2025 NBA PLAYOFFS West Semifinals: #1 Oklahoma City Thunder vs #4 Denver Nuggets (OKC leads 3-2)

[Wolfgang630]

Lots of shoulda coulda woulda in this thread.

Lol people are discussing.

[life_saver]

I love Jokic but I feel like people are now really underrating the Nuggets roster..you can't expect consistent production from non-superstar players. Outside superstars, not many can give you consistent production in playoffs. Even in OKC, Jalen Williams who is OKC's 2nd option has been inconsistent.

Its not a deep roster and has some flaws but it is still a good enough roster to win title..its just that margin of error is lot less. Its gets even tougher if 1 of your starters is injured like MPJ. Problem this playoffs has been that Jokic has been playing below his normally high standards...he has had some amazing games but also had some unusually bad games offensively. If Jokic shot better than 7/22 from field in G4, then Nuggets likely would be in driving seat to win the series.

[HotRocks34]

Jokic had 20 potential assists in Game 5 to go along with his 44/15.

The 1.0 is for secondary assists.

[Wolfgang630]

One thing I need is for joker to stop passing to Russ for 3s on a fast break. If Russ is broken then YOU need to drive the ball yourself. You can’t keep passing to these dudes on a fast break for threes when their shooting is horrible. You drive it and hopefully make it or get a foul call.

[Bergmaniac]

I love Jokic but I feel like people are now really underrating the Nuggets roster..you can't expect consistent production from non-superstar players. Outside superstars, not many can give you consistent production in playoffs. Even in OKC, Jalen Williams who is OKC's 2nd option has been inconsistent.

Its not a deep roster and has some flaws but it is still a good enough roster to win title..its just that margin of error is lot less. Its gets even tougher if 1 of your starters is injured like MPJ. Problem this playoffs has been that Jokic has been playing below his normally high standards...he has had some amazing games but also had some unusually bad games offensively. If Jokic shot better than 7/22 from field in G4, then Nuggets likely would be in driving seat to win the series.

I don't think could have won the title even if they had gotten extremely lucky and had no injuries of their rotation guys in the whole playoff run which almost never happens. Playoffs are so physically demanding today it's just extremely unlikely to get it done when your depth is so bad. In the 2023 playoffs they had a solid 8 man rotation, this year they had 6 and a half and their 6th man is 36 year old. Porter Jr. is clearly hobbled yet he played 29 and 34 minutes respectively, including down the stretch, in the last two games even though he couldn't make a shot and was missing by a mile on most of his attempts, that's how little Adelman trusts his bench.

[Infinite Llamas]

I love Jokic but I feel like people are now really underrating the Nuggets roster..you can't expect consistent production from non-superstar players. Outside superstars, not many can give you consistent production in playoffs. Even in OKC, Jalen Williams who is OKC's 2nd option has been inconsistent.

Its not a deep roster and has some flaws but it is still a good enough roster to win title..its just that margin of error is lot less. Its gets even tougher if 1 of your starters is injured like MPJ. Problem this playoffs has been that Jokic has been playing below his normally high standards...he has had some amazing games but also had some unusually bad games offensively. If Jokic shot better than 7/22 from field in G4, then Nuggets likely would be in driving seat to win the series.

If someone like MPJ was making Sam Hauser money, it wouldn’t be as terrible.

If Murray was making Collin Sexton money, it wouldn’t be as terrible.

But when you have two guys who dominate so much of the cap and provide such inconsistency, it completely ruins a team and denies them of depth or any alternatives. There’s so little margin for error once MPJ and Murray were given those contracts. And it’s why JDub will be under more scrutiny once he makes $50 million a year.

When non superstars are making superstar money, it can crater a team.

[MoneyTalks41890]

Read on Twitter

[scrabbarista]

So...

Westbrook is shooting 29% from the field and 20% from (WIDE OPEN) three and is a -53 in the last four games of this series. That's 91 minutes.

Don't know what I was thinking when I said last night, "I'm glad I'm not Denver's coach, because Westbrook has been great these Playoffs." (I would've been playing Watson and Pickett over him for sure, and possibly others.) He was helpful versus the Clippers. He's been Westbrook versus the Thunder.

A) Pickett should've been the 7th man all along (after Watson as the 6th).

B) The last four times that the Nuggets have played Jokic for the whole fourth quarter, they've lost those quarters by an average of 10.8 points. They went into all four of those quarters with the lead, and finished 1-3 in those games. I've been adamant that this is a losing decision, and your starters must rest NO MATTER WHAT. You can play time and score as far as how long they rest to start the fourth, but they must rest in the fourth.

So... I'm just bummed. I would much rather see the team go against my convictions and succeed than be proven right and see the team eliminated.

But if the Nuggets are to lose this round, I'll go down with the ship. Too much time and energy invested over the last six or so years...

[scrabbarista]

One thing I need is for joker to stop passing to Russ for 3s on a fast break. If Russ is broken then YOU need to drive the ball yourself. You can’t keep passing to these dudes on a fast break for threes when their shooting is horrible. You drive it and hopefully make it or get a foul call.

If you can't pass it to a wide open point guard, then that player cannot be on the floor. You can't just play four against five. You have to give him the ball if his man (and others', sometimes, in Jokic's case) is guarding you along with your own man.

[MoneyTalks41890]

So...

Westbrook is shooting 29% from the field and 20% from (WIDE OPEN) three and is a -53 in the last four games of this series. That's 91 minutes.

Don't know what I was thinking when I said "I'm glad I'm not Denver's coach, because Westbrook has been great these Playoffs." He was helpful versus the Clippers. He's been Westbrook versus the Thunder.

A) Pickett should've been the 7th man all along (after Watson as the 6th).

B) The last four times the Nuggets have played Jokic for the whole fourth quarter, they are losing those quarters by an average of 10.8 points. (I've been adamant that this is a losing decision, and your starters must rest NO MATTER WHAT. You can play time and score as far as how long they rest to start the fourth, but they must rest in the fourth.)

So... I'm just bummed. I would much rather see the team go against my convictions and succeed than be proven right and see the team eliminated. But if the Nuggets are to lose this round, I'll go down with the ship. Too much time and energy invested over the last six or so years...

Russ used some of that chaotic energy for good defensively and on some loose balls yesterday, but yeah he’s still crazy streaky and wants to shoot until he gets out of it, but he isn’t a good enough shooter to do that especially when the stakes are this high.

Got some bad Deja vu when OKC was helping off the corner three shooter, that’s how Dallas beat us when PJ Washington went supernova. But Russ was missing those and so were the other role players. Kind of bailed out the OKC defense.

[Wolfgang630]

One thing I need is for joker to stop passing to Russ for 3s on a fast break. If Russ is broken then YOU need to drive the ball yourself. You can’t keep passing to these dudes on a fast break for threes when their shooting is horrible. You drive it and hopefully make it or get a foul call.

If you can't pass it to a wide open point guard, then that player cannot be on the floor. You can't just play four against five. You have to give him the ball if his man (and others', sometimes) is guarding you along with your own man.

I’d rather have Strawther out there if Russ or MPJ is bad in game 6

[scrabbarista]

I love Jokic but I feel like people are now really underrating the Nuggets roster..you can't expect consistent production from non-superstar players. Outside superstars, not many can give you consistent production in playoffs. Even in OKC, Jalen Williams who is OKC's 2nd option has been inconsistent.

Its not a deep roster and has some flaws but it is still a good enough roster to win title..its just that margin of error is lot less. Its gets even tougher if 1 of your starters is injured like MPJ. Problem this playoffs has been that Jokic has been playing below his normally high standards...he has had some amazing games but also had some unusually bad games offensively. If Jokic shot better than 7/22 from field in G4, then Nuggets likely would be in driving seat to win the series.

I don't think could have won the title even if they had gotten extremely lucky and had no injuries of their rotation guys in the whole playoff run which almost never happens. Playoffs are so physically demanding today it's just extremely unlikely to get it done when your depth is so bad. In the 2023 playoffs they had a solid 8 man rotation, this year they had 6 and a half and their 6th man is 36 year old. Porter Jr. is clearly hobbled yet he played 29 and 34 minutes respectively, including down the stretch, in the last two games even though he couldn't make a shot and was missing by a mile on most of his attempts, that's how little Adelman trusts his bench.

Meh. Westbrook isn't even a rotation player, on average. He should be platooning the 8th man spot - yes, even on this team, with this bench. This is what I was saying before the Playoffs.

[scrabbarista]

So...

Westbrook is shooting 29% from the field and 20% from (WIDE OPEN) three and is a -53 in the last four games of this series. That's 91 minutes.

Don't know what I was thinking when I said "I'm glad I'm not Denver's coach, because Westbrook has been great these Playoffs." He was helpful versus the Clippers. He's been Westbrook versus the Thunder.

A) Pickett should've been the 7th man all along (after Watson as the 6th).

B) The last four times the Nuggets have played Jokic for the whole fourth quarter, they are losing those quarters by an average of 10.8 points. (I've been adamant that this is a losing decision, and your starters must rest NO MATTER WHAT. You can play time and score as far as how long they rest to start the fourth, but they must rest in the fourth.)

So... I'm just bummed. I would much rather see the team go against my convictions and succeed than be proven right and see the team eliminated. But if the Nuggets are to lose this round, I'll go down with the ship. Too much time and energy invested over the last six or so years...

Russ used some of that chaotic energy for good defensively and on some loose balls yesterday, but yeah he’s still crazy streaky and wants to shoot until he gets out of it, but he isn’t a good enough shooter to do that especially when the stakes are this high.

Got some bad Deja vu when OKC was helping off the corner three shooter, that’s how Dallas beat us when PJ Washington went supernova. But Russ was missing those and so were the other role players. Kind of bailed out the OKC defense.

He's not "streaky;" he can't shoot, and sometimes they go in. There's a difference.

Dort is streaky. Dort is also an excellent shooter.

He's not a regular-rotation player, never mind a Second Round one. Never mind a Second Round sixth man.

When he made a layup off a pass at the end of the shot clock - the one where it almost looked like the ball slipped out of his hands - it was almost shocking. It looked like the need to let the ball go quickly may have even helped him make the shot. That's where we are with him as Nuggets fans: it can actually be shocking to see him make a layup.

[Castle Black]

One thing I need is for joker to stop passing to Russ for 3s on a fast break. If Russ is broken then YOU need to drive the ball yourself. You can’t keep passing to these dudes on a fast break for threes when their shooting is horrible. You drive it and hopefully make it or get a foul call.

If you can't pass it to a wide open point guard, then that player cannot be on the floor. You can't just play four against five. You have to give him the ball if his man (and others', sometimes) is guarding you along with your own man.

I’d rather have Strawther out there if Russ or MPJ is bad in game 6

Which is the most glaring example of the problem itself. The fact that we would rather have JULIAN STRAWTHER on the court in crunch time of a pivotal Playoff series is indicative of just how garbage this Nuggets roster really is. Truly.

[Wolfgang630]

If you can't pass it to a wide open point guard, then that player cannot be on the floor. You can't just play four against five. You have to give him the ball if his man (and others', sometimes) is guarding you along with your own man.

I’d rather have Strawther out there if Russ or MPJ is bad in game 6

Which is the most glaring example of the problem itself. The fact that we would rather have JULIAN STRAWTHER on the court in crunch time of a pivotal Playoff series is indicative of just how garbage this Nuggets roster really is. Truly.

I have no more words to say for management and what they’ve done.

[bbms]

lots of fingers being thrown but the reality is that aaron gordon has been the only consistent contributor by denver and arguably a top 3 player in this series. last time i checked he was getting 5 offensive rebounds a game on 40%+ 3pt shooting and some crazy clutch moments with a game winner from three.

my top 3 in the series (interchangeable)

alex caruso
aaron gordon
cason wallace

the stars of the show (sga, jokic, jdub, murray, chet) all have been crazy inconsistent, but out of them i'd rank sga and jokic the worst of the bunch because of expectations, responsability, performance per touch.

[kazyv]

Nitpicking Jokic's defence in this series is pretty bizarre to me, Denver has been much better than I expected on that end except for Game 2 where they basically stopped trying after the first quarter since the game looked out of reach. Jokic has a defensive rating of 110.9 for the series which is pretty solid considering the opposition and his team has been quite a bit worse defensively when Jokic has been on the bench. And his individual defensive tracking numbers on nba.com are quite good too, for example players have shot only 57.6% on shots from 6 feet or less on shots he defended in this series compared to the 65.2% league average.

He’s hiding in a zone thats working because OKC, including SGA, havent been able to shoot Denver out of it.

But make no mistake, he’s a bad defender. I dare Denver to run that zone against Ind, NY, or Minny. But they won’t be advancing.

he had team best 109 drating vs the clippers too. was he hiding behind a zone there too? this is just the usual drivel that has nothing to do with reality

> hE wIlL gEt ExPoSEd in ThE pLaYOfFs > PuT hIm in a pICk&rOLl > etcetc

[iggymcfrack]

Even up 3-2, it’s time to put to bed the idea of OKC being some all-time great team. Denver’s 2023 team might have ended this series already. OKC is really good, but at no point watching them have I felt like I was watching one of the best teams ever like the regular season net rating suggests.

The Nuggets have played like champions and won some miraculous games to keep the series close, but the Thunder are still outscoring them by 8.8 PPG in the series. For the playoffs as a whole, the Thunder are outscoring their opposition by 13.5 PPG. That’s an even larger margin than during the regular season.

The Thunder have had 1 loss on a game winning 3 with 2.5 seconds left after a coaching error when Jokic puts up 40/20 and one loss in a crazy game in OT, but that doesn’t mean they’re not as good as advertised. I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see them win every game from here on out or to see them lose to Denver in Game 6 and then go 9-0 the rest of the way from there.

[cjx]

See you at Game 7, Fam, you know what it is !

[Wolfgang630]

See you at Game 7, Fam, you know what it is !

I hope they blowout OKC in game 6 so they play low minutes then get 2 days rest for a Game 7 on Sunday lol. Anything can happen in a game 7. OKC has never dealt with pressure of a game 7.