Game 50: Denver Nuggets (34-15) @ Detroit Pistons (17-33) - 12:30 PM ET

[ducler]

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[THE J0KER]

Denver is the clear favorite to win today, despite all injuries. But if Nuggets lose vs lottery Pistons after beating Jazz and Bucks back-to-back, it will not be the first such case this season

[THE J0KER]

24-7 after just 5 minutes of play, this game is already over! Jokic 6-4-4 already after 5 minutes, are he is ready for career 2nd 1st half triple-double?

[skywalker33]

24-7 after just 5 minutes of play, this game is already over! Jokic 6-4-4 already after 5 minutes, are he is ready for career 2nd 1st half triple-double?

Didn’t he already have a first half TD against MIL a few years ago ?? I may be wrong but it wouldn’t surprise me

[psimanic1]

24-7 after just 5 minutes of play, this game is already over! Jokic 6-4-4 already after 5 minutes, are he is ready for career 2nd 1st half triple-double?

Didn’t he already have a first half TD against MIL a few years ago ?? I may be wrong but it wouldn’t surprise me

He said it, career 2nd 1st half TD, where 2nd is 2nd TD like that and 1st is for first half

[Han Solo]

Sekou needs everyone traded that’s not part of the future to really achieve what is possible with him. We need to somehow get rid of everyone besides the youngsters.

[Manolito]

Barton is highly toxic. Why the hell do Nuggets depend so much on him? When he is hot obviously it works, but he is not even a top50 player to have such a benefits.

His BBIQ is really low and I am sure Nuggets would play way better without him

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[THE J0KER]

What the hell Malone doing? In the middle of the 1st quarter team leads 28-7, the opponent is on the knees, Jokic adjusted to make monster game but Malone sit down and cooled him. So in the game we playing without 4 very important players Jokic played only 14 minutes (enough for 19-7-5), so halftime result is 65-68 after 28-7 start.

[SkillzFromThe6]

I wish Denver would let Torrey Craig do more than just be a spot-up shooter on offense. He barely touches the ball. He's capable of driving.

Man, every time I watch Craig I wish he was on Toronto Raptors (my other fav team). They'd unleash his potential.

[SkillzFromThe6]

Barton is highly toxic. Why the hell do Nuggets depend so much on him? When he is hot obviously it works, but he is not even a top50 player to have such a benefits.

His BBIQ is really low and I am sure Nuggets would play way better without him

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He's inconsistent. I view him as a 6th man even though he starts. Coach Malone, however, views him as their 2nd best player.

[SkillzFromThe6]

Jarred Vanderbilt was playing good in his 5 minutes. Drummond is destroying the bench right now. Smh.

[Manolito]

Horrible defensive effort.

I am wondering why Vanderbilt is not playing anymore, Juancho has zero chances vs Drummond

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[Manolito]

Ballhog Barton, that was not your shot

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[SkillzFromThe6]

Idk why Gary Harris isn't on Reggie Jackson instead of Will Barton.

[skywalker33]

Playing down to their competition, what’s new ?!?!

[THE J0KER]

Denver classic! We just beat Utah and Milwaukee, and perfectly 28-7 started the game vs underdog... and we lost!

I don't blame Barton for that missed hero-ball, but man who called it. If you have player with the league highest clutch shoot percentage and player with lowest, why you calling Barton play? And he not even waiting 2 seconds left to put that final shot, but 12, giving opponent nice opportunity to win already in regular time.

Against Bucks we have all 9 players in double digits, but today only 5 scored more than 5 points, so Jokic fantastic 39-10-11-3-2 performance was not enough. Especially pathetic was Harris who played like he wants to prevent his trade before trade deadline. This game exposed how badly we need MPJ when Millsap and Plumlee are out. We needed his rebounds and efficient shooting desperately. Opponent 6'4 backup guard Brown collected 10 rebounds.

[The Rebel]

Denver classic! We just beat Utah and Milwaukee, and perfectly 28-7 started the game vs underdog... and we lost!

I don't blame Barton for that missed hero-ball, but man who called it. If you have player with the league highest clutch shoot percentage and player with lowest, why you calling Barton play? And he not even waiting 2 seconds left to put that final shot, but 12, giving opponent nice opportunity to win already in regular time.

Against Bucks we have all 9 players in double digits, but today only 5 scored more than 5 points, so Jokic fantastic 39-10-11-3-2 performance was not enough. Especially pathetic was Harris who played like he wants to prevent his trade before trade deadline. This game exposed how badly we need MPJ when Millsap and Plumlee are out. We needed his rebounds and efficient shooting desperately. Opponent 6'4 backup guard Brown collected 10 rebounds.

That wasn't a play called for Barton, you can see him even hesitate and almost pass it to Jokic off the pick for the pick and roll, then his glory hound ways took over.

[The Rebel]

I have to say that even with Barton being on his best behavior this team is never going to be a contender as long as he is our scorer in the starting lineup. I am really **** tired of watching these guys build leads and than watching Barton start chasing his stats and ignoring the offense and not playing defense, it happens every time we build a lead. It happens every time we are down around 10 when he comes back in during the 4th quarter. I may be the only one that remembers how often he does it, but he has cost us several games this year, and today was just icing on the cake. I don't know where the media and reddit circle jerk started with this guy, but it is a joke, he flat out is not a winning player and should be out the door asap.

Juancho and Harris both shot like **** today, I do not know why both lost their confidence but it is hurting the team which does not seem to be helping with their confidence.

Jokic had a great game, but he cannot do it alone.

I said at the end of last season that the veterans especially Barton and to a lessor extent Plumlee need to be moved and I still believe that. We will never hit our potential when we have an idiot more worried about his stats than winning and a Center that cannot cover the perimeter or shoot off the bench.

[TunaFish]

I have to say that even with Barton being on his best behavior this team is never going to be a contender as long as he is our scorer in the starting lineup. I am really **** tired of watching these guys build leads and than watching Barton start chasing his stats and ignoring the offense and not playing defense, it happens every time we build a lead. It happens every time we are down around 10 when he comes back in during the 4th quarter. I may be the only one that remembers how often he does it, but he has cost us several games this year, and today was just icing on the cake. I don't know where the media and reddit circle jerk started with this guy, but it is a joke, he flat out is not a winning player and should be out the door asap.

Juancho and Harris both shot like **** today, I do not know why both lost their confidence but it is hurting the team which does not seem to be helping with their confidence.

Jokic had a great game, but he cannot do it alone.

I said at the end of last season that the veterans especially Barton and to a lessor extent Plumlee need to be moved and I still believe that. We will never hit our potential when we have an idiot more worried about his stats than winning and a Center that cannot cover the perimeter or shoot off the bench.

Harris looks like his mind is somewhere else. I wonder if all the trade rumors are having some effect. Nevertheless, I think they do need to make some moves and maybe they know what is going on with Harris.

Barton has reverted to his old habits. And they really need MPJ back.

[NuggetsWY]

No defense - FG% & 3pt% is the only stat needed to understand this game.

Some great comments and I'm just going to make a few comments on those.

24-7 after just 5 minutes of play, this game is already over! Jokic 6-4-4 already after 5 minutes, are he is ready for career 2nd 1st half triple-double?

Never count a Nugget opponent out of a game until after the final horn sounds.

Sekou needs everyone traded that’s not part of the future to really achieve what is possible with him. We need to somehow get rid of everyone besides the youngsters.

Thanks for joining us. We always welcome good posts. I can seldom watch a game live, so my responses always come late.

Barton is highly toxic. Why the hell do Nuggets depend so much on him? When he is hot obviously it works, but he is not even a top50 player to have such a benefits.

His BBIQ is really low and I am sure Nuggets would play way better without him

Malone!

What the hell Malone doing? In the middle of the 1st quarter team leads 28-7, the opponent is on the knees, Jokic adjusted to make monster game but Malone sit down and cooled him. So in the game we playing without 4 very important players Jokic played only 14 minutes (enough for 19-7-5), so halftime result is 65-68 after 28-7 start.

Two fouls and Malone has never given Jokic credit for being able to play with fouls. If you have watched carefully, Jokic has more than once played the 2nd half with no fouls after having foul trouble in the first half.

I wish Denver would let Torrey Craig do more than just be a spot-up shooter on offense. He barely touches the ball. He's capable of driving.

Man, every time I watch Craig I wish he was on Toronto Raptors (my other fav team). They'd unleash his potential.

Spot-up is all most of the Nuggets do. What Craig needs to do is cut to the basket anytime Jokic has the ball. He's a great finisher at the basket. I'm not convinced his handles are good enough to be a great one-on-one player. His not a bad ball handler overall, just not a one-on-one ankle-breaker.

I have to say that even with Barton being on his best behavior this team is never going to be a contender as long as he is our scorer in the starting lineup. I am really **** tired of watching these guys build leads and than watching Barton start chasing his stats and ignoring the offense and not playing defense, it happens every time we build a lead. It happens every time we are down around 10 when he comes back in during the 4th quarter. I may be the only one that remembers how often he does it, but he has cost us several games this year, and today was just icing on the cake. I don't know where the media and reddit circle jerk started with this guy, but it is a joke, he flat out is not a winning player and should be out the door asap.

Barton is a perfect bench player. Put him in and if he's hot, play him. If he's not hot in the first couple of minutes, pull him out. Like most shooters, even when he's not hot, he thinks he can make every shot. He tends to drive to the hoop and try to put up a shot against a center with one or two others defending. I've got news for him, he is NOT 6'8" 300 lbs. He has shot well enough to make major contributions in winning some games and he has shot poor enough to cost us some games.

His last shot in this game was not a bad one for him and there's no guarantee that Jokic makes his shot. However, Barton has never demonstrated a great touch on floaters. Morris & Murray are both great at floaters. Barton typically takes an outside shot or a shot right at the basket. So that was not a shot that was great.

I have never ever thought Barton's defense was any better than a 380 lb playground man that stands 10' or more from the basket. Sure, he makes an occasional block and looks great doing it. But his help defense is not good and his man defense is worse. His judgement is poor, especially on defense. When he's covering someone from outside, he usually ends up standing still watching their back as they head to the basket. He's often caught out of position, as he tries to find a way to make a steal or block. He leaves a great shooter open too often when he does that. Watch him throughout a game and you can see that he is not exerting great effort on defense - except on rare occasions.

Juancho and Harris both shot like **** today, I do not know why both lost their confidence but it is hurting the team which does not seem to be helping with their confidence.

Jokic had a great game, but he cannot do it alone.

Malone does not make changes easily. He loves Barton and Craig. He refuses to acknowledge that Harris is hurting the team with his shooting/fear of shooting. He does not use Jokic nearly enough (a problem from day one) and all of that seems to be because Malone has his system and everyone must fit his system. A truly great coach will adapt his own system to adjust for the strengths and weaknesses of his players. That is true of both offensive and defensive systems - this is not a Malone strength.

I said at the end of last season that the veterans especially Barton and to a lessor extent Plumlee need to be moved and I still believe that. We will never hit our potential when we have an idiot more worried about his stats than winning and a Center that cannot cover the perimeter or shoot off the bench.

The Nuggets have a tradition of overpaying their veteran role players out of loyalty and Malone has a tradition of overusing his veterans (out of loyalty?).

Plumlee and Jokic are terrible covers outside - and I believe it is because Malone wants them to play up close. With their length and lack of foot speed, they should play off the outside shooters and just try to close on the shot and get a hand up to bother them. Our defense was great at the start of the year but once teams figured out what we were doing, they adjusted - we haven't.