NBA Season/Playoffs 2025-26

[Who]

DEN = 6-24 on three pointers. 25%.

J Murray is 3-6 by himself. So the rest of the team is 3-18 on three pointers. C Braun and Cam Johnson are both 1-1 apiece. The rest of the players are 1-16 on threes.

A Gordon 1-5 on threes. T Hardaway 0-6. Spencer Jones and Bruce Brown both 0-2. Jokic 0-1. That is the 1-16 group. 

[Phantom255x]

Ayo Dosumnu, have yourself a night!

[radiohead]

Dosunmu is killing Denver. Can the Nuggets come back from 1-3 even if Ant and Di Vincenzo are out?

[Who]

I don't understand the DEN coach's rotation tonight.

Zeke Nnaji is their only quality defensive big forward of the bench. They need him with A Gordon hobbled. Coach won't play him.

Their shooters aren't making shots. Why not try Julian Strawther instead? The guy is a weak defender but he is a shot maker. Or even Jalen Pickett instead of Bruce Brown. Won't play Valanciunas.

What the coach is using isn't working yet he is sticking rigidly to this 8 man rotation that are not delivering. He refuses to try anything else. I don't understand that. 

[radiohead]

Looks like Minny is pulling this off. Wow.

[Goldstar88]

Nuggets are a soft team. Minny just plays harder.

[SparzWizard]

Nuggets have looked like frauds after 2023. Is it coaching, is it the GM and poor roster management, or is it the players? But they seem to play well against certain teams except for the Wolves. Like LeBron was to Toronto and Atlanta. The kyrptonite.

Anyways, I think the Wolves season could survive this round, but they likely are getting waxed next round if Wemby returns. SAS/POR going at least 5 so far.

I just hope LAL doesn't miraculously upset the Thunder cuz that could be one easy route to the Finals if that's the case. They're getting Luka and Reaves back in the West Semis.

[Phantom255x]

It's the defense. Murray has scored 30+ in 3 of the 4 games including tonight, and Jokic has mostly been good this series besides Game 3 (24/15/9 tonight). Problem is, those two aren't great defenders on the other end and most of the team isn't either.

Like @Who said, Nnaji is another guy who is a solid defender for them but Adelman refuses to play him. Gordon is limited with injury and is probably their only good consistent defender. Minnesota can just generate offense easily even without Ant. It's made the difference.

[Who]

DEN 27 wins 9 losses with A Gordon
27 wins 19 losses without A Gordon

So about a 48 win pace without A Gordon this season.

The Wolves look a solid 40-45 win team without Ant and DiVincenzo if Ant is indeed out for the rest of the series. There isn't that much of a difference in DEN's favour given they will be a in a 3-1 hole. Gotta like their chances of advancing.

[Billz401]

McDaniels with the disrespectful bucket at the end causing a little ruckus. Wouldn't be surprised if they took a shot at him in game 5 for that

[Who]

Minnesota had 16 offensive rebounds tonight.
Denver only 26 defensive rebounds.

So Minny were getting almost 40% of their misses back. Denver couldn't rebound. Jokic was the only rebounder in there. He had no help.

[Who]

Big Forward & Backup Center for DEN

A Gordon gave DEN everything he had and they looked much better with him on the floor than they looked without him. He was 4-11 FGA for 9pts in 23min. He had only 1reb and 0ast. He added 1 blk.

Spencer Jones 0pts 0-2 FGA in 25min. 4reb.

Together, they played 48 minutes and gave DEN 9pts 5reb 0ast on 4-13 FGA. That killed DEN tonight.

[Who]

Jokic finished 8-22 FGA. I think he was 8-13 FGA early in Q3 when I last looked. If correct, that means he went 0-9 FGA for the reset of the 2nd half.

J Murray did a great job for DEN in Q4. He stepped up and gave Jokic the scoring help Jokic needed. Jokic is the one who failed to live up to his end of things.

[Phantom255x]

Overall, this has been an awesome first round. Even the East is actually competitive and no one is bowing down.

[Who]

Ayo Dosunmu was phenomenal. 43pts in 42min. 13-17 FGA and 12-12 FTA. Naz Reid 17pts and 9reb in 28min as well. Ayo though. He carried them tonight. Destroyed Denver.