Grats Denver fans.

[Clemenza]

Props to Denver now go kick some Laker azz!

[GuyverX]

Denver is a better team than the Clippers. And I think I and the rest of the Clippers fans on this board knew this after Denver came back from 16 down the first time. They deserve to be in the WCF. They displayed the "never say die" attitude that a championship caliber team should have. We were just hoping Kawhi could make up for the team's shortcomings but he just couldn't. Even Kawhi is human.

This is a pretty big lesson not just for the Clippers, but the entire league. You really can't just hire mercenaries during one season and expect them to have team chemistry and a sense of continuity. You just can't. Not even the Heatles won their first year. You can be good on paper all you want but if you don't know how to play with one another, don't really have a playbook, don't have a coach who can bring these guys to play as a unit, it doesn't matter. It's just a bunch of hired guns doing their own thing and that's not winning basketball.

I remember losing up 3-1 against Houston in 2015 like it was yesterday. I'm not sure how long this will haunt Clippers fans. Unless they can turn it around next year, this is something that will loom over the franchise for a long, long time. If they don't, Kawhi and PG are likely gone. And what do we have left to show for it?

For the first time ever, I was considering not rooting for any team anymore after the loss yesterday and I've been a Clippers fan for over 20 years. This included a few 20-something win seasons. Feels a little better today but I'm keeping away from sports media. It's just not a good feeling when the team you root for is the poster child for underachievement and disappointment.

[Tracymcgoaty]

Denver is a better team than the Clippers. And I think I and the rest of the Clippers fans on this board knew this after Denver came back from 16 down the first time. They deserve to be in the WCF. They displayed the "never say die" attitude that a championship caliber team should have. We were just hoping Kawhi could make up for the team's shortcomings but he just couldn't. Even Kawhi is human.

This is a pretty big lesson not just for the Clippers, but the entire league. You really can't just hire mercenaries during one season and expect them to have team chemistry and a sense of continuity. You just can't. Not even the Heatles won their first year. You can be good on paper all you want but if you don't know how to play with one another, don't really have a playbook, don't have a coach who can bring these guys to play as a unit, it doesn't matter. It's just a bunch of hired guns doing their own thing and that's not winning basketball.

I remember losing up 3-1 against Houston in 2015 like it was yesterday. I'm not sure how long this will haunt Clippers fans. Unless they can turn it around next year, this is something that will loom over the franchise for a long, long time. If they don't, Kawhi and PG are likely gone. And what do we have left to show for it?

For the first time ever, I was considering not rooting for any team anymore after the loss yesterday and I've been a Clippers fan for over 20 years. This included a few 20-something win seasons. Feels a little better today but I'm keeping away from sports media. It's just not a good feeling when the team you root for is the poster child for underachievement and disappointment.

Still Think you guys will be able to build a good team even after Kawhi and Peepee are gone. Keep your head up and if Jerry still there it'll be alright.

[tsirigoj]

If Jokic is guarding AD, then perhaps. But AD doesn't want to guard Jokic either, you want Dwight on him ideally, maybe McGee, like in the regular season. Long lanky guys don't work on Jokic unless they're as big and athletic as Gobert. We might see very little of Jokic/AD 1 on 1, we'll probably see a lot of Millsap on AD and McGee/Dwight on Jokic. Both Jokic and AD will have monster series if they're guarding each other.

Just a friendly reminder that AD was second in DPOY voting for a reason.
Jokic will struggle against Lakers. May have periods where he looks good, but in general, Jamal Murray has to SHOW UP for the Nuggets to stand any kind of chance.

I don't see how you can possibly come to that conclusion based on Jokic's performance against Gobert. If you built someone in a lab to cover Jokic you would build Gobert.

Gobert doesn't move as well as AD, and Gobert is literally a non-factor on offense. Not only will Jokic have to deal with tenacious defense by AD, he'll ALSO have to have the best defensive games of his life if he plans to stay up with AD.

I really like Jokic. Great player, but is nothing next to Anthony Davis.

It's going to take some SERIOUS, 2004 Piston-level defense for the Nuggets to stand any kind of chance against this Laker team.

[tsirigoj]

If Jokic is guarding AD, then perhaps. But AD doesn't want to guard Jokic either, you want Dwight on him ideally, maybe McGee, like in the regular season. Long lanky guys don't work on Jokic unless they're as big and athletic as Gobert. We might see very little of Jokic/AD 1 on 1, we'll probably see a lot of Millsap on AD and McGee/Dwight on Jokic. Both Jokic and AD will have monster series if they're guarding each other.

Just a friendly reminder that AD was second in DPOY voting for a reason.
Jokic will struggle against Lakers. May have periods where he looks good, but in general, Jamal Murray has to SHOW UP for the Nuggets to stand any kind of chance.

He was voted in as a full time PF who never guards centers. His forte is the ability to switch, his help defense, rim protection. His biggest defensive weakness is defending bigger centers because he's both weaker and injury-prone, and that's why he doesn't play center. I don't know why we have to exchange this many posts to get to this truth that you and I both know.

Pretty much every advanced stat shows that AD actually performs better when he plays center. The only reason he doesn't a whole lot if because he doesn't want to (literally asked coaches to play him at PF).

[manchambo]

Just a friendly reminder that AD was second in DPOY voting for a reason.
Jokic will struggle against Lakers. May have periods where he looks good, but in general, Jamal Murray has to SHOW UP for the Nuggets to stand any kind of chance.

I don't see how you can possibly come to that conclusion based on Jokic's performance against Gobert. If you built someone in a lab to cover Jokic you would build Gobert.

Gobert doesn't move as well as AD, and Gobert is literally a non-factor on offense. Not only will Jokic have to deal with tenacious defense by AD, he'll ALSO have to have the best defensive games of his life if he plans to stay up with AD.

I really like Jokic. Great player, but is nothing next to Anthony Davis.

It's going to take some SERIOUS, 2004 Piston-level defense for the Nuggets to stand any kind of chance against this Laker team.

First, Jokic won't guard AD at all.

Second, Jokic's entire game occurs in slow motion. Being big and strong is much more valuable in trying to defend him.

[FinnTheHuman]

Just a friendly reminder that AD was second in DPOY voting for a reason.
Jokic will struggle against Lakers. May have periods where he looks good, but in general, Jamal Murray has to SHOW UP for the Nuggets to stand any kind of chance.

He was voted in as a full time PF who never guards centers. His forte is the ability to switch, his help defense, rim protection. His biggest defensive weakness is defending bigger centers because he's both weaker and injury-prone, and that's why he doesn't play center. I don't know why we have to exchange this many posts to get to this truth that you and I both know.

Pretty much every advanced stat shows that AD actually performs better when he plays center. The only reason he doesn't a whole lot if because he doesn't want to (literally asked coaches to play him at PF).

That is because it allows Lakers to go small and replace McGee/Dwight with Lebron or Kuzma or Morris at the 4 for additional spacing and better switching on defense more than anything. It has nothing to do with the fact that Davis defends centers better than he defends PFs, because he simply doesn't. But in this matchup where you have an elite offensive center with size against you, you probably lose more than you gain by putting AD at C. Lakers might try such a lineup at some point, but I'm pretty sure it's not gonna do well. Remains to be seen I guess.

[tsirigoj]

I don't see how you can possibly come to that conclusion based on Jokic's performance against Gobert. If you built someone in a lab to cover Jokic you would build Gobert.

Gobert doesn't move as well as AD, and Gobert is literally a non-factor on offense. Not only will Jokic have to deal with tenacious defense by AD, he'll ALSO have to have the best defensive games of his life if he plans to stay up with AD.

I really like Jokic. Great player, but is nothing next to Anthony Davis.

It's going to take some SERIOUS, 2004 Piston-level defense for the Nuggets to stand any kind of chance against this Laker team.

First, Jokic won't guard AD at all.

Second, Jokic's entire game occurs in slow motion. Being big and strong is much more valuable in trying to defend him.

His 'slow down' game won't be as successful with the Lakers, who like to push the pace.

Case and point: EVERY team against the Warriors.

Clippers are more a half-court team than people recognize. Doc likes to slow the ball down, run plays, and that translates in the defense as well.

Jokic playing slowly, in a blink of the eye one of his guards is on a LeBron poster.

[hippesthippo]

I was wrong about my team. I've only said that 50x now. I thought they would be mentally strong and physical. I didn't expect them to be exposed like that. I also DID think we had an edge H2H pretty much up until this week. Also I did go off on them a lot of times this year for being unfocused and soft in various games they lost games they were up big or got blown out by bad teams. They started looking much better 2nd half of season.

So you are basically a Liar. When did you ever say the Clippers were mentally weak?

you were bashing the lakers for being mentally weak and were saying how your team had the mental edge above everyone.

No, he's not a liar. He's been referring to the Clippers as "mentally weak," in pretty much every game thread since the onset of the playoffs.

Has ClipsFan been vexatious? Certainly. Obnoxious from time to time? Yes, but hardly more so than any of the other die-hard fans on this forum.

He comes out with a congratulatory thread praising the opposition and many posters respond with this kind of assault? I'd hardly call that necessary.

Why not just engage in some friendly jeering and move on?

[Spintown]

I was wrong about my team. I've only said that 50x now. I thought they would be mentally strong and physical. I didn't expect them to be exposed like that. I also DID think we had an edge H2H pretty much up until this week. Also I did go off on them a lot of times this year for being unfocused and soft in various games they lost games they were up big or got blown out by bad teams. They started looking much better 2nd half of season.

So you are basically a Liar. When did you ever say the Clippers were mentally weak?

you were bashing the lakers for being mentally weak and were saying how your team had the mental edge above everyone.

No, he's not a liar. He's been referring to the Clippers as "mentally weak," in pretty much every game thread since the onset of the playoffs.

Has ClipsFan been vexatious? Certainly. Obnoxious from time to time? Yes, but hardly more so than any of the other die-hard fans on this forum.

He comes out with a congratulatory thread praising the opposition and many posters respond with this kind of assault? I'd hardly call that necessary.

Why not just engage in some friendly jeering and move on?

See my Sig

[hippesthippo]

So you are basically a Liar. When did you ever say the Clippers were mentally weak?

you were bashing the lakers for being mentally weak and were saying how your team had the mental edge above everyone.

No, he's not a liar. He's been referring to the Clippers as "mentally weak," in pretty much every game thread since the onset of the playoffs.

Has ClipsFan been vexatious? Certainly. Obnoxious from time to time? Yes, but hardly more so than any of the other die-hard fans on this forum.

He comes out with a congratulatory thread praising the opposition and many posters respond with this kind of assault? I'd hardly call that necessary.

Why not just engage in some friendly jeering and move on?

See my Sig

I can give you recent quotes where he said the opposite. That doesn't make him a liar, it makes him a fan.

[Lalouie]

fans don't play, in fact,,,they weren't even there

[milkii]

I'm rooting for you Denver. No one wants to see Lebron getting another ring.

Plenty of people want to see him with another ring

Sent from my Pixel 3a using RealGM mobile app

Those aren't real people.

[OkcSinceSGA]

No, he's not a liar. He's been referring to the Clippers as "mentally weak," in pretty much every game thread since the onset of the playoffs.

Has ClipsFan been vexatious? Certainly. Obnoxious from time to time? Yes, but hardly more so than any of the other die-hard fans on this forum.

He comes out with a congratulatory thread praising the opposition and many posters respond with this kind of assault? I'd hardly call that necessary.

Why not just engage in some friendly jeering and move on?

See my Sig

I can give you recent quotes where he said the opposite. That doesn't make him a liar, it makes him a fan.

Appreciate the compassion my man. Good luck next round.

[bluemj32]

I'm rooting for you Denver. No one wants to see Lebron getting another ring.

Plenty of people want to see him with another ring

Sent from my Pixel 3a using RealGM mobile app

Those aren't real people.

Hmm... ok

Sent from my Pixel 3a using RealGM mobile app

[gorz]

I told you op the lakers were gonna take care of business for you guys. Congrats to Denver for an amazing run.

[WHITE_HOT_HEAT]

Denver man!!!
Huge Huge props.
You guys were phenomenal.
Murray, Jokic and MPJ... Make them the core and you could dominate the WC for years. Great balance of inside and outside scoring to go along with athleticism and playmaking.

A few things to note:
1. Get vets to go along with the young core. They might play dog **** at times, but Championship experience and vet presence is invaluable. Keep Millsap and get another vet or two.

2. Defense. Get competent defensive talents to overcome the lack of discipline and anchoring from Jokic.

3. Malone also needs help. He'll get there but he needs a few vets and defensive specialists on that coaching staff.

Looking forward to seeing you guys atleast in the WCFs for the next decade