Playoffs Game 3 WCSF: Denver Nuggets (2) @ Portland Trail Blazers (3) - 10:30 PM ET

[ducler]

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[THE J0KER]

Jokic has a great playoff debut overall, no doubt, but talking about his scoring only, he has an interesting up-and-down schedule:
_________________SAS
#1: 10pts (L)
#2: 21pts (W)
#3: 22pts (L)
#4: 29pts (W)
#5: 16pts (W)
#6: 43pts (L)
#7: 21pts (W)_____POR
#8: 37pts (W)
#9: 16pts (L)

In a "ODD" games Jokic scored 17.0 pts on average, with Denver 2-3 record, while in "EVEN" games he scored 32.5 pts so far with positive 3-1 Nuggets record.
Today is an "EVEN" game

[skywalker33]

Murray stepping (back ?) up, Milsap needs the ball and Joker needs to take it to Kanter more without fouling

[THE J0KER]

Denver losing 1st quarter (won just twice in 10 playoff games) but winning 2nd quarter (7th time) is the business as usual for Nuggets first half during 2019 playoff. Our best quarter was usually 3rd in this playoff, so lets history repeat once again!

Jokic is on his way to triple-double, but I'm disappointed with his 1st half aggressiveness, I expect much more from him in the 2nd half. We need a big game from Murray and seems this is his 25+ game! Millsap in double-double mode, but from bench players, only Beasley was good on halftime.

[THE J0KER]

Jokic steps up in 3rd, as I expected, but unfortunately, nobody follows him (Jokic 17, rest of team 12). Actually, 29 is very good offensively for a quarter, but the defense was bad this time, 33 received points are way too much. -5 before the 4th quarter is still an open game. Let's go Nuggets!

[eathb_au]

Yeah series over. Disappointing finish to the season, thought we'd turn a leaf from the George Karl years of being able to actually beat playoff teams of lower seeding than us, but it's really nothing new.

I don't know how we break that cycle of moving from a fraud regular season team, to a real playoff team that does what they're supposed to do in the playoffs. Maybe we're cursed that way forever.

Don't know if I should just watch this team for fun and completely drop all expectations of any playoff success.

[THE J0KER]

What a painful loss. We have 10+ missed opportunities to win this game... Jokic played 65 minutes, but last 25 he was walking dead scoring just 3 points in 4 overtimes and last 5 minutes of the 4th and I worry now already about his recovery for game 4. Murray was awesome too before fatigue slammed him too, and he, unfortunately, makes some very bad decisions in the last minute of couple OT's. Barton has clearly the best game in this playoff, but he too has a very bad episode in the last 70 seconds of regulation when Denver lead +5 but in just about 20 seconds he gives an open 3pt shot to Harkless, has air-ball miss and silly turnover... etc... etc... we definitely missed more than 10+ opportunities to win this game, but Portland used one of 3-4 thirs. And big credit to Portland front office which brings to this team Hood in a trade deadline and lately Kanter via a buyout. Hood scoring in this series so far 17ppg and Kanter 20ppg-10reb.

Jokic had a great game, Murray had a great game, Burton was useful, but we still lose this important game. I think it is time for a panic taster.

[NuggetsWY]

Lots of hustle in the 1st quarter, but not effective. Once again, we were outscored in the 1st quarter. It's become a serious issue IMO. Why do we have this problem? Are they not prepared to play?

Why, oh why doesn't Jokic shoot when he is being covered by Lowry? Jokic decided not to shoot in the 1st half - especially with zero 3pt shots and he was open more than once. It seems like, not always but sometimes, that Jokic doesn't get serious until the Nuggets are behind. That's hard to say when his line reads 33-18-14 but his first half stats were less than half of those, way less.

Millsap hit the boards hard! I like that. Murray had 9 boards and so did Barton. Plumlee had 1? He should get at least 3 or 3 by accident.

20 turnovers? Certainly didn't help.

[NuggetsWY]

Another thought; I really questioned some of Malone's decisions in this game. Throughout the game it seemed like he was over-coaching. The biggest question I have though is why was Barton playing in OT? I understand Malone really likes this guy but with about one minute left in the 1st OT, Malone pulls Murray when we were going to be on defense - and he left Barton in. Does anyone else think Barton is a better defensive player than Murray? That made no sense to me. Plus it left us with Barton as our PG when we switched ends. I don't mind Barton coming off the bench and he did hit some OT shots, but ... we needed defense and both Craig & Beasley are better defensive players that were sitting on the bench.

[Moonbeam]

I come in peace. I just want to congratulate your team for its toughness. This is still anyone’s series, and hopefully the start of a good rivalry. Denver playing this hard and well in their first time in the playoffs for this group is a great sign for the future. For many years, Portland has floundered under postseason pressure and just now seem to be able to maintain their solid play consistently in the postseason. Some guys would have a good series here and there, but the team has by and large been little more than teething practice for true contenders.

Given Denver won a tough 7-game series against a Poppvich-coached team and the way Denver is not playing like they are just happy to be there in the second round, I think the Nuggets are poised to be contenders for a long time. Congrats to you and your front office. As a fan of several Nuggets over the years from English to Lever to Woolridge to Adams to Abdul-Rauf to Deke to Ellis and McDyess, etc., it’s good to see Denver doing well again.

Good luck and good health for the rest of the series!

[eathb_au]

^kind of a condenscending post especially after their win. No way we see this post applauding the Nuggets team after a loss.

[Manolito]

Season is over.

Great game for a neutral or Portland fan, but not for a Nugget. Denver had won the game many Times and simply wasted it
4th Quarter: leading by 5 with 1 Minute remaining....Harkless scored 5 points. Damn Harkless!! Guarded by Barton, totally unexpected.
1th OT: leading by 2, 28sec and possesion...Craig turned tha ball over. Wtf was Craig having the ball in such situation?
3OT: leading by 4 with 31 sec....Murray turns the ball over.
4OT: Hood with fresh legs Scores 7 Points in last two minutes.

I hope Jokic learns the lesson why He should be fit. He scored 3 Points (missing Key ft) in last 27 minutes.

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[Manolito]

BTW we had 3 game Winner shots with 5sec at least and all Malone was able to set is p&r between Jokic and Murray and pray.

All these possesion ended up being a contested 30feet 3 point shot.

That has been happeningduring the complete RS

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[Sinobas]

Karma is a bitch. Jokic is intentionally trying to hurt Kanter with cheap shots that aren't called. When Jokic gets hurt, I will be here to laugh about it.

It's too bad we don't have a healthy Nurk and Jokic, because we'd be smashing you guys rather than just barely winning.

[NuggetsWY]

Karma is a bitch. Jokic is intentionally trying to hurt Kanter with cheap shots that aren't called. When Jokic gets hurt, I will be here to laugh about it.

It's too bad we don't have a healthy Nurk and Jokic, because we'd be smashing you guys rather than just barely winning.

Wow - that's rather harsh and a word of warning, laughing because some gets hurt is not welcome on this board. Kanter plays physical, so does Jokic, it's their style (also Nurkic's style and many others in the league).

[NuggetsWY]

I come in peace. I just want to congratulate your team for its toughness. This is still anyone’s series, and hopefully the start of a good rivalry. Denver playing this hard and well in their first time in the playoffs for this group is a great sign for the future. For many years, Portland has floundered under postseason pressure and just now seem to be able to maintain their solid play consistently in the postseason. Some guys would have a good series here and there, but the team has by and large been little more than teething practice for true contenders.

Given Denver won a tough 7-game series against a Poppvich-coached team and the way Denver is not playing like they are just happy to be there in the second round, I think the Nuggets are poised to be contenders for a long time. Congrats to you and your front office. As a fan of several Nuggets over the years from English to Lever to Woolridge to Adams to Abdul-Rauf to Deke to Ellis and McDyess, etc., it’s good to see Denver doing well again.

Good luck and good health for the rest of the series!

Thanks for the post. I think some of the Denver fans have forgotten the last few years. At the beginning of the year, most of us would have been happy just making the playoffs. Some of us expected to win a first round series. We've accomplished all of that and certainly finished with a much better record than anyone expected.

Beating a Popovich coached team was a challenge and we can be proud of that. I absolutely believe we can still win this series (but I'm not running to Las Vegas to bet on it). Kanter has done a fine job and of course Lillard & McCollum have scored plenty, but Hood is the surprise to me.

Perhaps Denver needs to take a closer look at the roster, rotations, etc. But isn't that what making the playoffs is all about?

[skywalker33]

Karma is a bitch. Jokic is intentionally trying to hurt Kanter with cheap shots that aren't called. When Jokic gets hurt, I will be here to laugh about it.

It's too bad we don't have a healthy Nurk and Jokic, because we'd be smashing you guys rather than just barely winning.

What a little karma YOU are !!! Since you believe in karma, let's talk about it. Why do you think Nurkic suffered such a horrific injury if not for karma ??? He wasn't meant to play against the Nuggets. First, he whines and pouts because he wants to play ahead of a superior player, he even walks out on the team. OK, he's now trashed his traded value to the team that selected him in the draft, forcing us to trade him for pennies on the dollar. So we trade him to a situation that is tailor-made for his skillset, even it being a division rival. To top it off, he then has to add some childish remark to add insult to injury with his "Hope you have a nice summer" remark. Now if THAT isn't karma, I don't know what is.

As for laughing about someone getting hurt, just shows how childish YOU are...GTFO

[skywalker33]

That was a heartbreaker, but this series isn't over. May be a necessary evil but we showed a bit more moxie, what a character builder...that's the optimist in me.

The pessimist saw we should have won that we should have won those OT's twice. Aminu didn't get called for shoving Milsap in the back to get that rebound, NOT CALLED. And Murray should have been attacking the basket rather than waiting to get fouled by McCollum, cost us BIG there.

Just time to move on to the next game

[eathb_au]

Imagine not paying for Plumlee and Barton and having Kanter and Hood for the minimum instead

[THE J0KER]

Season is over.

....

I hope Jokic learns the lesson why He should be fit. He scored 3 Points (missing Key ft) in last 27 minutes.

The season is not over yet! But I agree that losing on this way is the worst possible way for Nuggets chances to win next game#4, and the team which eventually leads 3-1 in NBA playoff was always so big favorite to win series. If we won this game#3 as we should, I would seriously suggest a day of the rest for Jokic and Murray for game#4! For win game#4 I think we will need someone to be factor-X. I can't see Jokic and Murray will be able to do it alone 48h after this Friday titanic efforts.

Talking about Jokic conditions I hope you all see now how big was Malone mistake for not preparing franchise player Nikola Jokic for 35+ minutes games. We have so many tight games where Jokic didn't play even 30 minutes, so we have a player which averages 31mpg in the regular season with only three 38mpg games to play during playoff every game around 40 minutes! As healthy 24 old franchise player, Jokic should average (at least) 33-34 minutes and have in his legs at least 20 games over 37 minutes and 10 seconds, not just 4!? Jokic playing this playoff like a Superman, but if you look at his games more closely part by part you can see clearly he is constantly underperforming in 4th an intentionally playing with low intense 1st quarters. What makes him looks like Superman is out of the blue MVP production during 2nd and 3rd quarters.