The NBA Thread

True to a point but he's also at his best when he can float on the perimeter and be that help defender at times to the basket. He's elite at guarding 1-5. He's not a banging center and wants to save his body in the regular season which im cool with and he's stated many times he'll do whatever is necessary once the Playoffs roll around where you see him play the 5 much more often. McGee has played what, maybe 10 minutes at the most of actual non garbage time since game 2 of the Rockets series? AD played the 5 pretty much every minute from game 2 on the last series and has played a decent amount starting off this series as well. Howard is without question the best option on Jokic for most of the minutes as it leaves AD to roam and cause absolute havoc on the other 4 guys and if needed he can take over in the second half and shut most of his game down.

Luckily the Lakers finally have a coach again that can make great in game adjustments and decisions. Like in this current series you have McGee who can guard Jokic better then any defender he's faced in the Playoffs outside of probably Gobert yet he's only the Lakers 4-5th best player to guard him on our roster. Jokic just has no chance to consistently have good minutes with what the Lakers can throw at him while they all get to remain fresh at all times and even after Jokic lost the weight he's still far from great shape to say the least. Hopefully people will stop saying he's at AD's level which was ridiculous in the first place imo especially when you factor in the defensive side.

That lineup with Morris/AD as the bigs is absolutely lights out though defensively (offensively as well much of the time). If they keep playing the way they are they'll go down as an all time great Playoff defense. He's the number one guy I hope they are looking to re-sign, he's a great fit next to AD in the modern day smaller ball NBA most teams throw out now.

I'm interested to see what adjustments Malone makes but honestly the Lakers are just an awful matchup for them and vastly superior at every single facet of the game so only so much a coach can do. Plus they were already in the Nuggets heads 2-3 minutes into the 2nd quarter of game 1. They're mentally weak just like the Nuggets of the mid 2000's when Kobe would wreck havoc on them and they'd fold every single year...

I do agree though that McGee needs to play extremely limited to no minutes again in this series to not give the Nuggets any real hope.

This is great analysis. More of this, please.
 
True to a point but he's also at his best when he can float on the perimeter and be that help defender at times to the basket. He's elite at guarding 1-5. He's not a banging center and wants to save his body in the regular season which im cool with and he's stated many times he'll do whatever is necessary once the Playoffs roll around where you see him play the 5 much more often. McGee has played what, maybe 10 minutes at the most of actual non garbage time since game 2 of the Rockets series? AD played the 5 pretty much every minute from game 2 on the last series and has played a decent amount starting off this series as well. Howard is without question the best option on Jokic for most of the minutes as it leaves AD to roam and cause absolute havoc on the other 4 guys and if needed he can take over in the second half and shut most of his game down.

Luckily the Lakers finally have a coach again that can make great in game adjustments and decisions. Like in this current series you have McGee who can guard Jokic better then any defender he's faced in the Playoffs outside of probably Gobert yet he's only the Lakers 4-5th best player to guard him on our roster. Jokic just has no chance to consistently have good minutes with what the Lakers can throw at him while they all get to remain fresh at all times and even after Jokic lost the weight he's still far from great shape to say the least. Hopefully people will stop saying he's at AD's level which was ridiculous in the first place imo especially when you factor in the defensive side.

That lineup with Morris/AD as the bigs is absolutely lights out though defensively (offensively as well much of the time). If they keep playing the way they are they'll go down as an all time great Playoff defense. He's the number one guy I hope they are looking to re-sign, he's a great fit next to AD in the modern day smaller ball NBA most teams throw out now.

I'm interested to see what adjustments Malone makes but honestly the Lakers are just an awful matchup for them and vastly superior at every single facet of the game so only so much a coach can do. Plus they were already in the Nuggets heads 2-3 minutes into the 2nd quarter of game 1. They're mentally weak just like the Nuggets of the mid 2000's when Kobe would wreck havoc on them and they'd fold every single year...

I do agree though that McGee needs to play extremely limited to no minutes again in this series to not give the Nuggets any real hope.
I burned myself on some of these hot takes haha. There are some pretty grand statements on here that could only come from a Lakers fan. I agree with some of it but...:

They're mentally weak just like the Nuggets of the mid 2000's when Kobe would wreck havoc on them and they'd fold every single year...

this ain’t it chief. It’s spoken like a true homer. The Nuggets just came back being down 3-1 against two teams and had huge comebacks in a lot of those games. This team is not mentally weak. They may not be physically fresh and the Lakers has 6 days of rest compared to 2 that the Nuggets had but it’s not their mentality.

Rondo being back has been huge for the Lakers. But the Nuggets also just had a bad game from their supporting cast the other night. I think the Nuggets will bounce back hopefully. Jokic being in foul trouble the whole game was a big part of why the Nuggets crumbled in game one also. If he can stay out of foul trouble, they have a much better chance.
 
I burned myself on some of these hot takes haha. There are some pretty grand statements on here that could only come from a Lakers fan. I agree with some of it but...:

They're mentally weak just like the Nuggets of the mid 2000's when Kobe would wreck havoc on them and they'd fold every single year...

this ain’t it chief. It’s spoken like a true homer. The Nuggets just came back being down 3-1 against two teams and had huge comebacks in a lot of those games. This team is not mentally weak. They may not be physically fresh and the Lakers has 6 days of rest compared to 2 that the Nuggets had but it’s not their mentality.

Rondo being back has been huge for the Lakers. But the Nuggets also just had a bad game from their supporting cast the other night. I think the Nuggets will bounce back hopefully. Jokic being in foul trouble the whole game was a big part of why the Nuggets crumbled in game one also. If he can stay out of foul trouble, they have a much better chance.


I've watched the Lakers and Nuggets all season and they were falling apart and crying in the regular season as well against the Lakers when things got physical and they were hit in the mouth which Jokic does not like. All that complaining and crying from the 2nd quarter and Murray is still going on and on even today shows some mental handicaps to me. They came back against the Jazz and an extremely dysfunctional Clippers team, they deserve tons of credit for sure but i've seen them crumble to the Lakers all season long when things get physical. Murray especially, is a lot like Westbrook where he is cocky and confident as anyone when things go right but he's more then happy to avoid and throw the blame on anyone but himself it doesn't happen. I seen this since he matched up against Lonzo back in 2018 up to the present.

Jokic has been dominated by the lakers for stretches of every single game they've played this year. It's not just a game 1 fluke. I'm sure they will call it tighter on the Lakers in game 2 but it wont change the fact the Nuggets are so vastly outmatched in every aspect. The Nuggets had a bad game because the Lakers put the clamps on them after that horrible first quarter. The defense was great for the rest of the game which the Nuggets haven't had to face in the Playoffs until then. You'll see Lebron probably take his turn tonight with Kuz having some great stretches since he's also a great matchup against them but wasn't used much offensively in the first game either.

I know I come off as cocky or extra confident but outside of the Jazz there wasn't a Playoff team I was more confident about easily beating then the Nuggets. I still believe there ceiling is one win and I honestly dont see that happening. I wasn't nearly this confident about easily beating the Blazers or Rockets and I wont be for either the Heat or Celtics but all 4 of those teams are much better and especially matchup wise against the Lakers.

I am absolutely a Homer though but will happily call out concerns I have against the opponent which all 4 of those teams I have/had much more then the Nuggets.

Lastly, with Jokic. I'm sure he will score a bit more but as long as the Lakers don't stupidly double him constantly like the Clippers did and allow him to pick apart your defense with his passing and get the rest of the team going with open looks he wont kill us. He's also a monumental liability defensively since he's still so out of shape and slow. The Lakers will continue to slaughter them in transition and with the fast break on even made shots. AD would have had nearly 50 without breaking much of a sweat if he even needed to play the 4th.
 
I've watched the Lakers and Nuggets all season and they were falling apart and crying in the regular season as well against the Lakers when things got physical and they were hit in the mouth which Jokic does not like. All that complaining and crying from the 2nd quarter and Murray is still going on and on even today shows some mental handicaps to me. They came back against the Jazz and an extremely dysfunctional Clippers team, they deserve tons of credit for sure but i've seen them crumble to the Lakers all season long when things get physical. Murray especially, is a lot like Westbrook where he is cocky and confident as anyone when things go right but he's more then happy to avoid and throw the blame on anyone but himself it doesn't happen. I seen this since he matched up against Lonzo back in 2018 up to the present.

Jokic has been dominated by the lakers for stretches of every single game they've played this year. It's not just a game 1 fluke. I'm sure they will call it tighter on the Lakers in game 2 but it wont change the fact the Nuggets are so vastly outmatched in every aspect. The Nuggets had a bad game because the Lakers put the clamps on them after that horrible first quarter. The defense was great for the rest of the game which the Nuggets haven't had to face in the Playoffs until then. You'll see Lebron probably take his turn tonight with Kuz having some great stretches since he's also a great matchup against them but wasn't used much offensively in the first game either.

I know I come off as cocky or extra confident but outside of the Jazz there wasn't a Playoff team I was more confident about easily beating then the Nuggets. I still believe there ceiling is one win and I honestly dont see that happening. I wasn't nearly this confident about easily beating the Blazers or Rockets and I wont be for either the Heat or Celtics but all 4 of those teams are much better and especially matchup wise against the Lakers.

I am absolutely a Homer though but will happily call out concerns I have against the opponent which all 4 of those teams I have/had much more then the Nuggets.

Lastly, with Jokic. I'm sure he will score a bit more but as long as the Lakers don't stupidly double him constantly like the Clippers did and allow him to pick apart your defense with his passing and get the rest of the team going with open looks he wont kill us. He's also a monumental liability defensively since he's still so out of shape and slow. The Lakers will continue to slaughter them in transition and with the fast break on even made shots. AD would have had nearly 50 without breaking much of a sweat if he even needed to play the 4th.
Bron cries every time he gets "fouled" or fouls someone too. I wouldn't say they are weak mentally. Crying and complaining happens on nearly every team. The Nuggets looked similar in game one as they did in each other series so far up until the Lakers blew it open in Game 1.

It will be interesting to see how the Nuggets respond in Game 2. I'm not ready to right them off yet even though every Laker fan is already planning the championship parade it seems.
 
Have you watched the regular season as well? Murray does much more then just complain about calls which every good player does. He's literally been complaining and making excuses since the minute the game ended. He was doing the same thing in the regular season too, this year and back in 2018. He loves to talk, like in the third when he finally actually did something and made 2 shots in a row he started laughing in Lebrons face and told him that they couldn't guard him which resulted in a few minutes later the Lakers being up by I believe 27? :eek:

Laker fans have seen total domination of the Nuggets all season and if you just look at the matchups the Lakers matchup so ridiculously well against them. They have NOBODY to stop the two best players far and away in this series which is Bron and AD but the Lakers have plenty of solid defenders to throw at both Murray and Jokic. Not really too hard to tell this is a lopsided series. It's why nearly everyone, not just Laker fans are looking past this series.
 
Have you watched the regular season as well? Murray does much more then just complain about calls which every good player does. He's literally been complaining and making excuses since the minute the game ended. He was doing the same thing in the regular season too, this year and back in 2018. He loves to talk, like in the third when he finally actually did something and made 2 shots in a row he started laughing in Lebrons face and told him that they couldn't guard him which resulted in a few minutes later the Lakers being up by I believe 27? :eek:

Laker fans have seen total domination of the Nuggets all season and if you just look at the matchups the Lakers matchup so ridiculously well against them. They have NOBODY to stop the two best players far and away in this series which is Bron and AD but the Lakers have plenty of solid defenders to throw at both Murray and Jokic. Not really too hard to tell this is a lopsided series. It's why nearly everyone, not just Laker fans are looking past this series.
Nuggets had a net rating of +3.2 against LAL during the regular season.
 
The games were also all close aside from when the Nuggets won by 24 points in December...Lakers winning by 9, then 4 in OT and 3 in another game is hardly “dominating” them. Lakers fans are a funny bunch...

Yeah, the one game Lebron and I believe another player or two didn't play is the one they won big. The others might have been close but they pretty much controlled the game throughout.

The Lakers just played the worst game by far this entire post season and still beat the Nuggets haha. Sweep is feeling quite nice about now :p

It'll be funny getting another Championship indeed.
 
These Jokic can’t AD takes are hilarious. What did Jokic have tonight? 30 points and 9 assists (despite countless missed open 3’s from his teammates).

Jokic sits alongside Giannas as the best big in the game and is the best offensively. He has done WAY more in his short time in Denver than AD ever did in New Orleans (despite having Jrue). AD is a stunningly elite #2 option who couldn’t raise his team out of the gutter as a #1 and went crying to Lebron. He does nothing to make his teammates better the way Jokic does.

That said, props to him for that clutch shot. And he’s still the 3rd best big in the game. Just find it infuriating to have a Laker fan acting like a guy with the best clutch stats in the NBA over the past two years and who is one Rodney Hood shot away from back to back WCF appearances (despite not having another all-star on the roster) is soft. Hell, the dude’s older brother is an MMA fighter and they wrestle for fun.

The Nuggets problem is a) Milsap fell off a cliff during the hiatus and was already undersized b) Barton is out injured which means we are missing our best pure 2 way player and starting SF who averages 15/5/4 c) Harris is an elite defender but is undersized in this matchup and hasn’t been the same player offensively since the hip injury in late 2018 d) MPJ isn’t ready defensively for this matchup

Basically we lack the size at the 2 and 4 to deal with the Lakers. When you add the fact that Grant is an atrocious rebounder (which doesn’t matter most of the time because we are usually the bigger team and because MPJ is an elite rebounder in situations where Malone trusts him to be on the floor)— the Lakers are sort of a matchup nightmare for us.

The irony of living in LA for 15 years is that my hate for the Lakers runs almost as deep as my love for this city, so it sucks that they are always the team that knocks the Nuggets out of the WCF.

But I’m just trying to to view things positively- Murray is 23, Porter Jr is 21 and Jokic is 25 (and loves Denver). They are all under contract for years to come and have yet to hit their prime. Oh and Bol Bol looks like another 2nd round steal.

I hope you guys are enjoying getting to know Jokic’s game. His final 3 minutes in this one were crazy... Now excuse me while I finish off this 6 pack of Modelo and try and rid my memory of that horrendous Plumlee blunder that cost us the game.
 
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AD took the Pelicans to the second round and gave one of the greatest teams of all time in the Warriors a series posting up absolute monster numbers (Which I believe he's currently 2nd all time in scoring average behind only Jordan in the Playoffs). The next season is when he was hurt and then he came to the Lakers which is the current season. He just barely turned 27 this year and still has his prime years ahead of him.

Offensively, I give you Jokic as the better pure shooter (AD is closing that gap quick though) and passer obviously but scorer? AD has outscored him 5 straight games this season now and 3 of the 5 he scored nearly twice as much? Defense, Jokic on his best night is neutral while AD is right up there with only Giannis on that side of the ball in the entire NBA. As a complete player he's simply not at that level.

Not many people are taking Jokic as the better overall player over AD. Big men that play next to no defense nearly always get booted from the Playoffs just like Jokic will continue to do unless he actually takes it serious and gets in good shape to be able to consistently play defense. He's basically an elite offensive talent but will end up being the modern day center version of Harden once in the Playoffs every year.

The real sad thing for Denver is game 3 will be another slaughter, this was your guys chance to get that 1 win. At least you can say "almost" though...

0 and 6. Six times in their franchise history the Denver Nuggets have found themselves up against the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA playoffs, and six times they've lost.

That 6 will soon become a 7 so I completely get the frustration. Must be rough.
 
Yeah, the one game Lebron and I believe another player or two didn't play is the one they won big. The others might have been close but they pretty much controlled the game throughout.

The Lakers just played the worst game by far this entire post season and still beat the Nuggets haha. Sweep is feeling quite nice about now :p

It'll be funny getting another Championship indeed.
Lakers fans are on another level of entitlement and homerism. There’s a reason why they are probably the most insufferable fan base in all of sports (next to Pats fans). You have been going on and on about total domination yet the Lakers had to win by a buzzer beater. Jokic was bodying AD in the post at the end of the game. Some mentally weak team they were right?? Nearly everything you said in your hot takes before the game was wrong hah.

If I’m building a team from scratch, I’d take Jokic 10/10 times. He’s a better overall player and makes his teammates better. AD is the better scorer but that doesn’t really matter since it doesn’t always translate to wins. As you saw in NO, his scoring didn’t do anything to make the team better in the playoffs. Harden is another example of how scoring doesn’t mean anything in the playoffs.

If AD didn’t jump ship to join one of the best to ever play the game, he’d be watching games at home right now. AD is third in career playoffs ppg behind Jordan and AI yet he hasn’t won shit. And which Warriors series are you taking about? The one where the Warriors had the gentlemen’s sweep and AD was a consistent net negative for his team on the floor? If you score 25 but are a negative 25 plus minus in the game, would you say that helps the team? At least take off the purple and yellow glasses and be a little bit more realistic with your takes...
 
ad is once again barely 27, many of the greats hardly started winning much earlier then that? also, besides maybe dirk every great player that won championships has another great player or two by his side. everyone in that starting lineup with the pelicans was a negative against the warriors? they were severely outmatched and heavy underdogs. not sure what else he was supposed to do? there's a reason nearly every warrior was raving about him after that series how he was going to be a problem going forward. also, he swept the blazers where he was the underdog that series before playing the warriors. nobody was beating the warriors in the west that season, it's not like ad had some great team around him either.

you call me out for my homerism and hot takes, then you just one up me 🤭 btw there was only one game he was -25 in that gsw series and the game before that one he was a +19.. in every game his +/- was better then the difference in the final score which means during every single game they were always better when he was one the floor. ad has one of the greatest plus minuses in the history of the game this season as well? so not sure that's the argument you want to bring in. also, if you want to go that route Jokic was a -6 last night while ad was a +8 in a 2 point game. The game before that jokic was a -19 while ad was a +15 not that even tells the entire story but def. a bad tool to use when trying to make jokic look better. Lastly on this subject, for the overall Playoffs this season he's a +131 which is the highest of any player period. everything you have said is borderline hilarious tbh. I exaggerated the domination sure, becuase I constantly deal with Nuggets fans lately that bring up nothing but rape changes and luck. At the end of the day most of what I said, especially the stats and facts are all right though.. my takes are bad yet you are trying to say ad doesnt make his teammates better? listen to quotes and watch the game, the team absolutely loves him and constantly raves about how his defense is contagious and completely changes games. something jokic will never have the ability to do. there's two sides to basketball and jokic is basically completely handicapped for 1.

I mixed up a bunch of true facts with me being a fan and exaggerating a bit, ill admit that but at the end of the day the lakers will once again knock the nuggets out of the Playoffs like they have for there entire franchise history (and will continue to do so). i truthfully do not know a single other nba fan that's not a lakers fan that thinks jokic is better then ad.. thats homerism in its finest if you think it's clear cut especially.

in my experience nuggets fans are far and away the worse so that is a two street with your cute little generalizing takes.

good day

:coffee:

 
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ad is once again barely 27, many of the greats hardly started winning much earlier then that? also, besides maybe dirk every great player that won championships has another great player or two by his side. everyone in that starting lineup with the pelicans was a negative against the warriors? they were severely outmatched and heavy underdogs. not sure what else he was supposed to do? there's a reason nearly every warrior was raving about him after that series how he was going to be a problem going forward. also, he swept the blazers where he was the underdog that series before playing the warriors. nobody was beating the warriors in the west that season, it's not like ad had some great team around him either.

you call me out for my homerism and hot takes, then you just one up me 🤭 btw there was only one game he was -25 in that gsw series and the game before that one he was a +19.. in every game his +/- was better then the difference in the final score which means during every single game they were always better when he was one the floor. ad has one of the greatest plus minuses in the history of the game this season as well? so not sure that's the argument you want to bring in. also, if you want to go that route Jokic was a -6 last night while ad was a +8 in a 2 point game. The game before that jokic was a -19 while ad was a +15 not that even tells the entire story but def. a bad tool to use when trying to make jokic look better. everything you have said is borderline hilarious tbh. I exaggerated the domination sure, becuase I constantly deal with Nuggets fans lately that bring up nothing but rape changes and luck. At the end of the day most of what I said, especially the stats and facts are all right though.. my takes are bad yet you are trying to say ad doesnt make his teammates better? listen to quotes and watch the game, the team absolutely loves him and constantly raves about how his defense is contagious and completely changes games. something jokic will never have the ability to do. there's two sides to basketball and jokic is basically completely handicapped for 1.

I mixed up a bunch of true facts with me being a fan and exaggerating a bit, ill admit that but at the end of the day the lakers will once again knock the nuggets out of the Playoffs like they have for there entire franchise history (and will continue to do so). i truthfully do not know a single other nba fan that's not a lakers fan that thinks jokic is better then ad.. thats homerism in its finest if you think it's clear cut especially.

in my experience nuggets fans are far and away the worse so that is a two street with your cute little generalizing takes.

good day

:coffee:
If post is towards me, I'm not a Nuggets fan haha. But it's cool to assume that I guess? And i don't think many things that I said were too hot of a take. I'd say quite a large number of people like Jokic over AD and think he's a better overall player and makes his team better. I'm not a Nuggets fan so you know at least one person who would take Jokic over AD. Charles Barkley seems to think Jokic is better too (although that doesn't entirely make my case better since it is Chuck after all... 😂 ) If Jokic had Bron as a teammate they would be title favorites easily too.

As for AD's "greatest plus minuses in the history of the game" this season, he doesn't even have the best plus minus on his team from everything I see...ESPN has AD's RPM as the same as Tobias Harris. Bron's is better as well.

I'm not saying AD is a bad player by any stretch, despite you taking it that way. He is still a fantastic player and has an even brighter future if he stays healthy. But if you swap Jokic and AD this season, do the Nuggets get to the WCF? I, personally, don't think they would.

But it's cool, man. Water under the bridge. I don't take sports too seriously. At the end of the day it's a game. If the Lakers win, they win. It'll be miserable to hear all the Lakers fans come out of the woodwork after ignoring the team during any stretch in which they are bad.
 
Me checking this thread after the last ~10 posts:

Oops Yikes GIF - Oops Yikes Awkward - Discover & Share GIFs in 2020 |  Jennifer lawrence, Giphy, Jennifer lawrence oops
 
Lakers fans are on another level of entitlement and homerism. There’s a reason why they are probably the most insufferable fan base in all of sports (next to Pats fans). You have been going on and on about total domination yet the Lakers had to win by a buzzer beater. Jokic was bodying AD in the post at the end of the game. Some mentally weak team they were right?? Nearly everything you said in your hot takes before the game was wrong hah.

If I’m building a team from scratch, I’d take Jokic 10/10 times. He’s a better overall player and makes his teammates better. AD is the better scorer but that doesn’t really matter since it doesn’t always translate to wins. As you saw in NO, his scoring didn’t do anything to make the team better in the playoffs. Harden is another example of how scoring doesn’t mean anything in the playoffs.

If AD didn’t jump ship to join one of the best to ever play the game, he’d be watching games at home right now. AD is third in career playoffs ppg behind Jordan and AI yet he hasn’t won shit. And which Warriors series are you taking about? The one where the Warriors had the gentlemen’s sweep and AD was a consistent net negative for his team on the floor? If you score 25 but are a negative 25 plus minus in the game, would you say that helps the team? At least take off the purple and yellow glasses and be a little bit more realistic with your takes...
You take Jokic if starting a brand new team today? He’s definitely in the convo but man, I think I start with Luka.
 
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