Playoffs Game 7 WCSF: Denver Nuggets (2) @ Portland Trail Blazers (3) - 7:00 PM ET

[eathb_au]

The biggest disappointment for me is that we didn't lose to the best of the West.

Like if GS destroy Portland then all of a sudden our playoff run is a joke and our path follows that of Portland, needing to lose to an average West team to beat an average West team the season after.

IMO that'd be a weak as hell timeline.

[Mickey8]

Jokic made some blunders and missed some easy shots in the game, but Murray and Millsap were atrocious , if they made some shot s, Denver would have won, this was the golden opportunity for Denver, they had everything in their hands. Denver have to retool in this off season, Jokic need decent substitution for him ,SF, hopefully Porter can play and he can be at least useful.

[Mickey8]

Stupid how the ref-whing little POR beothches now have to come over and try to prove they are "good sports". Really would have been smarter to just listen to their mods and just stay away, sorry Jokic didn't get injured like you wanted....

I did want Jokic to get injured after he intentionally elbowed Kanter in his injured shoulder. I only want people to get injured that deserve it. He also got away with so many fouls it was ridiculous. Be happy, you have a player that, for whatever reason, the NBA wants to protect like Michael Jordan.

If we had Nurkic, and if the refs had officiated fairly, Portland would have swept Denver easily.

Classless post and not something welcome here. You are encouraged to stay away from here.

If Nurkic was playing Portland would have been swept in the first round, he's a looser and overrated player. Portland have dogged bullet him being injured.

[skywalker33]

I did want Jokic to get injured after he intentionally elbowed Kanter in his injured shoulder. I only want people to get injured that deserve it. He also got away with so many fouls it was ridiculous. Be happy, you have a player that, for whatever reason, the NBA wants to protect like Michael Jordan.

If we had Nurkic, and if the refs had officiated fairly, Portland would have swept Denver easily.

Classless post and not something welcome here. You are encouraged to stay away from here.

If Nurkic was playing Portland would have been swept in the first round, he's a looser and overrated player. Portland have dogged bullet him being injured.

They did play MUCH better without him in the lineup

[NuggetsWY]

Classless post and not something welcome here. You are encouraged to stay away from here.

If Nurkic was playing Portland would have been swept in the first round, he's a looser and overrated player. Portland have dogged bullet him being injured.

They did play MUCH better without him in the lineup

I don't know, if I were Portland, I'd want Nurkic in there. Think about Nurkic-Kantner rotating against Jokic. They could wear him out with 12 fouls.

[Powder Blue]

Lotta emotion in here, I guess I've distanced myself from letting a sporting event rile me up...especially when the outcome would have just resulted in a brutal series against the GSW. Portland played good steady ball, CJ led the way at the end and Dame let him, props to them for the win.

We had a 3-2 series lead and a 17pt lead in game 7, rough not to win it but as others have eluded to we had a long stretch of really hard basketball with not much of a break over the last month. We ran out of gas last night and it showed. I hang that 4 OT loss on Malone more so than last night, if the guys aren't making shots it's tough to win.

We've gotten much worse return out of $60 mil than what we got out of Milsap but I do think the only way he should come back is about 1/3 his option price. I'd love to dump Barton and upgrade Plumlee but we might be stuck with them. More on this in the 2019 Off-season thread.

[Nero79]

I felt that Nuggets were obviously overplayed and tired. I think there is something about playoff tight rotations but it can be overdone and it also becomes predictable. Jokic looked so tired as visible in his misses. Some bench play could have really changed things up and sparked the team like the Portland bench did.

[NuggetsWY]

Without any statistical analysis, my eyes tell me that the more three point shots we take, the more likely we are to lose games. Sure, sometimes more 3pt shots comes about because of trying to catch-up (but that's a mistake too IMO).

The Nuggets shot 34% from 3pt range which is in the top third of the league. Here's the Nuggets that shot over 34% (only the players that played significant parts in our season):

2.8 shots 41% Morris
5.0 shots 40% Beasley
5.5 shots 37% Murray --- 34% in playoffs
2.3 shots 37% Millsap --- 32% in playoffs
2.6 shots 37% Hernangomez
4.6 shots 34% Barton - a little surprising --- 27% in playoffs
4.2 shots 34% Harris - a little surprising

Below 34%

2.5 shots 32% Craig --- 47% in playoffs
3.4 shots 31% Jokic - rather surprising --- 39% in playoffs
3.1 shots 26% Lyles
let's ignore Plumlee's 0.1 shots per game

[The Rebel]

Without any statistical analysis, my eyes tell me that the more three point shots we take, the more likely we are to lose games. Sure, sometimes more 3pt shots comes about because of trying to catch-up (but that's a mistake too IMO).

The Nuggets shot 34% from 3pt range which is in the top third of the league. Here's the Nuggets that shot over 34% (only the players that played significant parts in our season):

2.8 shots 41% Morris
5.0 shots 40% Beasley
5.5 shots 37% Murray --- 34% in playoffs
2.3 shots 37% Millsap --- 32% in playoffs
2.6 shots 37% Hernangomez
4.6 shots 34% Barton - a little surprising --- 27% in playoffs
4.2 shots 34% Harris - a little surprising

Below 34%

2.5 shots 32% Craig --- 47% in playoffs
3.4 shots 31% Jokic - rather surprising --- 39% in playoffs
3.1 shots 26% Lyles
let's ignore Plumlee's 0.1 shots per game

I don't think it is trying to play catch up, I think it is due to teams being able to pack the paint. I am 100% sure that the book on the Nuggets are that they are streaky shooters and that Craig, Plumlee, and Millsap are not guys to worry about outside. When they hit a few than teams shift to covering tighter and not shading the paint. When they don't hit, than defense just shades the paint and dares the Nuggets to beat them.

For having a great shooter brought in as shooting coach, I am disappointed in how bad guys shot this year.

[NuggetsWY]

Without any statistical analysis, my eyes tell me that the more three point shots we take, the more likely we are to lose games. Sure, sometimes more 3pt shots comes about because of trying to catch-up (but that's a mistake too IMO).

The Nuggets shot 34% from 3pt range which is in the top third of the league. Here's the Nuggets that shot over 34% (only the players that played significant parts in our season):

2.8 shots 41% Morris
5.0 shots 40% Beasley
5.5 shots 37% Murray --- 34% in playoffs
2.3 shots 37% Millsap --- 32% in playoffs
2.6 shots 37% Hernangomez
4.6 shots 34% Barton - a little surprising --- 27% in playoffs
4.2 shots 34% Harris - a little surprising

Below 34%

2.5 shots 32% Craig --- 47% in playoffs
3.4 shots 31% Jokic - rather surprising --- 39% in playoffs
3.1 shots 26% Lyles
let's ignore Plumlee's 0.1 shots per game

I don't think it is trying to play catch up, I think it is due to teams being able to pack the paint. I am 100% sure that the book on the Nuggets are that they are streaky shooters and that Craig, Plumlee, and Millsap are not guys to worry about outside. When they hit a few than teams shift to covering tighter and not shading the paint. When they don't hit, than defense just shades the paint and dares the Nuggets to beat them.

For having a great shooter brought in as shooting coach, I am disappointed in how bad guys shot this year.

[Sinobas]

If Nurkic was playing Portland would have been swept in the first round, he's a looser and overrated player. Portland have dogged bullet him being injured.

Maybe the Denver version of him that you traded away, along with a first round pick for Mason Plumlee, was a garbage player. Why else would your GM have traded him and a 1st for Mason?

But since he's come to Portland, he's been good on both ends, and last season was his best one yet and he's still getting better. He's one of the better defensive centers in the game and averages 21/14 with 4 assists per game. Yeah...he's total garbage.

And we locked him up for less than what you gave Plumlee.

[U hova]

man what are you doing here...

[NuggetsWY]

I did want Jokic to get injured after he intentionally elbowed Kanter in his injured shoulder. I only want people to get injured that deserve it. He also got away with so many fouls it was ridiculous. Be happy, you have a player that, for whatever reason, the NBA wants to protect like Michael Jordan.

If we had Nurkic, and if the refs had officiated fairly, Portland would have swept Denver easily.

Classless post and not something welcome here. You are encouraged to stay away from here.

If Nurkic was playing Portland would have been swept in the first round, he's a looser and overrated player. Portland have dogged bullet him being injured.

I tend to disagree with you. There is no doubt Jokic is the better player but if Jokic is playing 40 minutes and Nurkic plays 24 & Kanter plays 24, they could wear out Jokic - especially because Plumlee seemed ineffective in the playoffs this year.

Past that, I'd say Nurkic was in the top half of the centers in the league and perhaps the top third. I haven't analyzed that. Most Portland fans hate on Nurkic because he threw a fit here. Take that hatred out of the equation and you can see his value.

[Darklight]

I am still beyond pissed even days after. We were up by **** 17 points!! Bunch of chokers only jokic showed up.. seriously wtf were millsap and murray doing!?? And holy **** was murray bad, when the dude got blocked on that layup by CJ it just summed his night, just can't relay on him way too inconsistent and when he is off he doesn't bring anything else really, if he makes that layup and that one open 3 (where you couldn't be more open) it's a 5 point swing and we win **** it all!!
Altough cred where it's due he has been way better in the playoffs then I expected and much more consistent then in the regular season.

Millsap on the other hand wtf is this guy doing beyond trash this game and he has no one that can guard him on the blazers, extremely dissapointing from our vet with so much exp and who we should be able to relay on guess not huh? Jokic showed up as always the bench has been a disgrace, what happend with morris?? Beasley wasn't really bad but not really good,**** I knew the guy would be unplayable even before the kickoff, dude has shaq like freethrows but unlike shaq who was arguably the most dominant player ever, **** has no postgame what so ever and hands made of stone, hated when TC gave him that outrageous contract when he isn't worth half of that!! A player who can't post up, no touch what so ever, ok defensevly, ok passer but that's it he doesn't fit the modern NBA at all...

Murray gotta to be more consistent. I have said this on reddit I think but you can find rookies more consistent then him if you don't count the playoffs, Harris has been great defensevly and improved quite a bit from last season I feel but he needs to get back to his old shooting and if those two things happend it would look alot different next year.

Now on to the blazers... I can't stand that bitchass franchise and their fans, who come and try to act "kind and act with class" when they have won, never seen a NBA fanbase complain about the refs as much as they have, even though it was even they might have even been favored slighly, SOFT! Soft is what u **** are, cred to their mod who has been a class act even when they did lose, can't remember his name but you know who u are. Also **** their whole team and those fake ass thugs, like kanter irrelevent bitch with a bitch ass mouth, acting like he was dying, **** twitter warrior. I don't know anyone who wants to see their garbage team in the WCF they are just bad and I can't see them getting out of the first round after this year enjoy it while it lasts becuase you are getting swept.

RANT OVER

[NuggetsWY]

I am still beyond pissed even days after. We were up by **** 17 points!! Bunch of chokers only jokic showed up.. seriously wtf were millsap and murray doing!?? And holy **** was murray bad, when the dude got blocked on that layup by CJ it just summed his night, just can't relay on him way too inconsistent and when he is off he doesn't bring anything else really, if he makes that layup and that one open 3 (where you couldn't be more open) it's a 5 point swing and we win **** it all!!
Altough cred where it's due he has been way better in the playoffs then I expected and much more consistent then in the regular season.

Millsap on the other hand wtf is this guy doing beyond trash this game and he has no one that can guard him on the blazers, extremely dissapointing from our vet with so much exp and who we should be able to relay on guess not huh? Jokic showed up as always the bench has been a disgrace, what happend with morris?? Beasley wasn't really bad but not really good,**** I knew the guy would be unplayable even before the kickoff, dude has shaq like freethrows but unlike shaq who was arguably the most dominant player ever, **** has no postgame what so ever and hands made of stone, hated when TC gave him that outrageous contract when he isn't worth half of that!! A player who can't post up, no touch what so ever, ok defensevly, ok passer but that's it he doesn't fit the modern NBA at all...

Murray gotta to be more consistent. I have said this on reddit I think but you can find rookies more consistent then him if you don't count the playoffs, Harris has been great defensevly and improved quite a bit from last season I feel but he needs to get back to his old shooting and if those two things happend it would look alot different next year.

Now on to the blazers... I can't stand that bitchass franchise and their fans, who come and try to act "kind and act with class" when they have won, never seen a NBA fanbase complain about the refs as much as they have, even though it was even they might have even been favored slighly, SOFT! Soft is what u **** are, cred to their mod who has been a class act even when they did lose, can't remember his name but you know who u are. Also **** their whole team and those fake ass thugs, like kanter irrelevent bitch with a bitch ass mouth, acting like he was dying, **** twitter warrior. I don't know anyone who wants to see their garbage team in the WCF they are just bad and I can't see them getting out of the first round after this year enjoy it while it lasts becuase you are getting swept.

RANT OVER

Step away from the ledge I totally understand though but I just think about what my expectations were at the beginning of the season.

My mini rant of agreement is over (I just let Darklight express my feelings a little stronger than perhaps I was feeling).

[eathb_au]

Yeah Portland getting butt spanked by GS makes our playoffs series not impressive at all. I don't know how we build from this.

[The Rebel]

Yeah Portland getting butt spanked by GS makes our playoffs series not impressive at all. I don't know how we build from this.

Okay Rock.


Seriously the 4th youngest team to make the 2nd round in NBA history and you don't know how you build from this? You sound ridiculous.

[NuggetsWY]

Yeah Portland getting butt spanked by GS makes our playoffs series not impressive at all. I don't know how we build from this.

How to build from this? Center is solid - maybe a backup. Guards are solid - need to continue to develop, especially Murray. WE NEED FORWARDS!