I meant excuse as in Murray's injury this season will delay the inevitable "turn" on Jokic. It's gonna happen eventually. It just will be after he wins this MVP and after the next season once the team is healthy.It’s not really an excuse. The nuggets are at least 3- 5 wins better with Murray and MPJ. Which would put them at about 53-55 wins. And a top 3 seed.
It’s fair and factually accurate to say that this team fully healthy, is a team with like a WCF ceiling. That’s a good thing.
Part of the reason Jokic is in the mvp race, is he’s somehow catapultued this team to almost 50 wins in the west, putting up crazy numbers, while missing a combined 40ppg from his 2 next best players. Neither who are even all stars
And that is the reason they find themselves a 6 seed, playing a team that got whole at the right moment…and has only lost one series when fully healthy (2016)
I agree. I still don't trust KAT to show out for multiple games. He tends to disappear from game to game. Butler is an *******, but I 1000% believed his position on Wiggins and KAT being soft because I STILL see them show it regularly and it pisses me ooff(especially Wiggins since he's with us).
Bomani Jones made this point, there some white self hatred stuff going on with Nick Wrights Jokic and now steve Nash hate.
i tried to tell yall the same thing happened with Vlade Divac and Luka.
white sports self hatred is a serious problem,
I hope all who are afflicted find peace.
Grizz/Wolves tonight. 130 allowed by Memphis. That kind of defense will get you sent home in this round.
Quite a bit of that was the low effort, low IQ that we saw from their first 20 games of the season when they were playing sub .500 ball.
- Adams is in drop because he can’t move his feet in space. SlowMo knows this & sinks to the free throw line anyway like it’s Giannis on the ball instead of D’Lo
- Brooks turns his head, trying to beat Ant around a screen before the play even starts
- Ant isos so Ja leaves the corner to sit on the strong side. This scheme was pioneered by Thibs back when teams only had 3 shooters on the floor. It doesn’t work as well in today’s league with 4 shooters on the floor, and you see why
- Bev gets a step on Brooks, both Adams & JJJ rotate, instead of just 1.
- Brooks gambles for the steal, KAT regains possession and Brooks gives a half *** ball denial instead of just getting back in front of D’Lo
- Clarke & JJJ don’t talk & both stay with KAT on the duck in attempt, Brooks now has to guard two people on the STRONGside
- Clarke switches the D’Lo PnR & Ja is left on an island.
- Clarke hedges the PnR & nobody bumps the roll man …. as if they didn’t expect Clarke to hedge
- 1 big on the floor (Adams & JJJ in foul trouble) they decide to keep a wing on Towns & just double. No front or anything. No double on the 1st/2nd dribble instead. As vanilla as it gets. You see the 3 wolves on the weakside getting into position immediately. The ball is swung to Ant on the other side of the floor within 2 seconds.
- Ziaire with a bad gamble for a steal in the backcourt instead of hustling back, wolves get a 3 on 2 and open 3.
That’s how a top 5 defense turns in a bottom 5 performance. The only adjustments with garbage like that is “Try harder, talk more.” You wouldn’t expect stuff like that to continue after they’ve defended at a high level for the last 60 games.
Unfortunately, they can clean that up & still run into other problems.Minny is a talented 7th seed, and there are a few mismatches on the floor they can leverage.
Starting with Steven Adams.
- As mentioned, he can’t move his feet in space. So in the PnR he’s dropping. Ant has an open jumper whenever he wants it.
- Drop again, open jumper again
- Logo PnR this time. 30 feet away from the rim is just a nightmare for Adams. He can’t move.
- Adams switches this time, Ant gets to his stepback jumper
- Adams hedges on…McLaughlin?
- KAT blows right by Adams.
This is just not a series for him. Look for Adams mins to decline. May not happen in G2 but it’s coming eventually.
But even if you take adams off the floor & you’ll still have a small guard out there. Minny can poke & prod at that weakness, force Memphis to talk & rotate which they struggled with at times.
- Ant hunts Ja, who doesn’t really try get back instead tries & fails to block Pat Bev from behind.
- Pat Bev (who’s been a great offensive player for them all year btw) pushes in transition, gets the cross match with Ja on Ant. Ant attacks the (very weak) closeout & finds Pat in the dunker. Great ball.
- Minny sets a backscreen offball to get a guard on Towns & eventually get him the ball. Great stuff. Russell fell giving them the chance to switch back but they didn’t talk
- Ant at his absolute best here. Gets a smaller guard on the switch and blows by instead of settling for a stepback.
- Ant hunts Ja, Prince slips & Ja essentially sets a screen on Brooks
- Same action but with JJJ, he shows to take away the 3, Pat bev slips it & JJJ wildly closes out. Loses all control.
So you can see Chris Finch knows his stuff & Minny is talented enough to take advantage of a few weaknesses of Memphis. At the same time, it’s important to take a step back.
Ant was good this year, not great. Had games where he looked like a superstar, he also gave you 9 single digit scoring games. Several others where he was just a guy on the court. He’s also very young. All that to say, his decision making & jumper may not be as spectacular night in & night out.
So the first step for Memphis is to not beat themselves
Next, Jenkins has to cut down the Adams minutes.
Do both of those things & then you force Ant & D’Lo to be patient & consistently make great decisions.
Maximus Meridius
that Carmelo was going to be 6MOTY and “ENHANCE HIS LEGACY” with the Lakers this season
So your suggesting jokic plays better defense in the regular season than playoffs?
But I was told by
JJ reddick said he got the most hate from whites dudes, who felt they could do what he was doing
They don’t realize he has other world stamina, is 6’4…a McDonald’s all American and worked crazy hard, plus comes from an athletic family himself.
It’s a funny thing to see.
I don't see it the comparison. I think people just find Jokic's game boring compared to Embiid and Giannis. He's not as emotional or "intense" as those two, but he's exciting as hell to watch in my eyes. I am guilty of not appreciating Tim Duncan when I was young, but now I do as an adult, and I feel that Jokic is way more entertaining to watch than Duncan. Not directly comparing Duncan and Jokic, I just think alot of people see them as boring players.
Mempis vs Minnesota is a good exercise in depth vs top end talent.
