2025 NBA PLAYOFFS West Semifinals: #1 Oklahoma City Thunder vs #4 Denver Nuggets (Series tied 1-1)

[Woodsanity]

Before the series started I was thinking OKC in 6.

I do think the Nuggets still have a chance in 6 or 7 if things go well like Murray goes on a heater or MPJ actually shows up.

The fact that the Nuggets stole game 1 is big. Not surprised OKC got revenge and spanked them in game 2 but that doesn't mean anything in terms of game 3. I expect game 3 to be relatively close. Nuggets already did their job stealing 1.

Now for the monumental task of winning 2 in a row at home.

[Wolfgang630]

Before the series started I was thinking OKC in 6.

I do think the Nuggets still have a chance in 6 or 7 if things go well like Murray goes on a heater or MPJ actually shows up.

The fact that the Nuggets stole game 1 is big. Not surprised OKC got revenge and spanked them in game 2 but that doesn't mean anything in terms of game 3. I expect game 3 to be relatively close. Nuggets already did their job stealing 1.

Now for the monumental task of winning 2 in a row at home.

Yeah I expect a close game 3. Winning 2 at home sounds like a daunting task nowadays lol. Is home court advantage even an “advantage” anymore?

[Woodsanity]

Before the series started I was thinking OKC in 6.

I do think the Nuggets still have a chance in 6 or 7 if things go well like Murray goes on a heater or MPJ actually shows up.

The fact that the Nuggets stole game 1 is big. Not surprised OKC got revenge and spanked them in game 2 but that doesn't mean anything in terms of game 3. I expect game 3 to be relatively close. Nuggets already did their job stealing 1.

Now for the monumental task of winning 2 in a row at home.

Yeah I expect a close game 3. Winning 2 at home sounds like a daunting task nowadays lol. Is home court advantage even an “advantage” anymore?

I think Nuggets have the best home court advantage just due to the altitude but the OKC are just a more talented team so stealing that game 1 was critical because even winning 2 in a row at home will be tough. Most likely it will be a split at home but that would mean you have to steal another one at OKC which will be even tougher.

I think winning game 1 was partially a product of OKC being rusty and the coach making huge mistakes over fouling down the stretch. Meanwhile the Nuggets just played a game 7 and were tired but battle ready.

[Prince187]

Games like that make me want to quit watching the NBA until it’s seized by the government and all the corruption is ended. The refs allowed OKC to beat the snot out of the nuggets in order to build that huge lead. Then when the game was out of reach they made sure to call some fouls on OKC so that dishonest people can point to the FT attempts of both teams and say they were close. FT attempts rarely tell the full story. This is why all the major sports leagues still use 19th century technology to officiate games even though we live in the most technologically advanced society in all of history

It was blatant yesterday and when the MVP who plays almost exclusively inside, and gets mugged and double/triple teamed shoots the first free throws when they are down 34 while SGA keeps parading to the line on minimal contact, i am not sure how big the influence of teh officating really was. Nuggets played terrible but when you get shell shocked by an early run like that, with all calls going one direction, its hard to stop the flood against a dominant deep team AND the refs.

Yeah absolutely, rhythm is so important when it comes to basketball.And the refs destroyed Denver’s rhythm and threw them off their game by allowing OKC to punch them in the mouth

[Castle Black]

I’ve seen talks of putting Westbrook in the starting lineup and benching MPJ. It might be a good idea with how useless MPJ is now with his injury.

Won't matter. Westbrook plays hard and has actually been Denver's best defender this series statistically speaking, so you gotta give him credit for that, but he's still a 32% shooter from 3. That's simply not good enough, especially when most of those Jokic-generated looks are wide open. Same with the rest of Joker's supporting cast. It's not an issue of strategy, it's an issue of personnel. Denver simply doesn't have the talent to beat this OKC team in a series.

Nuggets brass did a horrendous job (hence why they were just fired) of surrounding their generational Superstar with a Championship-caliber supporting cast. Their second best player is an extremely flawed one in Jamal Murray, who is hands down the worst defender on the floor any time he's on it, and who is a poor passer and a non-creator offensively so when his jump shot isn't falling (which is often these days), he's literally a net-negative player. Aaron Gordon is their 3rd option and while he's a really solid role-player, he's not going to move the needle against teams like OKC. He's too limited offensively.

The rest of their playable roster consists of guys like MPJ, Christian Braun, Westbrook, Peyton Watson, and Jalen Pickett... I mean it's laughable honestly that this was the best supporting cast Denver's Front Office could come up with for their generational Superstar.

[Optms]

Offense isn't Denvers problem.

They just have up 149 points. To keep spewing this narrative they need more offense while ignoring the obvious is truly something. Start by at least trying to play defense. Thunder were out there shooting wide open 3's all night.

[Optms]

Good to see the media call out OKC's borderline tactics.

Many teams engage in shady or cheap tactics to get an advantage. That's acceptable if unfortunate. But when you start crossing the line into potentially dangerous plays that's different. The refs need to get a grip on what OKC is doing so that things don't go to a bad place.

"The media"

*Cites a random blogger

"Win games and keep Nikola Jokic healthy"

And not even a good blogger either. Literally zero insight.

[Impuniti]

I’ve seen talks of putting Westbrook in the starting lineup and benching MPJ. It might be a good idea with how useless MPJ is now with his injury.

Won't matter. Westbrook plays hard and has actually been Denver's best defender this series statistically speaking, so you gotta give him credit for that, but he's still a 32% shooter from 3. That's simply not good enough, especially when most of those Jokic-generated looks are wide open. Same with the rest of Joker's supporting cast. It's not an issue of strategy, it's an issue of personnel. Denver simply doesn't have the talent to beat this OKC team in a series.

Nuggets brass did a horrendous job (hence why they were just fired) of surrounding their generational Superstar with a Championship-caliber supporting cast. Their second best player is an extremely flawed one in Jamal Murray, who is hands down the worst defender on the floor any time he's on it, and who is a poor passer and a non-creator offensively so when his jump shot isn't falling (which is often these days), he's literally a net-negative player. Aaron Gordon is their 3rd option and while he's a really solid role-player, he's not going to move the needle against teams like OKC. He's too limited offensively.

The rest of their playable roster consists of guys like MPJ, Christian Braun, Westbrook, Peyton Watson, and Jalen Pickett... I mean it's laughable honestly that this was the best supporting cast Denver's Front Office could come up with for their generational Superstar.

Denver has the second worst defense in the playoffs. Maybe they should focus more on making stops than someone only being 32% from 3. 7/8 teams that are still in the playoffs, their def rating ranges from #1-#9. Denver 15 out of 16.

https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/defense?dir=D&sort=DEF_RATING


I have no idea why basketball fans and Denver FO have this comical obsession with Denver's offense. These guys leak points with regularity. What is more important?

[guynumber45]

I’ve seen talks of putting Westbrook in the starting lineup and benching MPJ. It might be a good idea with how useless MPJ is now with his injury.

Won't matter. Westbrook plays hard and has actually been Denver's best defender this series statistically speaking, so you gotta give him credit for that, but he's still a 32% shooter from 3. That's simply not good enough, especially when most of those Jokic-generated looks are wide open. Same with the rest of Joker's supporting cast. It's not an issue of strategy, it's an issue of personnel. Denver simply doesn't have the talent to beat this OKC team in a series.

Nuggets brass did a horrendous job (hence why they were just fired) of surrounding their generational Superstar with a Championship-caliber supporting cast. Their second best player is an extremely flawed one in Jamal Murray, who is hands down the worst defender on the floor any time he's on it, and who is a poor passer and a non-creator offensively so when his jump shot isn't falling (which is often these days), he's literally a net-negative player. Aaron Gordon is their 3rd option and while he's a really solid role-player, he's not going to move the needle against teams like OKC. He's too limited offensively.

The rest of their playable roster consists of guys like MPJ, Christian Braun, Westbrook, Peyton Watson, and Jalen Pickett... I mean it's laughable honestly that this was the best supporting cast Denver's Front Office could come up with for their generational Superstar.

Denver has the second worst defense in the playoffs. Maybe they should focus more on making stops than someone only being 32% from 3. 7/8 teams that are still in the playoffs, their def rating ranges from #1-#9. Denver 15 out of 16.

https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/defense?dir=D&sort=DEF_RATING


I have no idea why basketball fans and Denver FO have this comical obsession with Denver's offense. These guys leak points with regularity. What is more important?

A good defense is not possible with a team starting Jokic/Murray/MPJ. They should probably trade MPJ in the offseason for a guy like Wiggins.

For just this series, I think you completely replace MPJ's minutes with Westbrook and Watson and pray those guys can hit some open 3s.

[Impuniti]

Won't matter. Westbrook plays hard and has actually been Denver's best defender this series statistically speaking, so you gotta give him credit for that, but he's still a 32% shooter from 3. That's simply not good enough, especially when most of those Jokic-generated looks are wide open. Same with the rest of Joker's supporting cast. It's not an issue of strategy, it's an issue of personnel. Denver simply doesn't have the talent to beat this OKC team in a series.

Nuggets brass did a horrendous job (hence why they were just fired) of surrounding their generational Superstar with a Championship-caliber supporting cast. Their second best player is an extremely flawed one in Jamal Murray, who is hands down the worst defender on the floor any time he's on it, and who is a poor passer and a non-creator offensively so when his jump shot isn't falling (which is often these days), he's literally a net-negative player. Aaron Gordon is their 3rd option and while he's a really solid role-player, he's not going to move the needle against teams like OKC. He's too limited offensively.

The rest of their playable roster consists of guys like MPJ, Christian Braun, Westbrook, Peyton Watson, and Jalen Pickett... I mean it's laughable honestly that this was the best supporting cast Denver's Front Office could come up with for their generational Superstar.

Denver has the second worst defense in the playoffs. Maybe they should focus more on making stops than someone only being 32% from 3. 7/8 teams that are still in the playoffs, their def rating ranges from #1-#9. Denver 15 out of 16.

https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/defense?dir=D&sort=DEF_RATING


I have no idea why basketball fans and Denver FO have this comical obsession with Denver's offense. These guys leak points with regularity. What is more important?

A good defense is not possible with a team starting Jokic/Murray/MPJ. They should probably trade MPJ in the offseason for a guy like Wiggins.

For just this series, I think you completely replace MPJ's minutes with Westbrook and Watson and pray those guys can hit some open 3s.

I agree with you on both ends. I'm responding to the guy who says WB has been the best defender on the team but worries about his offense since his 3P% is only 32%.

I also think the FO thinks like the poster I quoted. Overemphasis on offense, then we hear Denver and other NBA fans whine and complain when Denver falters due to their defense. Jokic is a center and isn't that good defensively. The goal should be to make his job easier this summer.

[Castle Black]

I’ve seen talks of putting Westbrook in the starting lineup and benching MPJ. It might be a good idea with how useless MPJ is now with his injury.

Won't matter. Westbrook plays hard and has actually been Denver's best defender this series statistically speaking, so you gotta give him credit for that, but he's still a 32% shooter from 3. That's simply not good enough, especially when most of those Jokic-generated looks are wide open. Same with the rest of Joker's supporting cast. It's not an issue of strategy, it's an issue of personnel. Denver simply doesn't have the talent to beat this OKC team in a series.

Nuggets brass did a horrendous job (hence why they were just fired) of surrounding their generational Superstar with a Championship-caliber supporting cast. Their second best player is an extremely flawed one in Jamal Murray, who is hands down the worst defender on the floor any time he's on it, and who is a poor passer and a non-creator offensively so when his jump shot isn't falling (which is often these days), he's literally a net-negative player. Aaron Gordon is their 3rd option and while he's a really solid role-player, he's not going to move the needle against teams like OKC. He's too limited offensively.

The rest of their playable roster consists of guys like MPJ, Christian Braun, Westbrook, Peyton Watson, and Jalen Pickett... I mean it's laughable honestly that this was the best supporting cast Denver's Front Office could come up with for their generational Superstar.

Denver has the second worst defense in the playoffs. Maybe they should focus more on making stops than someone only being 32% from 3. 7/8 teams that are still in the playoffs, their def rating ranges from #1-#9. Denver 15 out of 16.

https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/defense?dir=D&sort=DEF_RATING


I have no idea why basketball fans and Denver FO have this comical obsession with Denver's offense. These guys leak points with regularity. What is more important?

Nobody's "obsessed" my man. We're all here to talk hoops, so that's what I'm doing. I guess that means you're obsessed too..?

I literally said that Denver brass did a horrible job constructing this roster. That includes defensively (obviously). You took one short sentence about WB out of that entire paragraph and freaked out about it

[Castle Black]

Won't matter. Westbrook plays hard and has actually been Denver's best defender this series statistically speaking, so you gotta give him credit for that, but he's still a 32% shooter from 3. That's simply not good enough, especially when most of those Jokic-generated looks are wide open. Same with the rest of Joker's supporting cast. It's not an issue of strategy, it's an issue of personnel. Denver simply doesn't have the talent to beat this OKC team in a series.

Nuggets brass did a horrendous job (hence why they were just fired) of surrounding their generational Superstar with a Championship-caliber supporting cast. Their second best player is an extremely flawed one in Jamal Murray, who is hands down the worst defender on the floor any time he's on it, and who is a poor passer and a non-creator offensively so when his jump shot isn't falling (which is often these days), he's literally a net-negative player. Aaron Gordon is their 3rd option and while he's a really solid role-player, he's not going to move the needle against teams like OKC. He's too limited offensively.

The rest of their playable roster consists of guys like MPJ, Christian Braun, Westbrook, Peyton Watson, and Jalen Pickett... I mean it's laughable honestly that this was the best supporting cast Denver's Front Office could come up with for their generational Superstar.

Denver has the second worst defense in the playoffs. Maybe they should focus more on making stops than someone only being 32% from 3. 7/8 teams that are still in the playoffs, their def rating ranges from #1-#9. Denver 15 out of 16.

https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/defense?dir=D&sort=DEF_RATING


I have no idea why basketball fans and Denver FO have this comical obsession with Denver's offense. These guys leak points with regularity. What is more important?

A good defense is not possible with a team starting Jokic/Murray/MPJ. They should probably trade MPJ in the offseason for a guy like Wiggins.

For just this series, I think you completely replace MPJ's minutes with Westbrook and Watson and pray those guys can hit some open 3s.

Agreed. Surrounding Jokic with non-defenders is not a recipe for winning basketball. I agree WB should get MPJ's minutes but it won't matter in the end imo. Denver's roster is not good enough to beat this OKC team in a 7-game series.

[hardenASG13]

Offense isn't Denvers problem.

They just have up 149 points. To keep spewing this narrative they need more offense while ignoring the obvious is truly something. Start by at least trying to play defense. Thunder were out there shooting wide open 3's all night.

Right? Denver scored 56 at the half. The problem was they gave up 87. They obviously won't win games with defense like that.

[2weekswithpay]

Read on Twitter

[hardenASG13]

Denver has the second worst defense in the playoffs. Maybe they should focus more on making stops than someone only being 32% from 3. 7/8 teams that are still in the playoffs, their def rating ranges from #1-#9. Denver 15 out of 16.

https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/defense?dir=D&sort=DEF_RATING


I have no idea why basketball fans and Denver FO have this comical obsession with Denver's offense. These guys leak points with regularity. What is more important?

A good defense is not possible with a team starting Jokic/Murray/MPJ. They should probably trade MPJ in the offseason for a guy like Wiggins.

For just this series, I think you completely replace MPJ's minutes with Westbrook and Watson and pray those guys can hit some open 3s.

Agreed. Surrounding Jokic with non-defenders is not a recipe for winning basketball. I agree WB should get MPJ's minutes but it won't matter in the end imo. Denver's roster is not good enough to beat this OKC team in a 7-game series.

It was in 2023. This is an obvious step up in competition from that run though. Who would you want then (most stars guards don't play great defense), and how would Denver have acquired them? Like, you can rip their front office for signing Murray and Porter (who is playing with 1 arm, difficult in basketball, they said last series he can't put his jersey on without help), but i can't remember the last free agent to sign there. What are you suggesting they do/should've done (if you're thinking this series is over)?

[Castle Black]

A good defense is not possible with a team starting Jokic/Murray/MPJ. They should probably trade MPJ in the offseason for a guy like Wiggins.

For just this series, I think you completely replace MPJ's minutes with Westbrook and Watson and pray those guys can hit some open 3s.

Agreed. Surrounding Jokic with non-defenders is not a recipe for winning basketball. I agree WB should get MPJ's minutes but it won't matter in the end imo. Denver's roster is not good enough to beat this OKC team in a 7-game series.

It was in 2023. This is an obvious step up in competition from that run though. Who would you want then (most stars guards don't play great defense), and how would Denver have acquired them? Like, you can rip their front office for signing Murray and Porter (who is playing with 1 arm, difficult in basketball, they said last series he can't put his jersey on without help), but i can't remember the last free agent to sign there. What are you suggesting they do/should've done (if you're thinking this series is over)?

Yea this year's competition is stiffer than it was in 2023, but also Murray has regressed considerably from that Championship run where he played lights out (literally the best basketball of his career). That and Denver lost 2 pivotal role players from that team in KCP and Bruce Brown, who were their two best perimeter defenders.

As far as what to do this off-season, I'm honestly not sure that they can do much. MPJ's contract is rough at nearly $40M/year over the next 2 years, so it will be difficult to trade. Not sure what team would even want him right now. The obvious answer would be to trade MPJ to PHX for KD, but the problem is Denver doesn't have much draft capital at their disposal. ORL owns their First Round Pick this year. OKC owns their First Round Picks in 2027 & 2028 (or 2029 if it doesn't convey in 2028). And teams like HOU, BKN, SAS, etc. can all offer better packages for KD if they want.

So Denver is really sort of stuck in a rut right now with their roster situation. I have no idea how they're going to improve it, and frankly I'm not really sure that they can, at least not significantly.

[MrPainfulTruth]

Denver has the second worst defense in the playoffs. Maybe they should focus more on making stops than someone only being 32% from 3. 7/8 teams that are still in the playoffs, their def rating ranges from #1-#9. Denver 15 out of 16.

https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/defense?dir=D&sort=DEF_RATING


I have no idea why basketball fans and Denver FO have this comical obsession with Denver's offense. These guys leak points with regularity. What is more important?

A good defense is not possible with a team starting Jokic/Murray/MPJ. They should probably trade MPJ in the offseason for a guy like Wiggins.

For just this series, I think you completely replace MPJ's minutes with Westbrook and Watson and pray those guys can hit some open 3s.

I agree with you on both ends. I'm responding to the guy who says WB has been the best defender on the team but worries about his offense since his 3P% is only 32%.

I also think the FO thinks like the poster I quoted. Overemphasis on offense, then we hear Denver and other NBA fans whine and complain when Denver falters due to their defense. Jokic is a center and isn't that good defensively. The goal should be to make his job easier this summer.

In short, everything you said is simplified, purely box score based opinion. On top of that presented with a condescending attitude like you know more than the people regularily following Denver. Offense and defense are connected. If you have no flow on offense, you have no transition defense either. Whenever Denvers offense is working, they are much better on D too, because they force their opponent to take the ball oout of the basket - whereas the random chucking of Murray and MPJ leads to fastbreaks with poor matchups. On top of that, Jokic is forced to run the entire offense to keep them afloat and people still whine that he isnt at the same time their best defender. Its delusional. Sometimes watching the game helps. Actually always.

[JM00n69]

Jokic is slower and obviously bigger and stronger than most guys he plays. He uses this advantage to initiate a lot of contact. This was the same reason Shaq was pushed and shoved a lot, because he did a lot of pushing and shoving himself. Let the bigs fight it out is basically the rationale.

Even if you start calling it tighter, I don't think it favors Denver because OKC has 18 fouls in their big rotation and there's only 1 Jokic with 6 fouls. Even with officials letting them play, Jokic had 6 fouls in 32 minutes while Jwill and Hart had 8 fouls in 48 combined minutes.

I think the more physical style suits Jokic well. He just has to play through it as all the all time greats had to learn to do.

SGA is obviously taller and stronger than most PG so lets just let everyone else clobber him any time he touches the ball or whenever he's trying to get to his spots off the ball. It's only fair.

It's a ridiculous statment but that's exactly how your statement comes across. And Jokic is not prime Shaq, prime Shaq could overpower any of the 7ftrs with two people hanging off his arms/legs.

[HotRocks34]

Good to see the media call out OKC's borderline tactics.

Many teams engage in shady or cheap tactics to get an advantage. That's acceptable if unfortunate. But when you start crossing the line into potentially dangerous plays that's different. The refs need to get a grip on what OKC is doing so that things don't go to a bad place.

"The media"

*Cites a random blogger

"Win games and keep Nikola Jokic healthy"

And not even a good blogger either. Literally zero insight.

No the writer's insight is evident and also correct.

Obviously you want to win games. But the true story is that if OKC continues to play a borderline dirty style as they did in Game 2, Jokic might get hurt. That's the sad reality and it's accurate for the writer to point that out.

Williams backing into Jokic as he did was dangerous with Jokic lifted off the ground and his legs exposed.

The writer is saying basically what Gordon said after the contest.

To be honest, what Gordon and the Yahoo writer are saying isn't super revelatory in some respect. And that's because anyone who understands the game of basketball who watched the contest could see it for themselves.

[MrPainfulTruth]

Jokic is slower and obviously bigger and stronger than most guys he plays. He uses this advantage to initiate a lot of contact. This was the same reason Shaq was pushed and shoved a lot, because he did a lot of pushing and shoving himself. Let the bigs fight it out is basically the rationale.

Even if you start calling it tighter, I don't think it favors Denver because OKC has 18 fouls in their big rotation and there's only 1 Jokic with 6 fouls. Even with officials letting them play, Jokic had 6 fouls in 32 minutes while Jwill and Hart had 8 fouls in 48 combined minutes.

I think the more physical style suits Jokic well. He just has to play through it as all the all time greats had to learn to do.

SGA is obviously taller and stronger than most PG so lets just let everyone else clobber him any time he touches the ball or whenever he's trying to get to his spots off the ball. It's only fair.

It's a ridiculous statment but that's exactly how your statement comes across. And Jokic is not prime Shaq, prime Shaq could overpower any of the 7ftrs with two people hanging off his arms/legs.

The point is not more or less physcal play. Thats just a strawman. The point is lack of consistency and its part of OKC's entire season, its not something that only Nuggets fans complain about. I'm not for favorable calls for superstars but i've never seen an MVP foul out in three quarters, and meanwhile you can see in every replay that Jokic gets fouled 3-4 times driving to the basket. There simply is no consistency in the calls. Whoever pretends there isnt a clear agenda in the way those games are ran is delusional - which is forgivable if you are a fan of that team. However i have the greatest respect for those fans who root for their team but can still admit the obvious instead of living in complete denial.