Game 66: Minnesota Timberwolves (32-25) @ Denver Nuggets (43-22) - 10:30 PM ET

ducler · Post #1 » by **ducler** » Tue Mar 12, 2019 8:38 pm

Post #2 » by **NuggetsWY** » Tue Mar 12, 2019 8:50 pm

Teague & Rose appear to be game time decisions regarding their injuries. Assuming they are both playing, the matchups look like:

Jokic vs. Towns is a difficult matchup for Jokic, so maybe he'll respond with a serious effort. If he chooses to, he can score on Towns quite easily and that would make the game easier for the rest of the Nuggets. If Jokic keeps his head in the game on the defensive end and doesn't take any silly fouls, he should be able to limit Towns' offense.
Millsap vs. Saric will be a challenge for Millsap based on Saric's preference to shoot from the front row. :lol:

But he should be able to limit Saric and should be able to get some points. More important, Millsap should be able to dominate the boards tonight.
Barton vs. Wiggins might be a difficult matchup for Barton on our defensive end but Barton should be able to take even more advantage of Wiggins on our offensive end.
Harris vs. Teague sure hope Harris matches up with Teague and this should be a good matchup for Denver.
Murray vs. Okogie should be a good matchup for Denver.

Twolves bench will be Rose, Gibson, Dieng plus others of less impact. Our bench should be able to produce tonight!

Post #3 » by **THE J0KER** » Wed Mar 13, 2019 2:34 am

Interesting stats I hope will be changed this night: Denver didn't beat Minnesota over 6pts since 2015!
Last 5 games are this tight: +1 , +2 , OT , +4 , OT

SkillzFromThe6 · Post #4 » by **SkillzFromThe6** » Wed Mar 13, 2019 3:43 am

Malone finally fixed the rotations and went back to the pre-Barton rotations under 4min in 1q of Monte, Murray, Beasley, Millsap, Plumlee and put Craig in that group for Millsap in 2q. That lineup just contained the lead. I love it. Hopefully this is what it'll be going forward into the playoffs.

skywalker33 · Post #5 » by **skywalker33** » Wed Mar 13, 2019 3:57 am

Is it just me or does the TNT announcers seems to be favoring the Wolves ??

SkillzFromThe6 · Post #6 » by **SkillzFromThe6** » Wed Mar 13, 2019 4:00 am

skywalker33 wrote:Is it just me or does the TNT announcers seems to be favoring the Wolves ??

Players Only is terrible. I've muted them.

Post #7 » by **THE J0KER** » Wed Mar 13, 2019 4:00 am

Wolves without playoff chances, Covington, Rose, and Wiggins are not treat in Denver. So the only interesting thing should be will Malone with his playing tima schedule prevent Joker to make another triple-double or not :lol:

skywalker33 · Post #8 » by **skywalker33** » Wed Mar 13, 2019 4:17 am

THE J0KER wrote:Wolves without playoff chances, Covington, Rose, and Wiggins are not treat in Denver. So the only interesting thing should be will Malone with his playing tima schedule prevent Joker to make another triple-double or not

I am SURE Malone is trying to prevent Joker from getting another TD :roll:

Now Barton, not so sure, he's fumbled several easy passes from Jokic.

SkillzFromThe6 · Post #9 » by **SkillzFromThe6** » Wed Mar 13, 2019 4:34 am

SkillzFromThe6 wrote:Malone finally fixed the rotations and went back to the pre-Barton rotations under 4min in 1q of Monte, Murray, Beasley, Millsap, Plumlee and put Craig in that group for Millsap in 2q. That lineup just contained the lead. I love it. Hopefully this is what it'll be going forward into the playoffs.

Now he put Barton in place of Murray in the 2nd half... :banghead:

Cmon

SkillzFromThe6 · Post #10 » by **SkillzFromThe6** » Wed Mar 13, 2019 4:45 am

SkillzFromThe6 wrote:
SkillzFromThe6 wrote:Malone finally fixed the rotations and went back to the pre-Barton rotations under 4min in 1q of Monte, Murray, Beasley, Millsap, Plumlee and put Craig in that group for Millsap in 2q. That lineup just contained the lead. I love it. Hopefully this is what it'll be going forward into the playoffs.

Now he put Barton in place of Murray in the 2nd half... Cmon

Will Barton will probably end the game with the most minutes. Malone loves this guy too much, man.

Post #11 » by **THE J0KER** » Wed Mar 13, 2019 5:40 am

Hope Craig injury is nothing serious, it would be really painful to see someone gets injury 10 seconds before end of the blowout win.

When opponent playing without 3 starters and 6th men, it is bye win even before the start of the game. Still, I would not ignore this game completely as irrelevant, because game style with so many moving and assists. Murray and Morris have a perfect games which they should try to repeat every time. Millsap is great too, but it is not realistic expect from him again 4/5 for 3pt anytime soon (including halfcourt money-ball).

Post #12 » by **NuggetsWY** » Wed Mar 13, 2019 6:18 am

Denver +/- by quarter: +11 -1 +6 +10 --- that shows a fairly consistent effort

40 assists on 51 made baskets - that's fantastic

Barton had a rough night shooting but I can live with that, especially if he's limited to around 25 mpg. He took a few bad shots, but mostly they were within the offense. His defense was even slightly better - but he wasn't covering a major scorer.

Morris & Beasley got more minutes with Thomas out of the rotation - Morris had a great game and Beasley played well, but did not get a lot of shots. I like our four guard rotation! Craig also had a nice game. Bench needs to play well.

Worst aspect of tonight's game was rebounding. We barely won that battle and it sure seemed like we should have won the board battle by more.

RRFB · Post #13 » by **RRFB** » Wed Mar 13, 2019 6:24 am

I thought Malone's rotation was pretty spot-on tonight. Those are the 8-9 guys we should be rolling with in the playoffs, imo. Everyone seemed to know their role.

Wasn't surprised to see Monte go right back to his old self with IT on the bench -- that was really nice to see. Basically everyone from top to bottom had strong games, and I was really impressed with some of Beasley's playmaking. Great bounce-back win. Hopefully Craig is alright.

Manolito · Post #14 » by **Manolito** » Wed Mar 13, 2019 9:04 am

40 assists is team record this season. Randomly it happened when IT did not play.

I am not that optimistic with Barton playing time.

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Post #15 » by **The Rebel** » Wed Mar 13, 2019 1:31 pm

skywalker33 wrote:Is it just me or does the TNT announcers seems to be favoring the Wolves ??

They sounded almost shocked when they realized that the Nuggets were blowing them out. I have become 100% convinced that the reason that Jokic gets so little credit is that he is a white European player. They made a few statements last night that showed just how little they know about Jokic but the three that irritated me more than anything was when they said it was good that Jokic did not back down because euro players are soft, and that KAT was the best center in the league while Jokic and our offense was running circles around the Twolves, and the idea that Millsap should be our go to scorer. All 3 are a joke and only prove that these idiots do not know crap about the Nuggets.

While I am on the subject, I am also tired of hearing how deep this Nuggets team is, and that is why they continued to win through the injuries. NO mention that all these guys are so good because Jokic makes the game so much easier for these guys.