MVP Finalists Face-to-Face for this West Semifinals Showcase! | Official Nuggets (#4) vs. OKC (#1) Series Thread!

[Liberalspeed34]

Damn we did the same thing Memphis did when SGA had 5 fouls that one game, got tunnel vision tryna force Jokic to foul out. Thunder should've just got some good possessions.

Coach literally had them fouling like they were down 3. They weren't even letting tenths off the clock. Dumb as hell. Have the 1st ranked Defense and don't lean on them to get a stop. Coach was doing too much. In the process burned the last timeouts too.

Thunder will be fine. Tops seeds all got punched in the mouth let's see how they respond.

 

[Checkgamematch]

Exactly. I understand the overall point that OKC needed to get a legit veteran who can knock down shots in clutch moments, but KD is not the answer because of his age and the amount of assets to get him

The better answer would be to get Cam Johnson

Lol cam johnson. This should've got Lauri Markiden when they had the chance.

 

[UpAndComing]

Lol cam johnson. This should've got Lauri Markiden when they had the chance.

Cool. Either option is better than a 37 yr old expensive KD

 

[Gil Scott-Heroin]

Damn we did the same thing Memphis did when SGA had 5 fouls that one game, got tunnel vision tryna force Jokic to foul out. Thunder should've just got some good possessions.

Coach literally had them fouling like they were down 3. They weren't even letting tenths off the clock. Dumb as hell. Have the 1st ranked Defense and don't lean on them to get a stop. Coach was doing too much. In the process burned the last timeouts too.

Thunder will be fine. Tops seeds all got punched in the mouth let's see how they respond.

Thunder will be fine in that they have the talent and depth to get them wins, but what answer do they have to stopping Jokic? How are they going to counter the Nuggets down the stretch in Denver?

They still have a lot of questions to answer.

Someone mentioned it in here already, but this game was eerily similar to Game 1 between Clips/Nuggets. The Clips controlled the game from the jump, all the way until the end of the 3rd, and the Nuggets pulled out a miracle in the 4th to push it to OT and ultimately ended up winning it. It ended up being costly in the end throwing away a game like that.

 

[Oldschooler]

Thunder will be fine in that they have the talent and depth to get them wins, but what answer do they have to stopping Jokic? How are they going to counter the Nuggets down the stretch in Denver?

They still have a lot of questions to answer.

Someone mentioned it in here already, but this game was eerily similar to Game 1 between Clips/Nuggets. The Clips controlled the game from the jump, all the way until the end of the 3rd, and the Nuggets pulled out a miracle in the 4th to push it to OT and ultimately ended up winning it. It ended up being costly in the end throwing away a game like that.

There's a few strategies to try and mitigate Jokic. You can let him get his by letting him play 1 on 1 with you and you basically guard all other players tight and chase them off the 3 pt line or you can blitz him with double teams in spurts and risk getting burned by other guys. This is what the thunder were doing some what successfully with Caruso and getting tips, etc. Jokic is not exactly a quick agile player to avoid getting stripped or tipped. The other option is to pick him up full court everytime with a smaller player and prevent him from just dribbling up and getting into his set.

 

[pete clemenza]

KD wasn't there for them to have without radically changing how the team looks.

OKC can't offer bad contracts + a boatload of picks because they don't have bad contracts. You'd have to deal 3 starters + a prospect + picks for 37 year old KD who will want 2/$120. At least the Dubs can say all they traded for Jimmy was Slow-Mo who they just got, a pick and the corpse of Andrew Wiggins. OKC has good assets everywhere. If you're gonna offer some package of Jalen Williams + Hartenstein + Dort + picks and/or prospects, fukk KD! Give me Booker. Give me Luka if I had the chance to be in on that.

The worst contract on the team is Ousmane Dieng near the end of his rookie deal.

It doesn't have to be KD, that's just a hypothetical I threw out. But man they have 30 plus picks, the majority of them 1st rounders at their disposal. Last year they made no moves and helped facilitate Gafford to Dallas and that's the team that knocked them out of the playoffs. This year they're tops in the west with SGA the probable MVP of the league and you don't add another shooter/scorer to this mix to at least ensure a Finals appearance? Its only game one but man 'o man they better win this series and at worst make the WCF. We've been hearing about "the trade" for the past five f*cking years. "LOL @the Clippers" and all that nonstop!! If they don't win this series I'm going Atom Bomb nuclear on these b*tches!!

 

[Trojan 24]

Even with all they talent I think both OKC and the Cavs need a real veteran to put them over the top. Someone with 20+ years experience

 

[daemonova]

OKC winning off the fact that denver tied as fukk and these dudes been working from home since february

 

[Hersh]

can a team trade for both Durant and Book? ..

 

[Gil Scott-Heroin]

There's a few strategies to try and mitigate Jokic. You can let him get his by letting him play 1 on 1 with you and you basically guard all other players tight and chase them off the 3 pt line or you can blitz him with double teams in spurts and risk getting burned by other guys. This is what the thunder were doing some what successfully with Caruso and getting tips, etc. Jokic is not exactly a quick agile player to avoid getting stripped or tipped.

They let him get his in 1v1 situations in this game and it was the main reason the Nuggets got back into the contest in the 4th. He tortured them in the paint and put whoever was on him in foul trouble.

That entire approach had the opposite effect to what you're advocating for them to do.

Both Chet and Hartenstein are good defenders, but they're not particularly effective against someone like Jokic. Chet lacks the size to really disrupt him in the post, and Hartenstein commits too many dumb fouls. Maybe putting someone like Dort or Jdub on him and shadowing with Chet is the best option. I don't think this is going to be one of these series' where OKC can just let Jokic do what he wants 1v1. It'll be a series where they need to force him to pass more - their defense is more than athletic enough to cover extra distances and Denver doesn't exactly have reliable shooting.

The other option is to pick him up full court everytime with a smaller player and prevent him from just dribbling up and getting into his set.

Not really a preventative option that'll have any notable effect given they've got plenty of other ballhandlers to bring the rock up.

 

[Gil Scott-Heroin]

One obvious thing from Game 1 that's in Denver's favor -

They spent 40 minutes of every game in the 1st round having to defend the PnR on the high side to shut down the threat of Harden's shooting. This had Jokic scrambling to stunt and recover, regularly, and the Clips took full advantage of that by either finding the open man in the corners or throwing the ball down low to Zubac.

It was one of the main reasons why the Nuggets struggled to be consistent on offense because they were exhausted from having to constantly defend actions above the arc. Jokic, especially, floated in and out of games on offense because of all the energy the Clips forced him to use on defense.

They won't be covering as many miles on defense in this series because Shai's spots are typically from the elbows down, so in principle, they can play more drop coverage and don't need to cheat off their assignments the same. Neither Chet nor Hartenstein will be taking advantage of smaller players in the post like Zubac did either.

It feels like OKC is going to have to push the pace as much as they can to punish Denver and make it less of a halfcourt battle, because the Nuggets will gladly let Shai operate in the midrange if they can counter with Jokic in the post on the opposide end.

 

[FAH1223]

 

[MostReal]

I know the Zeke/Magic/Stockton/CP3 "coach on the floor" PG is all but extinct in the modern game...but you watch the C's and Thunder tonight, BOTH teams needed a guy to get their team organized and focused on executing down the stretch.




For as great as SGA is, he's not a real PG.

This is why Chef is still the best Point in the game to me. He closed that game 7 battle to perfection. Buries you went up and directs everything to where it needs to be.

SGA is still a shooting guard running point like Booker and Harden

 

[FlyBoy718]

Here I call myself watching the end of the game, only to wake up on my couch several hours after the end of a gem NBA needs to do better

 

[FlyBoy718]

Preach!

They have 50 draft picks and that dikkhead still couldn't be bothered to cash some in at the deadline.

He HELPED Dallas beat them last year!

Say what you want about SA, but he's the only sports pundit I've seen attempting to hold Presti accountable for his lack of chips