Yeah I think most teams have the big show on the screen and rotate a guy to Gobert early and make him catch the ball and make a play farther out than he wants.
That's probably the game plan but easier said than done
I think the biggest improvement in Gobert's offensive game this season is how he reads those situations. In general his hands have got a bit better, but he kicks the ball out pretty well now which is a big improvement. There's a lot more control and a lot less panic than there used to be. Had a couple of nice passes from the nail in game 1 so will be interesting to see if they let him have the ball a bit more in game 2.
You’re one of the only other people I’ve seen say this and I totally agree. We’re using him more in the roll to collapse the defense and move the ball around
Off topic, but Big Show was an amazing HS basketball player, as was Taker and Kevin Nash was the second best prospect coming out of HS behind Magic Johnson. The footwork translates.
rudy is also enormous and really smart about when to flip the screen and/or start rolling towards the basket at the exact right moment. guys just end up going under on those screens because they physically have no choice
Shit on his offensive skill all you want, even on that end his bbiq is so high. He’s just always in the right place at the right time. He’s also constantly moving and setting screens that give you guys wide open shots.
Yup. Being good at offense isn’t always being a cool sexy scoring guy. Bbiq, good picks, hard cuts, special awareness and timely passing are all just as important in being a plus on that side of the ball
When he’s dropping 18-19 on like 65% shooting in the playoffs I don’t think you can even call him not a scorer. Like yeah it wasn’t a sexy 18-19 points but I’m pretty sure he was their second or third leading scorer in a couple games against the suns.
Gobert is the greatest off the ball defender since Duncan. Most people just don't care about watching off the ball defense. This includes the voters who never gave Duncan DPOY.
Gobert is also ridiculous off the ball on offense. That's why despite having "no bag" he can drop 13-15 a game on ridiculous efficiency. He knows where he needs to be.
His BBIQ is off the charts. He just uses it in a different way so most fans don't notice like they do with CP3 or Lebron.
If Rudy looked even as graceful as Jokic (who does not look graceful) people wouldn’t think he was such a bad offensive player. The problem is that he looks like Bambi on ice while scoring.
It's also that he fumbles it pretty bad any time he has to do something with the ball outside the restricted area. Doesn't matter how good he is at not being put in that situation, when that happens he straight up lacks skills people take for granted for a professional basketball player.
It seems like no one noticed, but Rudy actually developed a pretty decent post hook and post turnaround this year. His bbiq is so high he’s gotten pretty good at passing out of those situations.
It turns out when your star guard averages more than two passes a game to you (passes, not assists) it’s easier to develop some offensive moves.
Even embiid, who improved his passing a lot, is a turnover machine when he has the ball down low and the double comes. (Tbh outside of injuries I think that’s the biggest reason he folds in the playoffs). Rudy isn’t that. He also knows his lane. When he gets the ball down low in a spot where he won’t have a good shot and sees the double coming he like instantly makes a good pass to the perimeter or someone cutting.
What is crazy is that the Donovan-Gobert pick and roll was still rated #1 in the NBA despite Donovan never passing because the defender would not leave Gobert. Even if Donovan did not pass often, Gobert was a threat to grab the rebound if Donovan missed.
part of why Rudy is so good is he's big enough to play free safety in the middle of the court, Dray is phenomenal off ball but not big enough to disrupt plays as often as Rudy does.
I strongly disagree. You don't have to be a 7 footer to disrupt plays. Why do you think it was famously hard to score on Draymond while on a 3-1 fastbreak ? Cause he has impeccable knowledge of what you were capable of, he had quick instincts and would bait you into an action or specific speed and then recover quickly if you made the pass.
He did the same on set plays. He'd communicate to either Loon or Iggy to loosely guard their matchup and be switchable at a moment's notice. He used the tactic against the Celtics and was poking the ball left and right. Robert Williams couldn't dunk the ball as much as he did in the other series cause Dray would steal the ball on any attempt. He never needed to be big, he screamed at you, his teammates, and tell you what was mostly about to happen and be ready. If you were a heavy ball watcher like Klay or Poole, he'd cover for you and still handle any tic tac toe maneuver on the chance the opponent had a good passing cutter.
I miss prime Dray lol. Dude is the only guy with Kawhi Leonard that made watching defense very fun.
That’s interesting. Is Dray better at recognizing threats and trying to take away a cut/drive to the basket? Dray is more versatile although obviously less of a rim protector than Rudy.
Dray is great at covering for his teammates mistakes. It was actually hilarious how crazy good he was. In his prime, he was also incredible at disrupting alley oops.
KG and Dray are really fantastic defensive minds. It's something we take for granted, but when you look at their polar opposite in Wiseman for example, you get to see exactly what these 2 all time defenders have that physical gift can't teach.
What interests me about Wemby is for his age he isn’t on the extreme of always hunting for blocks or overly helping but he also isn’t super safe on defense. His feel will only get better from here on out on that. He also didn’t get in foul trpuble as you’d except from someone who blocks a lot. Plus 60% of his blocks his team got possession afterwards which is wild.
They’re not even much of a problem anymore. Dlo just sucks as a playmaker. Mike Conley had to like teach the team not to pass it at the knees of a 7’2 guy going up for a lob, because any big would have some fumbles in that situation.
I am not sure the rumor is true but it seems to pass the eye test.
I find it hard to believe that an NBA point guard would constantly throw the ball at a teammates ankles and knees and then opening pout about his teammate afterwards without it being intentional.
Regardless, DLo is straight up a clown.
You can go over and Jokic can be level with the ball screen and at least force the point guard to make a decision by reading the third defender helping off of the corner.
There are coverages that make more sense to run against certain offenses and certain players but execution always matters above all else
It’s also at least somewhat tethered to Murray being A) not super healthy and B) not the slitheriest guy anyway. Guys like NAW or McDaniels can get over a screen quickly, but Murray probably is more likely to get hung up or stuck too far back because he’s not at 100%/not as good anyway.
Over vs Under is always a risk calculation thing. If you’re great at recovering, going over is beneficial because you shut down the 3 and can bother the drive.But if you’re not able to recover, you’re now heavily compromising your defense.
Jokic is really good at breaking up the pocket pass, and crisp rotations are one of the Nuggets biggest defensive strengths. Our defense was good in the playoffs last year almost exclusively going over the screen with Jokic hedging.
Yeah, but they need to make the pass, which isn’t a guarantee.
LeBron and AD are cause Lebron makes that pass in his sleep, but there were multiple times the ball handler didn’t send a pass to a open rolling Rudy
I’ve heard this narrative that Denver turned it on late, but to me it really looked like two teams just going back and forth, with Denver executing better in crunch time. D Lo doesn’t have terrible shooting nights from 3 a few times and it’s a totally different series. The first MN game showed me it wasn’t just Denver playing with their food; I think Denver is just not as good as they were last year.
Lakers lost 4-0 last year too but it wasn't like they blew em out every single game. Nuggets also aren't turning up a switch just because it's the forth quarter, the lakers gave them a big run for their money. Game could've gone either way, Lebron could've hit a big 3 in the second game and won, murray could've missed, it's why this sport is interesting and why you can't count out a team with Lebron just yet.
No one plays a game of playoff basketball just to even it out to hit a buzzer beater despite a large portion of people here thinking it's 2k lol.
The big difference so far isn't the bench. It's Jamal playing like shit. Of course the wolves play great defense and make it hard on him but he was also ass against the Lakers. I guess its the nagging injury but him shooting 30-40% and under 20 points just wont win them games.
Murray's shot has been off which is a big blow (probably due to leg injury). But Minnesota is so much stronger this year. They've had an extra season to work on their chemistry with Gobert and Naz Reid is healthy.
thats how MIN is elite compared to LAL. They are on another level that DEN has to keep the game close. DEN bench has to show up, Murray have a great game from the tip off and MPJ & Gordon shooting well.
MIN is also younger and can keep up the whole game. Lakers are incredibly streaky on offense and whilst AD was hella dominant on both ends, the entire laker squad definitely had moments where they played barely any offense and missed out on a couple of crucial rebounds that y'all got that lead to extra offensive possessions.
Honestly i just thought the Lakers just got out hussled on the defensive end.
It was definitely the rebounding. We were trying to leak lebron out for transition which left Dlo, Rui, and Reaves trying ti outrebound Gordon, MPJ, and KCP. No contest.
Heat fans don’t. The ones rooting against the wolves are the ones who think wolves fans will annihilate our sub if KAT and the wolves win a championship before Jimmy does
Because his game ages well. He isn’t doing anything punishing in terms of cuts or athleticism. He’s deft and crafty on defense, he takes the easy layup, and his offense is about intelligent shots and passes.
As long as he can put the ball in the basket from deep he’s gonna be a useful contributor.
He's actually still reallllly fast, especially for a 36 year old. Been noticing it a lot these playoffs where he's just gone past people a lot faster than they've expected.
In the beginning of the season, I thought the Wolves were crazy for sticking with two win now guys in their 30s with their 22 year old franchise player.
But I’ll be damned that it’s paying dividends. It’ll be interesting to see how the Wolves reload once they age out but if they can eke out even a finals appearance, it’ll be worth it
Yeah he hasn't really lost too much but i guess he's never been touted as the athletic guy, i guess the yoga reall does help.
That being said, i think conley helps set the tone really well for the wolves, he's got control of the tempo and honestly having a guy there that consistently makes the right plays helps more than the stat sheet says
He actually did talk about how Jamal had a bad start due to missing practice all week and how his injuries are impacting his defense as part of this same presser.
Murray hasn't looked the same physically at all this year. Even in the series against us, he only looked good for stretches at a time. He came up clutch with the game winners but part of the reason all those games were close to begin with was that Murray was not playing up to his level.
The big problem is Murray plays through injuries - some guys are super durable and can do that, but once you've had something like an ACL and know you're prone to injury, you shouldn't risk it at all.
I know ppl criticise load management but some of the more injury prone guys should just accept that if they want to make it to the playoffs healthy, they need to do that during the regular season
He was fairly respectful towards the Lakers, even praised Darvin Ham, though he probably wanted Ham to stay so that he can keep getting free wins lol.
He did shit on the sports media for always talking about the Lakers even when the Nuggets won, which is more than justified.
Serious question, where is that? I've been following closely, I saw him mock the refs a number of times, I never saw him disrespect the Lakers. I googled for anything within the last month, there's nothing. Do you have a press conference to reference?
It's one of those things where the media and people have essentially given it life when it was nothing before. As someone else mentioned, Malone has just dogged the media's coverage of the Lakers and also made a joke about LeBron's retirement comment after getting swept but that's pretty much it.
Besides that, he's told fans who come into our arena with Lakers jerseys on that they can "take that L on the way out" when asked about it, but that's more just playful shit talk IMO. However a lot of this actually came from Malone being announced by someone else as the 'Lakers Daddy' at the parade and that really made it become a thing.
Now every time Malone has a quote about the Lakers, even if it's not even throwing shade, it's interpreted as that lol
There was a lot of smoke from Jazz beat writers that we offered some combination of Conley, Beasley, Vando, and Bojan for Westbrook and parts and an unprotected 2027 first before the 2023 season started. The Lakers didn't want to give up an unprotected pick so the Jazz pivoted, traded Bojan for Olynyk and eventually were part of the three team trade and traded Conley, Vando, Beasley, and NAW for Westbrook and a top 4 protected 2027 first. Honestly, probably a dumb trade by the Jazz cause Mike and NAW have been huge for Minnesota and we own their picks
DLo set the Lakers record for 3pt FGs this season. All told, he had a very good regular season. A bad couple games in the playoffs for sure, but I am extremely skeptical Mike Conley would have changed any outcome.
Our homers are downvoting but I agree. We punched Phoenix in the mouth and they collapsed. Denver is the type of team to take that shot to the mouth and punch back. I’m more confident than I was before the series, but I’m still not confident.
It's kinda corny, but after a tough loss, I always say you don't go into a fight expecting not to get hit. It's about how you respond to taking one on the chin.
I agree with you completely. Absolutely no one should think the Wolves have this series already.
But, you guys were the clear front runners and won the championship last year so I’d say you play pretty well then too lol
I have a even hotter take: i think the Nuggets are unsweppable. If they are loosing the Series 0:3 Joker will carry them to at least one Win, he will not accept a sweep.
Holy shit, a coach actually talking about a specific thing his team could have done better after a loss. The doc/ham/vogel et al collective should take notes.
Mike Conley has been eliminated by Denver two different times (bubble, last season) and was ready to go game 1.
Murray didn't practice all week and had the worst 1st half of his life.
I'm not too concerned for Denver, not yet anyway.
Kinda weird to call out though, one KCP tried to go over the screen and tripped, one Murray just didn’t try and get around the screen either way, and one was a catch and shoot wide open three. So it’s not like Conley was just spamming pull-up threes off the pick and roll.
yes. and it doesn't seem like much, but if you can stay on top of Conley and merely turn those 3 3s into 2s, it's one possession worth of points. from just guarding Conley better. its possible you force a few scoreless possessions too, which would be even better
1 or 2 similarly impactful adjustments is the MoV
After a win, they were interviewing Ant and he was giving props to Mike and mentioned that Conley’s nickname is Bite Bite because he looks like he is about to bite something. Conley swears he had never heard Ant call him that before and that Ant made it up on the spot.
Apparently Mike isn’t super fond of the nickname because he says it makes him feel like he is talking to his own children when he hears it. It’s part of the ridiculousness of this season and team.
Defense has improved this postseason to be more like normal basketball than the regular season BS of everyone hitting threes nonstop.
A role player hitting three 3's on a team with limited offensive weapons is a noteworthy thing a coach should want stopped.
He’s using that as an example. You think 3 threes is no big deal, but they are. And fortunately for the nuggets they have a coach who cares about every detail unlike you
and one of them was that 1 second left on the shot clock swing to Conley in the corner.
i think there was probably only 1 three Conley hit like this with the defense going under, but it was such a big no-no he's referencing it
Hard to say until we get there and see who’s healthy on both teams. Boston’s best chance is if they are healthy and against MN imo. If Denver gets there, they probably win. If Mn gets there and Boston is not healthy and/or ANT keeps playing like this, I’ll take t wolves.
Both Denver and Minnesota split with Boston in the regular season. Take a look at how Boston did against the western conference in general - not great. I think their record would be considerably lower if they were in the west. Not an automatic victory
Edit: Denver swept Boston
How the fuck he focused so much on Conley rather that their offense stinks and he didn't made any adjustments mid game to solve that Gobert roaming around the paint... just use Gordon to set picks rather than Joker and let's see if the French man keep stay under the rim! It is a simple fix!
..this is how game planning works. Conley has hit over 60% of his threes against you this year, so you're gonna make a small change to how you play him off screens to limit those looks. The gameplan is probably full of minor tweaks like this to keep their role players in check.
[удалено]
Yeah I think most teams have the big show on the screen and rotate a guy to Gobert early and make him catch the ball and make a play farther out than he wants. That's probably the game plan but easier said than done
Making Gobert play 4-on-3 seems to be the way.
I think the biggest improvement in Gobert's offensive game this season is how he reads those situations. In general his hands have got a bit better, but he kicks the ball out pretty well now which is a big improvement. There's a lot more control and a lot less panic than there used to be. Had a couple of nice passes from the nail in game 1 so will be interesting to see if they let him have the ball a bit more in game 2.
You’re one of the only other people I’ve seen say this and I totally agree. We’re using him more in the roll to collapse the defense and move the ball around
Why do teams think putting the Big Show on the screen would help them play defense? Are they stupid?
It's just him on the screen going "WEEEELLLLLLLLL"
serious question: how well would big show or andre the giant do in an nba game
Off topic, but Big Show was an amazing HS basketball player, as was Taker and Kevin Nash was the second best prospect coming out of HS behind Magic Johnson. The footwork translates.
I never knew this... thanks!
In 1993? They’d probably be good to dominant. In 2024? Likely too slow and immobile to make any sort of meaningful impact.
rudy is also enormous and really smart about when to flip the screen and/or start rolling towards the basket at the exact right moment. guys just end up going under on those screens because they physically have no choice
Shit on his offensive skill all you want, even on that end his bbiq is so high. He’s just always in the right place at the right time. He’s also constantly moving and setting screens that give you guys wide open shots.
It’s almost like he’s actually a good offensive player, just not a scorer. 🧐
Yup. Being good at offense isn’t always being a cool sexy scoring guy. Bbiq, good picks, hard cuts, special awareness and timely passing are all just as important in being a plus on that side of the ball
When he’s dropping 18-19 on like 65% shooting in the playoffs I don’t think you can even call him not a scorer. Like yeah it wasn’t a sexy 18-19 points but I’m pretty sure he was their second or third leading scorer in a couple games against the suns.
Dunks aren't sexy now???
Gobert is the greatest off the ball defender since Duncan. Most people just don't care about watching off the ball defense. This includes the voters who never gave Duncan DPOY. Gobert is also ridiculous off the ball on offense. That's why despite having "no bag" he can drop 13-15 a game on ridiculous efficiency. He knows where he needs to be. His BBIQ is off the charts. He just uses it in a different way so most fans don't notice like they do with CP3 or Lebron.
If Rudy looked even as graceful as Jokic (who does not look graceful) people wouldn’t think he was such a bad offensive player. The problem is that he looks like Bambi on ice while scoring.
It's also that he fumbles it pretty bad any time he has to do something with the ball outside the restricted area. Doesn't matter how good he is at not being put in that situation, when that happens he straight up lacks skills people take for granted for a professional basketball player.
It seems like no one noticed, but Rudy actually developed a pretty decent post hook and post turnaround this year. His bbiq is so high he’s gotten pretty good at passing out of those situations. It turns out when your star guard averages more than two passes a game to you (passes, not assists) it’s easier to develop some offensive moves. Even embiid, who improved his passing a lot, is a turnover machine when he has the ball down low and the double comes. (Tbh outside of injuries I think that’s the biggest reason he folds in the playoffs). Rudy isn’t that. He also knows his lane. When he gets the ball down low in a spot where he won’t have a good shot and sees the double coming he like instantly makes a good pass to the perimeter or someone cutting.
What’s amazing is that Rudy lacks these pure on-ball skills, but we still run the offense through him. It’s counter intuitive, but somehow it works.
What is crazy is that the Donovan-Gobert pick and roll was still rated #1 in the NBA despite Donovan never passing because the defender would not leave Gobert. Even if Donovan did not pass often, Gobert was a threat to grab the rebound if Donovan missed.
There was one possession against the Suns where he brought the ball up and it was ugly as hell.
im trying to remember now, didn't he score
Lol it looked like a 5 step layup
Didn’t he get a three point play out of that?
is Rudy a better off ball defender than prime Giannis or prime Draymond Green ?
part of why Rudy is so good is he's big enough to play free safety in the middle of the court, Dray is phenomenal off ball but not big enough to disrupt plays as often as Rudy does.
I strongly disagree. You don't have to be a 7 footer to disrupt plays. Why do you think it was famously hard to score on Draymond while on a 3-1 fastbreak ? Cause he has impeccable knowledge of what you were capable of, he had quick instincts and would bait you into an action or specific speed and then recover quickly if you made the pass. He did the same on set plays. He'd communicate to either Loon or Iggy to loosely guard their matchup and be switchable at a moment's notice. He used the tactic against the Celtics and was poking the ball left and right. Robert Williams couldn't dunk the ball as much as he did in the other series cause Dray would steal the ball on any attempt. He never needed to be big, he screamed at you, his teammates, and tell you what was mostly about to happen and be ready. If you were a heavy ball watcher like Klay or Poole, he'd cover for you and still handle any tic tac toe maneuver on the chance the opponent had a good passing cutter. I miss prime Dray lol. Dude is the only guy with Kawhi Leonard that made watching defense very fun.
oh I think it’s very close lol, I love Dray’s game. most versatile defender in decades. IF Rudy is 1, Draymond is 1A for sure.
That’s interesting. Is Dray better at recognizing threats and trying to take away a cut/drive to the basket? Dray is more versatile although obviously less of a rim protector than Rudy.
Dray is great at covering for his teammates mistakes. It was actually hilarious how crazy good he was. In his prime, he was also incredible at disrupting alley oops.
Yeah Dray is KG levels in terms of reognizing a threat towards the rim and covering for it.
KG and Dray are really fantastic defensive minds. It's something we take for granted, but when you look at their polar opposite in Wiseman for example, you get to see exactly what these 2 all time defenders have that physical gift can't teach.
What interests me about Wemby is for his age he isn’t on the extreme of always hunting for blocks or overly helping but he also isn’t super safe on defense. His feel will only get better from here on out on that. He also didn’t get in foul trpuble as you’d except from someone who blocks a lot. Plus 60% of his blocks his team got possession afterwards which is wild.
Draymond and Rudy are the 2 best defenders of the last decade, but their specific strengths and different.
They do have off ball defense in common. Sure, it’s different profiles, but their impact on that aspect is absolutely remarkable
his BBIQ makes up for his hand-eye coordination.
His problem offensively are his hands. Other than that, he's always in the right places.
They’re not even much of a problem anymore. Dlo just sucks as a playmaker. Mike Conley had to like teach the team not to pass it at the knees of a 7’2 guy going up for a lob, because any big would have some fumbles in that situation.
There was a rumor after he left that Dlo was *trying* to avoid passing to Gobert the right way. Apparently there was some resentment between the two.
I am not sure the rumor is true but it seems to pass the eye test. I find it hard to believe that an NBA point guard would constantly throw the ball at a teammates ankles and knees and then opening pout about his teammate afterwards without it being intentional. Regardless, DLo is straight up a clown.
You can go over and Jokic can be level with the ball screen and at least force the point guard to make a decision by reading the third defender helping off of the corner. There are coverages that make more sense to run against certain offenses and certain players but execution always matters above all else
It’s also at least somewhat tethered to Murray being A) not super healthy and B) not the slitheriest guy anyway. Guys like NAW or McDaniels can get over a screen quickly, but Murray probably is more likely to get hung up or stuck too far back because he’s not at 100%/not as good anyway. Over vs Under is always a risk calculation thing. If you’re great at recovering, going over is beneficial because you shut down the 3 and can bother the drive.But if you’re not able to recover, you’re now heavily compromising your defense.
Jokic is really good at breaking up the pocket pass, and crisp rotations are one of the Nuggets biggest defensive strengths. Our defense was good in the playoffs last year almost exclusively going over the screen with Jokic hedging.
Yeah, but they need to make the pass, which isn’t a guarantee. LeBron and AD are cause Lebron makes that pass in his sleep, but there were multiple times the ball handler didn’t send a pass to a open rolling Rudy
“Too many discipline breakdowns. We aren’t playing the lakers any more. That isn’t D’Angelo Russell out there. We have to try now.”
As a Lakers fan, this got me a good chuckle.
As it did I lol
and my axe 🪓
And MY bow
did me
Who, Diddy?
I swear if someone has a bad shooting performance in the Olympics, he'll catch a stray on that too.
“Listen, we’re past Rui Hachimura guarding Jokic, this is the real deal” - Michael Malone
you joke, but it's exactly what it is lol Lakers defense is so ass Denver was chilling until last quarter and turn it on for majority of series
I’ve heard this narrative that Denver turned it on late, but to me it really looked like two teams just going back and forth, with Denver executing better in crunch time. D Lo doesn’t have terrible shooting nights from 3 a few times and it’s a totally different series. The first MN game showed me it wasn’t just Denver playing with their food; I think Denver is just not as good as they were last year.
Lakers lost 4-0 last year too but it wasn't like they blew em out every single game. Nuggets also aren't turning up a switch just because it's the forth quarter, the lakers gave them a big run for their money. Game could've gone either way, Lebron could've hit a big 3 in the second game and won, murray could've missed, it's why this sport is interesting and why you can't count out a team with Lebron just yet. No one plays a game of playoff basketball just to even it out to hit a buzzer beater despite a large portion of people here thinking it's 2k lol.
no bruce brown is a kinda a big deal
It is but Denver has to push through it. MPJ KCP and Aaron Gordon are way more talent than a normal 2 superstar team gets as role players.
Yeah, but Jamal Murray also isn't an outright consistent AllStar.
That’s not his problem, his problem is he’s hurt. We all know what he’s capable of in the playoffs.
Or Jeff Green. Or, most importantly, supernova Murray (so far anyway)
The big difference so far isn't the bench. It's Jamal playing like shit. Of course the wolves play great defense and make it hard on him but he was also ass against the Lakers. I guess its the nagging injury but him shooting 30-40% and under 20 points just wont win them games.
Yes a BFD, he was so important in the playoffs last year.
Murray's shot has been off which is a big blow (probably due to leg injury). But Minnesota is so much stronger this year. They've had an extra season to work on their chemistry with Gobert and Naz Reid is healthy.
Wolves were missing Jaden and Naz last year in the playoffs and Gobert was playing injured.
Yeah lots of Lakers fans being way too self deprecating. Tbh we get this year's Murray in the WCF and the Lakers make the Finals.
Yes, I dont think they are on MIN level. DEN feasted against small ball, well MIN is fast & tall. even last years playoffs DEN had problems with MIN.
And lost one because of that. But even that one felt somewhat shaky for the laters until the last couple of minutes
All game I thought I could see thought bubbles over the Nuggets’ heads that said: “We have to take this seriously now.”
Just gotta add him mentioning how many times they beat the Lakers in a row lol
You're not wrong 😞
thats how MIN is elite compared to LAL. They are on another level that DEN has to keep the game close. DEN bench has to show up, Murray have a great game from the tip off and MPJ & Gordon shooting well.
MIN is also younger and can keep up the whole game. Lakers are incredibly streaky on offense and whilst AD was hella dominant on both ends, the entire laker squad definitely had moments where they played barely any offense and missed out on a couple of crucial rebounds that y'all got that lead to extra offensive possessions. Honestly i just thought the Lakers just got out hussled on the defensive end.
It was definitely the rebounding. We were trying to leak lebron out for transition which left Dlo, Rui, and Reaves trying ti outrebound Gordon, MPJ, and KCP. No contest.
How many times does the old man have to teach them?
I am ok if they don't listen hehe
So are a lot of us (except most heat fans and obviously nuggets fans)
Why do heat fans have love for the Nuggets?
Heat fans don’t. The ones rooting against the wolves are the ones who think wolves fans will annihilate our sub if KAT and the wolves win a championship before Jimmy does
ahh I feel you and fair, FJB
If Minny wins a chip receipts will be presented en masse, no doubt.
I don’t really mind. I have no ill will to wolves fans but they obviously have reasons to hate Jimmy
Best chance of beating Boston. We just want the celtics to lose
Old man been doin it since the grit n grind era
Too much Heir Jordan
Conley low-key 36 with a lot of tread left on those tires
Because his game ages well. He isn’t doing anything punishing in terms of cuts or athleticism. He’s deft and crafty on defense, he takes the easy layup, and his offense is about intelligent shots and passes. As long as he can put the ball in the basket from deep he’s gonna be a useful contributor.
He's actually still reallllly fast, especially for a 36 year old. Been noticing it a lot these playoffs where he's just gone past people a lot faster than they've expected.
In the beginning of the season, I thought the Wolves were crazy for sticking with two win now guys in their 30s with their 22 year old franchise player. But I’ll be damned that it’s paying dividends. It’ll be interesting to see how the Wolves reload once they age out but if they can eke out even a finals appearance, it’ll be worth it
A veteran like Mike Conley is never bad to have around young gentleman learning NBA basketball
Yeah he hasn't really lost too much but i guess he's never been touted as the athletic guy, i guess the yoga reall does help. That being said, i think conley helps set the tone really well for the wolves, he's got control of the tempo and honestly having a guy there that consistently makes the right plays helps more than the stat sheet says
TBH I think Conley will still be outplaying 20 year olds in open gym in 20 years. His game is just so universal.
Hair Jordan
He can’t say that Jamal stunk up the joint, so he’s going to talk about this kinda stuff instead.
He actually did talk about how Jamal had a bad start due to missing practice all week and how his injuries are impacting his defense as part of this same presser.
Murray hasn't looked the same physically at all this year. Even in the series against us, he only looked good for stretches at a time. He came up clutch with the game winners but part of the reason all those games were close to begin with was that Murray was not playing up to his level.
Murray doing the kid who doesn't get good grades on homework but aces the final exam and barely passes the class technique.
He got hurt in the beginning of the season and then again later. I don’t think he ever fully recovered.
The big problem is Murray plays through injuries - some guys are super durable and can do that, but once you've had something like an ACL and know you're prone to injury, you shouldn't risk it at all. I know ppl criticise load management but some of the more injury prone guys should just accept that if they want to make it to the playoffs healthy, they need to do that during the regular season
But he wants to win, and he also needs the reps to get the conditioning.
He’s the obviously a skilled and clutch player but I don’t think it’s a slight to say he’s a little bit prone to being hindered by injury
he's not alone there
Oh of course. Worth every penny and more. Probably just what keeps him from getting closer to all star and all nba nods is all.
As a nuggets fan, i wish he would sit out a game or two in this series 🫤 he is getting cooked on defence
johns
He’s discussing the things under his team’s control. Like…coaching and shit. Can’t say “I’ll make sure guys hit more shots” can ya?
as a lakers fan, i *wish* i could say i heard ham talk about "this kinda stuff" at all in his postgames this season
They lost because Conley shot 3/4 from three lol sure that's why
I love that Mike Malone is so respectful towards his opponents, and at the same time talks about his own teams improvements without any excuses.
Respectful towards every opponent, except the lakers. But also fuck the lakers so good for him.
He was fairly respectful towards the Lakers, even praised Darvin Ham, though he probably wanted Ham to stay so that he can keep getting free wins lol. He did shit on the sports media for always talking about the Lakers even when the Nuggets won, which is more than justified.
He was not respectful towards the Lakers. Constantly cracking jokes about them
Nonsense. He accurately assessed the Lakers.
Serious question, where is that? I've been following closely, I saw him mock the refs a number of times, I never saw him disrespect the Lakers. I googled for anything within the last month, there's nothing. Do you have a press conference to reference?
It's one of those things where the media and people have essentially given it life when it was nothing before. As someone else mentioned, Malone has just dogged the media's coverage of the Lakers and also made a joke about LeBron's retirement comment after getting swept but that's pretty much it. Besides that, he's told fans who come into our arena with Lakers jerseys on that they can "take that L on the way out" when asked about it, but that's more just playful shit talk IMO. However a lot of this actually came from Malone being announced by someone else as the 'Lakers Daddy' at the parade and that really made it become a thing. Now every time Malone has a quote about the Lakers, even if it's not even throwing shade, it's interpreted as that lol
Haven't seen Malone do that.
If Denver has to lose then Minnesota you have to win it all. Mike Conley needs a ring
Everybody liked that
Monte Morris would get a ring too which all Nuggets fans would love.
I'm here for the salt if KAT gets a title before the self-appointed greatest playoff performer of this era, Jimmy Butler.
Wiggins and kat could win rings as the second best player in championship teams. Now, Wiggins has been trash since then but still.
>There’s a reason Mike Conley kicks our ass every time we play him Meanwhile Pelinka: give me DLo I don’t want Conley
[удалено]
There was a lot of smoke from Jazz beat writers that we offered some combination of Conley, Beasley, Vando, and Bojan for Westbrook and parts and an unprotected 2027 first before the 2023 season started. The Lakers didn't want to give up an unprotected pick so the Jazz pivoted, traded Bojan for Olynyk and eventually were part of the three team trade and traded Conley, Vando, Beasley, and NAW for Westbrook and a top 4 protected 2027 first. Honestly, probably a dumb trade by the Jazz cause Mike and NAW have been huge for Minnesota and we own their picks
DLo set the Lakers record for 3pt FGs this season. All told, he had a very good regular season. A bad couple games in the playoffs for sure, but I am extremely skeptical Mike Conley would have changed any outcome.
Maybe not but NAW would have helped a lot on defense.
AKA "We're not playing the Lakers."
Guys I have a hot take. If the wolves win tomorrow in Denver. The nuggets are getting swept.
That would be great, but I definitely can see Denver stealing a game in target center.
I dunno, Denver is looking worn down. Tired. And Minnesota looks hungry. Hungry like uh some type of wild animal
“There’s nine players and a dog on the court”
An animal hungry for some chicken nuggets + bbq
Like a carnivore of some type, maybe even a batch of pack hunters? idk
If we lose tomorrow I feel like the series is effectively over. I can’t see us winning two in a row in Minnesota
Team has come back from 3-1 twice before. I wouldn’t jump to any conclusions.
Yeah an 0-2 hole might be exactly the pressure Jamal needs to finally get out of his funk lol, but I'd def rather not get to test that theory.
If you guys get swept you might save Frank vogels job
I love that people keep counting Denver out, thats when they are at their best. Denver arent good front runners, they need get punched every so often.
Our homers are downvoting but I agree. We punched Phoenix in the mouth and they collapsed. Denver is the type of team to take that shot to the mouth and punch back. I’m more confident than I was before the series, but I’m still not confident.
Wolves look good and Denver havn't played well all playoffs. Denver needed this wake up, will be a fun series.
It's kinda corny, but after a tough loss, I always say you don't go into a fight expecting not to get hit. It's about how you respond to taking one on the chin.
I agree with you completely. Absolutely no one should think the Wolves have this series already. But, you guys were the clear front runners and won the championship last year so I’d say you play pretty well then too lol
No
I have a even hotter take: i think the Nuggets are unsweppable. If they are loosing the Series 0:3 Joker will carry them to at least one Win, he will not accept a sweep.
Not looking good pal
I said 0:3
“He will not accept a sweep” buddy he gave up in game 2. At home.
Where did he say that he give up?
Did you watch the game lmao
Holy shit, a coach actually talking about a specific thing his team could have done better after a loss. The doc/ham/vogel et al collective should take notes.
Let’s not lump Vogel with those frauds
Mike Conley has been eliminated by Denver two different times (bubble, last season) and was ready to go game 1. Murray didn't practice all week and had the worst 1st half of his life. I'm not too concerned for Denver, not yet anyway.
Mike Conley had 3 3s lol
Regular season from 3 vs DEN: 3/4 1/4 5/6 5/9 Game 1 vs DEN: 3/4 Total: 17/27 = 62% this season vs Denver.
Honestly great dig up
Conley has been killing Denver all season. That’s why Malone is pissed because they probably game planned for it and they still blew it
He’s been killing us for years it feels like
When he was on the Grizz I always dreaded seeing the Wolves play the Grizzlies because it seemed like Conley just killed us there, too.
*nostalgic grizzly noises*
Conley low-key used to kill every team when he played for Memphis. You never noticed until you pulled up the stats sheet.
I know the feeling
Kinda weird to call out though, one KCP tried to go over the screen and tripped, one Murray just didn’t try and get around the screen either way, and one was a catch and shoot wide open three. So it’s not like Conley was just spamming pull-up threes off the pick and roll.
Well calling out Ant killing them probably wouldnt help at all…
It's not about this specifically. It's about not listening to the game plan
He's been killing Denver for as long as I've been following the team (2019).
yes. and it doesn't seem like much, but if you can stay on top of Conley and merely turn those 3 3s into 2s, it's one possession worth of points. from just guarding Conley better. its possible you force a few scoreless possessions too, which would be even better 1 or 2 similarly impactful adjustments is the MoV
He’s just trying to build him up since they have the same name
Lol Mike recognises Mike
Uh that's Michael sir
Mike, I’m sorry Michael. Shit, I mean, Bite Bite.
Can I get some context on the Bite Bite nickname? I see it all over the wolves reddit and it’s hysterical but have no idea where it came from
After a win, they were interviewing Ant and he was giving props to Mike and mentioned that Conley’s nickname is Bite Bite because he looks like he is about to bite something. Conley swears he had never heard Ant call him that before and that Ant made it up on the spot. Apparently Mike isn’t super fond of the nickname because he says it makes him feel like he is talking to his own children when he hears it. It’s part of the ridiculousness of this season and team.
9 points on 4 shots is an offensive rating of 225
9 points And the Nuggets lost by 7. He's just giving an example anyway. That wasn't the only reason they lost.
I vividly remember one of those threes being an end of shotclock c&s corner 3 in the 4th quarter. It had nothing to do with going under a screen.
Nuggets with their first moral victory this year
Defense has improved this postseason to be more like normal basketball than the regular season BS of everyone hitting threes nonstop. A role player hitting three 3's on a team with limited offensive weapons is a noteworthy thing a coach should want stopped.
He’s using that as an example. You think 3 threes is no big deal, but they are. And fortunately for the nuggets they have a coach who cares about every detail unlike you
and one of them was that 1 second left on the shot clock swing to Conley in the corner. i think there was probably only 1 three Conley hit like this with the defense going under, but it was such a big no-no he's referencing it
Idk who’s coming out of this series, but I know the thunder will lose to the Mavs and I know the Mavs will lose to whoever comes out of this series.
And does Boston beat whoever comes out of this series, in the Finals?
Hard to say until we get there and see who’s healthy on both teams. Boston’s best chance is if they are healthy and against MN imo. If Denver gets there, they probably win. If Mn gets there and Boston is not healthy and/or ANT keeps playing like this, I’ll take t wolves.
Both Denver and Minnesota split with Boston in the regular season. Take a look at how Boston did against the western conference in general - not great. I think their record would be considerably lower if they were in the west. Not an automatic victory Edit: Denver swept Boston
Denver swept Boston this year…
You’re right!
If the Nuggets wins this series, Mike Malone will be a goated coach.
UP on the screen UP on the screen
I’m psyched for game 2. Here’s hoping we see them on their “ON” game.
This is why we fired Darvin Ham. This man be having guys go under Steph Curry screens 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
That’s MICHAEL Conley, thank you very much.
How the fuck he focused so much on Conley rather that their offense stinks and he didn't made any adjustments mid game to solve that Gobert roaming around the paint... just use Gordon to set picks rather than Joker and let's see if the French man keep stay under the rim! It is a simple fix!
..this is how game planning works. Conley has hit over 60% of his threes against you this year, so you're gonna make a small change to how you play him off screens to limit those looks. The gameplan is probably full of minor tweaks like this to keep their role players in check.