% of negative emotions in this thread are from Clips fans) point out to the former.
Nuggets fans point out to the latter one.

I'm a Jokic fan and have no idea what should have been called. He def still touches the ball with his fingers with 0.0 on the clock - despite what refs said on the floor.

What an awesome series we all got, and even if Clippers make the second round, it will be well deserved - so sad so many people in this thread focus on downplaying the opponent (i.e. all these Jokic nicknames) instead of enjoying a great series, def one of the best in years.

They might have seen a different frame rate though, I believe the official replays are from different cameras, not the TV cameras, but I could be wrong about that. It's so close that frame rate could actually matter here (but I'm also not a video expert ).

[BruttoNostra]

His hand was still touching the ball

It was already a made basket though. It's not the same as a jumper. The basket already counted the moment it went past the rim. The fingertip stuff is irrelevant at that point.

Well normal shots don't count until they are all the way through the net. That's why you occasionally see a ball bounce off someone's head and go back through and it doesn't count. But where the ball needs to be to be counted as a shot and whether someone can be touching it is a different matter. The fact zarba said it was out of his hands makes me think Gordon could not be touching it and it still count.

Please provide a single example of it when it wasn't later ruled out as a ref error?
It's called a a goaltending. Plenty of bigs try to do it after a made basket (especially in a crowded paint) just in case refs won't pay attention, but it doesn't mean it's allowed.

[iggymcfrack]

Steph is prob the best playoff performer so far.

Dude is killing it.

Giannis and Jokic have been better.

Steph continues to get overrated. Jokic's 4th best individual post season is better than Curry's' best.

Giannis has become underrated and under appreciated.

He puts up Wilt numbers per 48 or better almost always while being great on D.

Giannis was a great defender only slightly less recently than Chris Paul led a team to the Finals as their best player. Might as well talk about how PJ Tucker’s still a b great 3+D guy. In fact I wonder if he could still play better D than Giannis if we got him out of the retirement home.

[JM00n69]

Is Steve Balmer ok?

Sources say he got given a lollypop to calm him down after the game. But he might be upset and crying later like most LAC fans

[BruttoNostra]

One thing I can say so far is that Zu is the most underrated player in the NBA.

Borderline the best Clippers player in this series, and most consistent for sure.
His defense on Jokic, many times not shown in box score because Jokic chooses not to post up / not to shoot is just the best I've seen on Jokic in years.
To combine it with 19/11/3 on 65% from the field is so underrated.
Jokic still puts his stats, but it's playoff Jokic who always elevates his game in the playoffs and he works very hard for every point, eye-test confirmed.

[ORLMagicGirl15]

Finally AG’s dunk won something.

[JM00n69]

Finally AG’s dunk won something.

Too right haha. Channeled those two robberies and put down the best game winning dunk of all time

[JM00n69]

One thing I can say so far is that Zu is the most underrated player in the NBA.

Borderline the best Clippers player in this series, and most consistent for sure.
His defense on Jokic, many times not shown in box score because Jokic chooses not to post up / not to shoot is just the best I've seen on Jokic in years.
To combine it with 19/11/3 on 65% from the field is so underrated.
Jokic still puts his stats, but it's playoff Jokic who always elevates his game in the playoffs and he works very hard for every point, eye-test confirmed.

Under-rated by the casuals and ESPN highlight fans yeah- anyone who's actually watched ball these last 5+ seasons know that Zu has been the best Jokic stopper in the league. Jokic will still get his but Zu forces him to play more outside and that has a major effect on the team offensively. Plus the rebounding, the best player to contest there.