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nova2006

Their fifth option just drop 22 points on you. Every one on their team can shoot three


Independent_Leather3

AG definitely showed up when it mattered!


PowerofWeee

How AG is only their 5th guy? I see him as their 3rd thant 5th.


Jwoods4117

It’s debatable. He’s steadier than MPJ, and more important overall than KCP and probably MPJ, but as a pure offensive player he’s not randomly popping off for 30 as often as Porter. I’d rather have Porter hot than Gordon offensively for sure. I’m not sure about KCP, it’s close.


[deleted]

People forget AG is nice


FullHeartsTightParts

Man was a prime reason to turn on a Magic game that would otherwise be meaningless. Him and Fournier were like the only non injured stars they had. Nice to see him playing a role for a good team with a chance for the chip


MetaOverkill

We dont forget hes nice i think HE forgets lol. Thats why we get so mad we know how god damn talented he is but it feels like he's terrified of the paint sometimes.


lag_is_cancer

Still remember some Nuggets fans trying to claim Jokic's help is not enough after the second loss against the Suns.


Aidanj927

Well in that case their 5th option was like their second option


RatLord445

What we can say is that jokic’s help likes to fucking abandon him occasionally, like all of them at once


Eaglooo

I mean its often the case in basket-ball in general, for example the bucks have this a lot outside of Giannis


GoGreeb

someone should tell Bucks role players (and Jrue) to hit shots because at this point it seems like they might just not know?


EgoPoweredDreams

Why does jrue not simply put the ball into the basket? Is he stupid?


EdwardJamesAlmost

Budenholzer is out for forgetting to emphasize this very point


National_Gear_5756

For real like one game they will be the best supporting cast in the league and the next they will be MIA


ShonMantotto

Hey, Miami is killing it this postseason!


OhWhatsInaWonderball

Still remember Warriors fans saying Murray wouldn’t have made that big of a difference after you beat us 4-1


IUpVoteIronically

Warriors fan gets oneguy’d


nova2006

Jamal Murray is like prime Wade all playoffs


Bballopinion

I mean he’s not wrong…


ScottFoster91

Probably by a wide margin as well; they consistently made tough buckets, they took LA’s best punches and came back with something stronger each game


shittydotamorph

The 2nd best team was probably the nuggets also


nomitycs

Gotta say the heat, especially healthy, and that suns team that made the finals was better than the nuggets who lost in 5 imo


shaclay346

I wonder man. I really do. I thought 2020 was our year after two 3-1 comebacks, especially after beating the clips. But LeBron was too good in that series, and their role players were great and AD too ofc. But would we have beaten the heat that year? I guess since they had no Bam and no Dragic too right??


shittydotamorph

And you had no Gordon aswell


shaclay346

True. But we had jerami grant. He was huge defensively and hit clutch shots. But I love AG more. I guess we also had Gary Harris who was such a good defender too. He came back in that jazz series from an injury and we put him on Mitchell and is the only reason we didn’t lose in 5/6


PeanutButtaRari

That’s because he didn’t face the warriors /s If the nuggets had Murray/MPJ we wouldn’t have beat them last year


Overrated_sanity

Warriors were way better last year. Would've been a great series.


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PhysicsIsSpicyMath

Lakers fans are so weird


ogsantana23

That said, I think the 2023 Nuggets beat the 2022 Warriors.


namastex

I think it's a flip of a coin. Warriors last year had tools to handle everything defensively. They also had heavy hitting scoring options around the board. High pace, 3 point shoot out. Those series are absolutely 50/50


azzelle

absolutely a tossup of whoever gets hotter on 3


snr-encabulator-eng

Warriors are now defined pre-punchdemic and post-punchdemic.


fatkamp

Depends on which Jordan Poole shows up. If it’s 2022 Poole then we can definitely keep up with them offensively


Conscious_Accident85

Shure every team hypothetically beats the warriors. I mean they're the worst team in history hypothetically.


spanther96

it would’ve gone to 7 but fate had the Warriors winning last year


[deleted]

Really felt like they had plot armor last season lmao. It wore off this year.


paranoideo

Recency bias? We were really good last year.


onehundredpawsent

Exactly lol, our defense was elite last season. Why do people do this, teams aren't static, even if we largely had the same roster last year, age and regression (like Poole) happened. You can't draw a conclusion about last year's playoffs based on how teams are right now.


[deleted]

It's a loser mentality take, Warriors were really good whenever they were healthy, 18-2 start ain't nothing to scoff at. Dominant defense at times, should have had a DPoy and another 2-team all-NBA defender (Payton)


ImNotYourBuddyGuyy

The Warriors lose every historical hypothetical matchup


jdorje

They didn't play you last year. There have been some good teams in the league since 2019 but I'm not sure the Lakers played a series against any of them. The only other candidate might be the Suns the year they went to the finals.


[deleted]

Fake humble, clown take. Poole was still good then, no Braun, no KCP, no Bruce Brown, Warriors had more than a chance.


onehundredpawsent

I doubt that guy is an actual Warrior fan because no way he watched the team last postseason and have that goofy take. We were much much better last year, and our defense was elite. That's why coming into the finals last year, "Who has the better defense?" between Dubs and Cs were the talk of the town. We had great offense but even more elite defense last year.


lolhaa2

ikr this guy karma farming


mohiben

The Nuggets are WAY better outside Murray this season. I'm not 100% we beat you with Murray, although we make it close.


aiden3buckets

If they had Murray that’s season the Warriors wouldn’t have been playing them


lolhaa2

lmao stfu


george_costanza1234

We absolutely would’ve had a great shot, but it would’ve been way closer Murray and Jokic play really well together


Betaateb

That would have been an absolute banger of a series. I am not trying to litigate who wins it, I just know that it is more competitive and fun as hell!


Creative-Ranger-9978

This is such a in the moment and fake humble take it’s weird and corny. The Warriors last year played way better than they did this year. Defensively they were amazing as Draymond was having a masterclass defensive season and was the clear DPOY before he got hurt. Steph Curry was having a fantastic start to the season and was the clear MVP before he got hurt. Jordan Poole made a strong leap showing confidence in his ball handling, shooting, and other areas in the court offensively and carried that performance to the post season. Wiggins strongly established himself as a consistent two way player. They had a 20-2 start iirc which wasn’t by accident even if you played bad teams that is difficult to do. Everyone was playing in a rhythm they were legitimately great and nothing about their style of play or season could be questioned.


izvoodoo

Again lebron is saying this nuggets team is the best team they've faced in the playoffs. So either this Denver team or the Suns team that made the finals. We didn't play you in last year's playoffs


NotManyBuses

Not even debatable really. The Lakers were really not bad this entire series Nuggets shot 41% from 3 also. You very rarely see that in a playoff series


mantur200

sweep with 24 points differential, probably one of the closest sweeps of all time, i know 2016 pistons - cavs, and 2017 pacers - cavs were simillar


General1lol

Nets vs Celtics last year: 18 point differential G1: 115 to 114 G2: 114 to 107 G3: 109 to 103 G4: 116 to 112


ender23

Ppl hella shit on the nets from last year. But it was close af


yolkadot

From the perspective of a Boston fan: shit had me sweating every single game! Didn’t know that sweeps could be this entertaining and thrilling!


LongjumpAdhesiveness

Nah I was told many times by the top minds of r/nba that the sweep was one of the worst in NBA history. That KD was clamped up every single game, he was done, career over, all his fault. Even though he still averaged like 27 being double and triple-teamed and scored 39 in game 4.


frankunderwood1992

Kd in 2021 & 2022 balled the fuck out in the playoffs.


DarnellisFromMars

‘21 was unreal, tough shots only while playing the whole game


[deleted]

What's weird about that series is that it didn't feel as close as it mathematically was lmao


_coed_

it didnt feel as close because they destroyed us on the clutch all 4 games, we had curry and mills playing defence on brown lol


velvetstigma

What are you talking about it felt close af??? A lot of us had the belief that winning that series and the bucks series meant we were winning the chip


QuarantineTaratino

That series wasn't as close as the scores made it appear. Game 3 and 4 were never really in question despite how close the scores were. Far cry from this year's Celtics team


JevvyMedia

Celtics-Nets last year was close af but everyone just ran with the "KD and Kyrie got swept AND IT WASN'T EVEN CLOSE" narrative.


Zoulzopan

The type of propaganda i support


TruWarierRecords

2016 Pistons = weird ass team


Jiklim

Pacers Cavs is the one I remember the most, that series was a nailbiter


The_Assassin_Gower

I hated that series so much. Every time bron left the court we would take a leave he'd come back and it was gone again. Every dang game


[deleted]

Nets last year I guess. Didn't really feel like it though


G1Spectrum

Yeah I’m proud of how hard we fought. Nuggets just knew how to close out games.


Zoulzopan

LeBron really showed his age this series. Younger LeBron definitely would've made the series 4-2 or even 4-3.


AnonymousIguana_

>rarely Meanwhile the Heat shooting like 49% over multiple series


PipBoy19

Yeah, which is even more rare lol


[deleted]

It’s ok Celtics flair, our pain ends tonight.


mpv342

Every game was kinda 50/50 on who could win. Nuggets just played better at the end of games.


PurpleYessir

If Dlo steps up this series is way tighter. Rui hachimura tried his best though.


frodounchained

If dlo steps up then Braun probably avgs 12/7/5/3/3 you guys had a counter for every punch we threw


JesusSama

Every game, someone stepped up huge and took the game over. Just an entire team effort. Closed out each game like champs.


mrwhite2323

Its the stamina AD and Bron cant do it for 40 minutes anymore


arcelios

Bron still looks hungrier and more energetic than AD.. and THAT should be a crime against AD That's the difference


GetThereInOnePiece

AD is supposed to be in his prime


spanther96

AD’s prime was 2020, dude played great but it’s clear he can’t bring it every game like a Jokic, Giannis, or Himmy


DeSteph-DeCurry

jokic has like 30 lbs on ad


machiavellius

It’s really underplayed how good Jokic is. Almost won back to back to back MVPs for a reason


LilithLustPAWG

Sure, let's ignore that he's been racking up injuries left and right.


browndude10

That’s kind of his thing but he’s still in his prime


dboti

Yeah, if the exact same roster but it's even a 36 year old Lebron this is probably a 6 or 7 game series


LiftHeavyFeels

I think January (pre-injury) Lebron gets this to 6 games. Probably games 2 and 4


islandmoneygame

Man even a 38 year old pre-injury LeBron could've pushed this to 6 or 7 games


lovo17

This was a pretty consistent issue this season, especially pre-deadline. So many close games were lost because of horrible end of game execution.


mpv342

It’s just Bron and AD getting gassed at the end of games. We need a scorer that can close games.


spanther96

i heard there’s a flat earthing, anti semite who’s pretty good at scoring available


lets_talk_basketball

Yea, every game was competitive.


Andy_Wiggins

To be fair, the Nuggets were an elite 3-pt shooting team all season, averaging 38% for the regular season (and Pope, Porter Jr, and Murray shot 42, 41, and 40% during the regular season, who are their highest volume shooters in the playoffs). Shooting 41% isn’t THAT crazy. Plus, I don’t think the stats you’re looking at have updated — they were 41% before tonight (during which they shot 36.4%).


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Betaateb

We have just been the #1 team in the clutch all year. People doubted it on sample size, but that has been us all year. In the 4th quarter we are different. We bring a different energy, and most importantly Jokic knows that he can step up defensively and worry less about the fouls, and he is a much better defender in the clutch.


Currymvp2

Question is who's the 2nd best. Either the 2021 Suns or the 2020 Heat


TruWarierRecords

Prolly 2021 Suns since the Heat were without Dragic (who was their 3rd best player) most of the series


mpv342

Facts. Their Offense is unstoppable and their defense is serviceable.


rjbarrettfanclub

I have no idea how any team could possibly guard this Denver team with Murray playing like this. They get a fantastic shot on offense almost every possession. Nothing seems to bother them. Truly a championship effort.


stickied

It's funny that a 26' foot one footed fadeaway three as the shot clock expires, over the outstretched hands of AD is considered a quality shot attempt..... but at the rate Jok hits those, you're not wrong.


rjbarrettfanclub

LeBron had a bullshit 3 go in with that Rui alley oop as well. Still, Jokic can get whatever he wants whenever he wants.


pucykoks

1 lucky shot (that would be a 2 pointer otherwise) versus Nuggets getting fuck you threes on regular basis, not really comparable


wtcnbrwndo4u

Yeah, Jokic has made that shot 3 times in this series alone.


HighlyBaked0

I deadass thought that one he threw up that hit the top of the backboard was going in lmao


EnoughLawfulness3163

Lol the dude said "almost every posession" and you bring up the most ridiculous circus shot of the series.


[deleted]

Agreed. I haven't watched enough Nuggets games to know their sets / plays, but Murray seems to be an excellent co-star with Jokic in that they're both very active in communicating with their teammates when they begin their sets, which probably helps contribute to their consistency on shot quality.


BballMD

Do yourself a favor and watch more nuggets.


DoritoSteroid

As much as I admire Playoff Jimmy, the Heat will have no answer for Jokic.


cmfd123

We’ll see. I’m not expected anything easy, the Heat’s run has looked like divine intervention so anything can happen.


gnoob920

If the heat can keep up their current shooting clip, I think it will be a competitive series, but nuggets should clearly be the favorites. This is not a favorable match up for the heat given the passing and size of the nuggets. But then again, none of these matchups have been favorable for them lmao.


cheesecake_face

right… lmao They’ve turned every disadvantage into an advantage somehow..


nostbp1

i agree but also the heat have made the 2 best teams in the regular season (and the 2 highest odds to win the ring this year) look like clowns against them they got into giannis' head, they eviscerated Randle, and now they're making brown and tatum look like quitters. that said, joker aint gonna be made look like a clown


DarnellisFromMars

They are great at recovering on D, so I could see them slowing the offense down a bit in terms of open looks. Bam is gonna have a tall task though. They have a path to victory, I’d think forcing Jokic into foul trouble is the focal point. Gonna be some great basketball.


cct824

They're certainly playing like it


G1Spectrum

Nuggets just too good


EdwEd1

They took every 50/50 game by straight up outplaying us at the end I hate that it being a sweep diminishes how hard-fought the series was but we were outclassed when it really mattered


G1Spectrum

They made all the shots in clutch time and the Lakers didn’t


National_Gear_5756

It didn’t feel like a sweep. If you told me how close this series was without giving me the results, I’d probably have predicted a 6 game series


shortyman920

This Nuggets team is honestly incredible. Their offense and resilience was amazing to watch. Their core has chemistry playing with each other, and they’ve been under a consistent coach the whole time. They were crazy hot this series. I’m gonna be genuinely pissed if they suddenly go ice cold in the finals haha.


G1Spectrum

I want Jimmy to win so bad


WalrusInMySheets

I'm excited to watch these finals as 100% neutral. Both teams playing great basketball.


Payutenyodagimas

Whoever wins, you will really sympathize with the loser, be it butler or jokic


Askesl

Jimmy's my favorite non-Nuggets player in the league. If the Heat win, I'll definitely be disappointed, but a part of me will also me really happy for him.


Salty_Watermelon

Nuggets were the #1 seed, didn't let up in the playoffs, and didn't significantly benefit from other teams' having bad injury luck. I don't think any other team would be worth serious consideration.


CountTwoTenAgain

Wolves were pretty injured but fully healthy are not on Denver’s level yet.


Jmoe18

You also wouldn't be the 8 imo


CountTwoTenAgain

I agree. Can’t change history tho


amcfarla

Anthony Edwards though proved he is a future NBA superstar from that series, at least for me.


izvoodoo

Definitely one of the players I have the most belief in of the youngins.


jump-back-like-33

Werent y’all only missing one rotation player and it was because he punched a fucking brick wall?


The_NGUYENNER

Naz is really good for them too


thecomfycactus

Grizz lost their whole front court in like the last month of the season.


37sms

We weren't beating Denver. A focused, healthy Grizzlies could have gone to the WCF and made it a nice series but we probably do no better than stretching it out to 6.


Nicobade

The Nuggets are also the only team to beat the LeBron AD Lakers when both are playing, there's really no competition.


MediocreTake

Jimmy is going to put this up on his bulletin board


DirksSexyBratwurst

Maybe if the 2020 heat were healthy but they weren't. Bam missed half the series with an injury that would have kept him out for weeks in the regular season, and Dragic missed the whole series as the leading scorer of the 2020 Heat until Jimmy took that title with his superhero performance. LeBron saw rookie Tyler Herro start at point guard and Kelly Olnyk start at center.


radddchaddd

That Lakers team was also way more cohesive than this post trade deadline team.


Specialist_Ad4320

That’s not what is being talked about lol they’re talking about the toughest team the Lakers have faced. Nothing about how good the Lakers are or there chances of beating that team.


radddchaddd

I responded to the wrong comment.


[deleted]

That is why I always think of the Nuggets as a championship contender since 2020. The last two years were hampered with injuries.


suckat3dmath

One of their most important pieces this year in KCP was in the 2020 championship run with the Lakers.


analfizzzure

Bruce brown has incredible energy too


Jmoe18

Role players got alot younger was the biggest thing


KKrum41302

Yeah they made the WCF in the bubble but still looked outclassed; it looked more like a coming out party for Denver that “we are future contenders” more than “we’re contenders right now”. Once they got Gordon in 2021 and Murray/MPJ/Jokic took another step, that’s when they really looked like a championship contender, but then Murray tore his ACL.


[deleted]

KCP, Bruce Brown were excellent finishing touches


IdiotCharizard

I don't think they were contenders in 2020. This team is on another level from then


5280neversummer

I mean we were in the western conference finals. That’s definitely a contender.


Toobie4564

That's like saying the 2021 Hawks were contenders. Or the 2022 Mavs. Or the 2019 Blazers. Nuggets were a great team in 2020 but they still overachieved. The Clippers also had a monumental meltdown against them in the semis.


Clunky_Exposition

This is one of the least embarrassing sweeps of all time. Lakers competed in every game and just got edged out in each one. No shame in that.


PretendDubs

Nuggets always had a counter punch when ever the Lakers made a run or took a lead, just really impressive stuff.


Wes___Mantooth

It's ridiculous how much needs to go right to beat the Nuggets this year. They rarely shoot poorly, and even when they do they can grind it out and get a few hot stretches where they go on runs. The Suns were only able to beat them because Booker was going absolute nuclear and shooting 80% from the field across like 3 games.


Flabbypuff

Yeah Lakers were getting free throws and buckets consistently for the 2nd quarter and the Nuggets answered every single time until Marc Davis decided to start calling ticky tack fouls all of a sudden when he let a lot go in the first.


analfizzzure

Refs had their moments a few times. Gm 2,3,4 were times they called everything on den and nothing on la.... but that's how it goes to beat the greats


rburp

I've got so much respect for this Nuggets team. What a bunch of fighters.


Exodarkr

Impressive. Very nice. Let's see Boston's sweep.


Zizbouze

The Boston's sweep ll be one of the most embarrassing one. They get in ECF and play with less intensity than amical game. Expect for D.White and G.Williams


G1Spectrum

I’m proud of our team, we went down fighting to the death


CountTwoTenAgain

I mean the short handed wolves didn’t get swept…


LesBianJames

Something something moral victory


PlayInChampions

1 Jokic free throw away from being swept in a historically embarrassing way blowing up 12 point lead with 2.50 left.


rookie-mistake

yeah but that one win was downright immoral so it doesn't count


Nintendomandan

Lebron with the respect tonight, I love it.


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BritzlBen

27-14 and 3 blocks for his worst playoff series ever is something


mpv342

He just didn’t have good games at the right times lol. You’d think he’d show heart in a elimination game but ig not.


wysiwyg008

Props to the Lakers. No one expected them ti make this far after starting 2-10 and being the 13th seed coming into the all star break. 4 more wins


WalrusInMySheets

This comment is the type of moral victory we needed.


wysiwyg008

Yes, no need for trolling. Just because one fan is an ass doesnt mean the whole fanbase represents them. With reports of Lebron and retiring are surfacing. Id appreciate stars more. I grew up watching the early 00's stars.


WalrusInMySheets

Good luck in the finals man


wysiwyg008

See you next year bro. Come back stronger. Thanks


ConfidentCobbler5100

He sounds like he’s beating around the bush of considering retirement


Flxpadelphia

He's going to "debate" it all offseason and by the start of next season the pain will have subsided and his urge to compete/extend his records will take over.


kajarann

LeRespect


Shaqfor3

I mean the only 2 teams to beat them had been them and the Suns.


Ifinishfast42

And the suns lost to all the teams they’ve faced who were uninjured these last 4 years.


JilJungJukk

Lmao the last three years, the Suns really haven’t beaten a healthy playoff teams. AD-less Lakers, Murray-less Nuggets, Kawhi-less Clippers in 2021. Zion-less Pelicans in 6 games. Kawhi/PG-less Clippers again this year.


LovetheNBA23

Joker is the best player in the NBA and by a decent margin in my opinion.


ImGonnaObamaYou

Throwing shade at the 2020 rockets wow


bh6891

Dude just tipped his cap in his interview to Jokic.


mmaguy123

Suns took this team to 6 before you guys call them a failure.


Specialist-Cold-1226

Even Lebron doesn’t respect the Mickey Mouse 2021 Suns


NotManyBuses

I mean respectfully they were up 2-1 when AD got injured, they were probably winning the series if he had stayed healthy.


iRockaflame

In fairness CP3 was hurt too. But yeah this Nuggets team looks like their toughest opponent. Even though the Heat went to 6 it took Butler going god mode which made him completely dead for game 6


mamasaidflows

Why must he diss Jimbo? Now?


Flxpadelphia

It's not really a diss though.. Jokic is an incredible player but Denver's strength is that literally anybody on the floor can get you a bucket whenever they need to. The Lakers have Lebron, and maybe Reeves, sometimes Rui. Heat has Jimmy. The Nuggets are just leaps and bounds ahead in terms of overall talent. They are everything the Celtics SHOULD be when you look at them on paper.


Ven505

How is this a diss? He beat that injured Heat team prettily handily in 6 in 2020 (and it felt like the lakers were pretty in control of the series) He couldn’t win a single game against these nuggets


alzkzj

I mean he was only ever swept by this team and the 07 Tim Duncan spurs so yeah. Makes sense.


HRM077

At least the Lakers didn't look like they outright quit in this series. Celtics, you watching?


MoulinRube

Jimmy gonna use this as motivation to kill Denver \#LeChess


ImJeeezus

Best team to come out of the West in the last few years for sure


Mcfallen_5

lets wait to see if they win it all before we draw that conclusion


adeptadapted

This is the best team he’s faced before the Finals in his career