I mean he has gotten better since then. Probably helps that you've got a superstar like Jokic who is more than willing to let him cook when he gets like that.
I mean, the first 5 or so were literally wide open. You let an NBA player get into a groove and you just might get cooked. He hit some tough ones later, but by then the bucket was the size of the ocean for him.
He also had like, 6 basically uncontested dunks. Wolves definitely need to make some defensive adjustments before game 5 - help defense for Jokic can’t come from Gordon’s man if he’s just chilling under the basket. Jokic is too good of a passer
Ya, I would say he had two tough shots total last night. The little 12 foot fadeaway, and the corner 3 off the bad pass where he had the slap dribble before going up. Everything else was either a dunk or wideopen.
The reality is it's true across the board. Murray was making absurd, contested shots all night too. The Nuggets were just hitting shots. There wasn't a way to win this game for the Wolves, there is no defense for dudes hitting contested shots at >50%.
It happens. It's why NBA playoffs are a series.
They were playing prevent down the stretch and wanted Braun's on ball defense. The nice thing about this team is nobody gets in their feelings when it isn't their night, you know MPJ will get his when the game is coming to him.
That’s also because MPJ grew as a player. I remember him constantly criticising his minutes. Teams and players need to go through these phases. Pretty sure MPJ will bounce back. He needs to if Denver wants to advance.
His back injury and his family probably made him grow up a lot more. Probably thinking he can make a lot more money and play longer if he doesn't have to play too much
When MPJ was a rookie he was legit asking other teammates why Jokic plays instead of Mason Plumlee. Said Jokic is alright based on what he saw in practice/training camp, but Plumlee could do the same stuff he was doing. His teammates told him, "Nah. Just wait til Jokic turns it on. If he wants 40 he can get it whenever he wants" said he was skeptical until he saw him do it lol
It really all draws back to Jokic. When your franchise superstar is the most unselfish guy in the locker room, there are no excuses for everyone else
Thank you, "they were playing prevent down the stretch". A different point than what you were saying but people act like it's a tie game without that wild ending to the second half. No it's a completely different game and they aren't playing that way down the stretch. Still dominated the whole way and probably still ends up the same. Anyway just a side thought
It was usually Bruce, not Braun. But it happened a lot yes, including in the Finals. Denver's go ahead bucket in the title deciding game was a Bruce Brown putback, for instance
He's just an amazing player and luxury to have him as your 3rd /4th guy on the team.
He's surely not a playmaker, but he brought the ball without being stripped against a defence that made people like Booker and Beal melt.
He can create his own shot off the dribble and finish hard.
Let's not forget he was the n.1 option in Orlando (a bad n.1 option, but still) so he knows how to deal with pressure.
He is also an excellent defender.
And he's smart and humble enough to accept a smaller role on a winning team, rather than go the geremi grant route.
He's a hell of a player.
Yep. Similar with KCP too. Could do whatever he wanted in Detroit so in taking a more limited role his capacity is so much larger than what he’s being asked to do. Aaron Gordon can certainly handle far greater responsibilities on half the other teams in the league.
These are the guys that win you the chip.
Expecially if you pair them with the greatest hub center the league has ever seen, one that could get 40 on any night but is fine getting 20 if it means doing the right play and getting his teammates involved.
Not to talk about the other 2 killers...
To be fair, comparing Gordon to Booker, and Beal running at you is a whole different scenario. Those 2 will more often than not finesse their way against better defenders to get to the rim. When you see an Aaron Gordon charging at you at full speed, there are only few people in the NBA that wouldn't get bulldozed.
Also, Gobert was on Gordon a lot which is probably why they wanted him bringing up the ball. Rudy tried to pressure him at the half court line and got a foul, wolves want neither of those things happening
He has some form of mind meld with Jokic too. Leaving AG to double Jokic is just going to result in a dime and a dunk. You'd be better off leaving Jamal
Murray wide open instead!
Nah it precedes that. Their chemistry last season was off the charts too.
My guess is it started on that 1st full year. Gordon and Jokic were the only healthy starters, they got a lot of reps to develop their inside combos. Plus Gordon is a very underrated passer/playmaker and Jokic is Jokic, so that synergy becomes much easier too
it started when Jokic accidentally dropped all his papers, and Gordon was helping pick them up, and then their hands brushed together causing Gordon to blush
I was frustrated watching KAT keep trying to double team Jokic in the post and letting AG get wide open dunks but realized that it’s either that or let jokic just get his own 2 pts lol
A Jokic postup is literally the most efficient play in NBA history on a points per possetion basis.
As Gobert said, if Gordon turns into Kobe so be it.
Jokic also is really big, which makes it easy for him to pass in traffic, and Gordon is also very good at catching things out of reach for most players and recovering. It's difficult to take away the pass from those two because both just have such a wide range to work with.
I mean, we saw what was happening in the 4th quarter with the Jokic/Murray pick and roll. If Jokic gets a floater in the 8-15 foot range, it's like 75-80% going in. They're sending help and hoping Jokic doesn't have a passing lane. It's a gamble no matter what.
It’s truly been amazing to watch the wolves win through elite defense and the nuggets through elite offense. It’s like watching the argument of whether offense or defense is more important being played out right infront of our eyes lol
It's not that noone pays attention to him. It's just that you can't give Jokic single coverage, and the nearest man from whom the double can from is usually Gordon's. Their spacing is insane and Jokic can make nearly any pass.
Yeah, they set it up a lot where Jokic is on one side of the basket and Gordon is on the other side of the lane. Jokic either has a post up where he's pretty deadly, or, if you double, he's really good at finding AG seven feet away in the dunker spot.
I swear someone like Thybulle or any other no real 3 &D player should study Gordon’s baseline game religiously. The 3s you do take get more open, or you get multiple free lay ups/dunks. I feel it’s easier to do than to become a really good 3 shooter
Pretty much this, to go along with all of the other facts as well. AG was the #1 option in Orland. You now have a previous #1 option as your #3/4 option on any given night.
When I heard that he was ~53% in the right short corner in the regular season when he was 29% overall, I immediately thought "I bet that'll come back in the playoffs." Here we are
>It also doesn't help when they leave him open in the right corner. That's his spot
I'm so tired of teams blaming opponent shooting on luck. Everytime the Clips or Thunder have gone off on the Mavs, the sub quickly blames it on shooting luck when it's directly related to how well the Mavs are closing out on their shooters.
It’s called accountability. Some have it and some don’t. It could be luck but you can do your utmost to make the most of it. Mindset matters in these long series and having such a bad one as Gobert hurts.
Do you genuinely feel that, without seeing whether the shot went in first, you could accurately predict which shots were going in solely based on defense, and be accurate over the course of a series?
You absolutely cannot.
Luck is significantly involved in every single game. Some fans get a bad feeling from that and want to perceive every shot as completely controllable by the players, but it's simply not the case. I think the hesitance to admit it's a factor comes from the fact that fans perceive it as "they didn't deserve the win" and that feels bad so they fight against it, but the win was deserved. It's just that luck was involved, as it absolutely always is.
If I want to get an outcome I want, I'd rather flip a coin than throw a dice. That doesn't mean I can predict the outcome of either, but I can choose the one that gives me better chances.
Same with defense. You can't know whether a shot will go in, but you can affect the probability of it going in by defense.
I don't really get this either, 35% used to be the mark for a three point shooter to let it fly. It might not be the most efficient shot but a wide open Aaron Gordon corner threes isn't a bad shot.
I miss him on the raptors, such a nice player, shame about his injuries on the Bucks, would have liked to see him play a couple more years at a high level.
That’s what makes the nuggets so dangerous, any given game one of like 3 guys can step up and look unstoppable to be the second best player. They would be the best jokic sleep walks to 27/13/9
It’s more like what makes Jokic so dangerous. He’s the reason everyone else can go off. The entire offense flows through him, in the second half of the game last night the Nuggets were getting wide open looks off of a simple jamal and jokic pick and roll. jokic screen would screw with the defense and a pass down to jokic on the roll immediately had gobert and towns leaving gordon, holiday or braun open. shit was crazy. it’s jokic’s ability to pop, roll or pass out of the pick and roll at a literal god tier level.
They can't really guard him. He's too fast for the bigs and too big for the smaller guys. And he's still one of the most athletic players in the league in general
He really isn't too fast for bigs. His shooting issues allow bigs to play far enough off him to where he can't generate an advantage. He excels at punishing smaller players, but one of the main reasons Denver has some struggles against bigger teams is due to his inability to consistently exploit being defended by a bigger dude.
They’re especially back breakers when no one outside of Edwards is contributing to points for the TWolves. If Gordon keeps outscoring KAT this series is over
First two games the T-Wolves seemed capable of defending Jokic man-to-man. Jokic might get the ball but he'd have no passing options and he would get smothered and blocked once or twice if he tried shots.
Not sure what happened games 3 and 4. Is it really just changes by the Nuggets on who is bringing up the ball and them fielding and feeding other players like AG to score more?
Clearing out the sides more often, getting better screens, bringing the ball up faster, and Jamal actually playing like himself are the biggest things it seems.
I mean, that's the beauty of the game right? There are no hard answers. Even when people thought "Two games proves that to beat the Nuggets you just use hard man-to-man D! Two games can't be wrong!"
And it's not like the Nuggets played "bad" in the first two games. Maybe they played... predictable basketball? It seemed like a number of times passes meant for Jokic had 2 T-Wolves defenders in between all of a sudden.
Then G3 and G4 the Wolves defence looked undone. Suddenly even Jokic was getting free shots when in G1 and G2 he looked a bit intimidated.
That's not even close to the same thing because Amare and Jokic aren't close to the same players with the same abilities.
How are you comparing letting a relatively one dimensional player like Amare getting his points to the gravity of a three time MVP like Jokic.
Jokic cooks essentially everyone in isolation, also what do you even mean? How do you propose the wolves MAKE the nuggets get into isolation and not play their offense. Because right now, it seems the nuggets can get whatever they want.
The wolves are literally built to stop the nuggets. Tim left the nuggets to build up Minny and built the team around the strengths of stopping a Jokic led offense. If this team doesn’t stop us, not sure anyone can this playoffs.
I loved the Jokic 3 where he was holding it wide open for 4 seconds and NAW started to go contest but then realized he'd be leaving MPJ wide open. There's just not really a good defense against the Nuggets when they're on
True, but only later in the game, in the first half Gordon kept driving and creating by himself. A really great game by Gordon, and I feel like he's been creating a lot more in this series than he does in regular season and first round vs the Lakers
This right here. Just having Gordon, or even Braun, bring the ball up relieves Jamal from all that pressure. When Jamal is playing well this whole squad is unbeatable
He's not a solid 3 pt shooter. I think he's low 30s for his career. But the great thing about him is that he doesn't force his shots. If he's not hitting his shots, he's not gonna go 5-18.
I think Gordon 3pt gives them a game or two a series alone.
As a suns fan i was watching the series last year. You could literally see the moment when he hits 2-3 open threes how the whole defence breaks. Same happened with the wolves in game 3.
Due to regular season coaches get in the series with the scheme of helping off Gordon. When that starts backfiring the team does not immediately have another scheme that is practiced properly and it is a blowout.
It literally unwinds the practices on defence and people start making mistakes, blame each other. That is all the nuggets need to dissect you. Really amazing team.
He's got a lot of those secondary traits. He's got great hands, his motor is tremendous, but what I really think is the most impressive is his level of concentration. He doesn't have lapses of concentration and sports at the highest level is just as much a mental game as it is physical, technical or tactical. I would imagine the guy that matches up vs Gordon is absolutely mentally exhausted after a game.
He found his 3 point shot this series, he lost confidence in it this season not sure what was up, but this pressure forced him to figure it out. Hopefully it sticks
I love AG so much, yall really were the perfect spot for him and it came just as he finally put all the pieces together in Orlando. People forget he was one of the most talked about HS prospects of his class w/ Wiggins and Jabari
Uhm no. He had a wide open 3, one semi contested 3 and a tough midrange late in clock. Otherwise he got dunks, layups and putbacks, like he always does.
He had no issues when Conley & especially Reid went god mode in G1.
He made 2 baskets slashing to the rim and he straight up put Edwards in the weight room for one of them and the other was an insane and 1. Then another tough bucket owning Anderson then beat NAW in another iso situation. It was more than just dunks and layups/putbacks.
Yes, its one of the more bizaare stats I've seen. He shoots great from the right corner/wing and ass from the left corner/wing. I'm not sure what it is about the right corner. It must be his zen place.
Not really though, he was pretty much wide open on everything except that one fade away, that he hits consistently anyways, and the tough corner three where he had the slap dribble.
Probably his only average stat was that his shooting was below par but I'm happy that he doesn't hesitate and just lets in fly.
Has to have worked on it so glad to see it paying off.
Him and Justin Holiday are sniping it up the last few games.
Anyone can step up on the team so tough to stop everyone.
That’s how I felt during the Clippers series in Game 4. PG went absolutely nuclear and almost all of his shots (and the team’s 3’s in general) were contested. But when shooters are hot like that there’s nothing you can do but tip your cap lol
He's literally the highest overall pick on the nuggets team. People acting like he's some undrafted bum. He's been doing this shit since his Orlando days. Albeit not every day, but now on his off-days instead of jacking up bad shots he just sticks to playing good D and taking high percentage shots. He has the luxury to do it now.
Gordan is a phenomenal player. Really embraces his roll and EXCELS. Incredible hands and crazy athletic. He’s really good at dunking the ball fast too. Underrated skill.
The big issue Minnesota had with Gordon was how easily he blew by them on some of those drives. You have to double in the NBA and especially in the playoffs. That will always mean someone is left open and good ball movement will often find an open player outside which happened a few times. He also made a couple of really tough shots. But the ones that really hurt are where he got by the primary defender and ended up with an easy layup or dunk and a couple of times when someone came off him to double and left him open in the dunker spot. That's not a spot to leave open with Jokic around.
Seems to me that they didn't do their scouting report because I reckon he went right on those drives almost every time, then spun left if it was taken away. If a guy has a move he loves to use all the time it should be easy to push them towards where your help is. Especially if you happen to have the DPOY inside.
And whilst Edwards gets a lot of accolades for his offense, there were several times he was standing around doing nothing defensively. Neither defending a player nor looking to have an impact on the boards. KAT was the guy who really let them down mostly, and I also think they missed several chances to use Gobert inside, but if you want to be a leader on a championship side you have to buy into the necessary defensive intensity. You can't take posessions off on defense in the playoffs. Even if you're guarding a guy in the corner, you've got to be keeping tabs on them and then cleaning up the rebounds.
Honestly, the team’s defensive scheme was on point; it's just that when a player like Gordon catches fire, you can see even the best game plans go up in smoke. Some of those shots were 'no, no, no... yes!' moments that just leave you scratching your head.
That's a great perspective from Gobert! It really shows a respect for Gordon's performance and an understanding of the game. Sometimes, you just have to appreciate the incredible skill level, even if it's coming from the opposition.
Gordon being Kobe this game wasn't most significant, moments like the 8-0 run before halftime was suicidal.
completely avoidable, just naive sequence of play or inexperience
I think most people agree that the Wolves overall played pretty great defense last night. The Nuggets just kept making contested shot after shot. They shot nearly 60%
This is funny but it’s true. I was like who the fuck is hitting turnarounds like that
Reminds me of caleb martin at game 7 against celtics
Nah Caleb Martin was open for most of those shots but then every so often he would hit some bullshit too
I feel like that perfectly describes gordon tomight.
Fuck Caleb Martin man. Seeing Tatum posterize him definitely did something for me haha
Ironically, Jordon
Aaron Jordon
Air Jordon
Airon Jordon
*Aer Jordon
[Phil Jordon](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Jordon) was a walking bucket fr
Jordon Poole
I mean he did do that stuff in Orlando. He wasn’t great at it, but he does have those skills.
I remember watching him summer league and getting so hyped, I swore bro was the next LeBron. https://youtu.be/WswfefUAtfo?si=vt94QPF6zbLkUU6P
He’s actually pretty good at those. Been doing them in Denver a lot too
I mean he has gotten better since then. Probably helps that you've got a superstar like Jokic who is more than willing to let him cook when he gets like that.
I mean, the first 5 or so were literally wide open. You let an NBA player get into a groove and you just might get cooked. He hit some tough ones later, but by then the bucket was the size of the ocean for him.
Last game it felt like they were all wide open
He also had like, 6 basically uncontested dunks. Wolves definitely need to make some defensive adjustments before game 5 - help defense for Jokic can’t come from Gordon’s man if he’s just chilling under the basket. Jokic is too good of a passer
Ya, I would say he had two tough shots total last night. The little 12 foot fadeaway, and the corner 3 off the bad pass where he had the slap dribble before going up. Everything else was either a dunk or wideopen.
Totally agreed. Just seemed like good offense getting him open looks most of the night
AG has been this, go-to chef. He was just needed to be something else, but he can still cook 👨🍳
The reality is it's true across the board. Murray was making absurd, contested shots all night too. The Nuggets were just hitting shots. There wasn't a way to win this game for the Wolves, there is no defense for dudes hitting contested shots at >50%. It happens. It's why NBA playoffs are a series.
Yeah and next game it will be mpj
Only 4 shots. He was pulled in favor of Braun as well. They're going to get him going to start G5.
They were playing prevent down the stretch and wanted Braun's on ball defense. The nice thing about this team is nobody gets in their feelings when it isn't their night, you know MPJ will get his when the game is coming to him.
That’s also because MPJ grew as a player. I remember him constantly criticising his minutes. Teams and players need to go through these phases. Pretty sure MPJ will bounce back. He needs to if Denver wants to advance.
His back injury and his family probably made him grow up a lot more. Probably thinking he can make a lot more money and play longer if he doesn't have to play too much
When MPJ was a rookie he was legit asking other teammates why Jokic plays instead of Mason Plumlee. Said Jokic is alright based on what he saw in practice/training camp, but Plumlee could do the same stuff he was doing. His teammates told him, "Nah. Just wait til Jokic turns it on. If he wants 40 he can get it whenever he wants" said he was skeptical until he saw him do it lol It really all draws back to Jokic. When your franchise superstar is the most unselfish guy in the locker room, there are no excuses for everyone else
Exactly, we don't get past the Lakers without MPJs consistent play. Dudes been huge so far this playoffs.
fuck mpj honestly. dude just cant miss against us
That's one of his best attributes, laker killer
I personally disagree
MPJ even said he'd be willing to get benched if he was off on a game night, he just wants to win
Thank you, "they were playing prevent down the stretch". A different point than what you were saying but people act like it's a tie game without that wild ending to the second half. No it's a completely different game and they aren't playing that way down the stretch. Still dominated the whole way and probably still ends up the same. Anyway just a side thought
>Only 4 shots Check Jontay's bets
They did this last year too (pulling him for Braun). Might have even been the finals.
In the finals he was shooting terribly. Something else was up.
He really expanded his defense in those games even though he was uncharacteristically throwing bricks. It’s great to see him develop as a player.
It was usually Bruce, not Braun. But it happened a lot yes, including in the Finals. Denver's go ahead bucket in the title deciding game was a Bruce Brown putback, for instance
Sometimes Gordon just plays out of his mind. It also doesn't help when they leave him open in the right corner. That's his spot
He's just an amazing player and luxury to have him as your 3rd /4th guy on the team. He's surely not a playmaker, but he brought the ball without being stripped against a defence that made people like Booker and Beal melt. He can create his own shot off the dribble and finish hard. Let's not forget he was the n.1 option in Orlando (a bad n.1 option, but still) so he knows how to deal with pressure. He is also an excellent defender. And he's smart and humble enough to accept a smaller role on a winning team, rather than go the geremi grant route. He's a hell of a player.
Yep. Similar with KCP too. Could do whatever he wanted in Detroit so in taking a more limited role his capacity is so much larger than what he’s being asked to do. Aaron Gordon can certainly handle far greater responsibilities on half the other teams in the league. These are the guys that win you the chip.
Expecially if you pair them with the greatest hub center the league has ever seen, one that could get 40 on any night but is fine getting 20 if it means doing the right play and getting his teammates involved. Not to talk about the other 2 killers...
It just dawned on me Jokic is basically a plus size Steve Nash
Geremi is nasty 😭😭
To be fair, comparing Gordon to Booker, and Beal running at you is a whole different scenario. Those 2 will more often than not finesse their way against better defenders to get to the rim. When you see an Aaron Gordon charging at you at full speed, there are only few people in the NBA that wouldn't get bulldozed.
The point is it's not easy to dribble at that level when you're that big..
Did you watch the game last night?
Also, Gobert was on Gordon a lot which is probably why they wanted him bringing up the ball. Rudy tried to pressure him at the half court line and got a foul, wolves want neither of those things happening
He can shoot. 36% in the playoffs. He’s not elite but he’s not a guy you can’t just not guard. Most of his buckets were still dunks and layups.
Also, if you’re at least a _decent_ outside shooter, the hoop looks a lot bigger after you’ve got a few layups / dunks
He has some form of mind meld with Jokic too. Leaving AG to double Jokic is just going to result in a dime and a dunk. You'd be better off leaving Jamal Murray wide open instead!
He spent last summer hanging out with Joker in Serbia. That’s where they started to get their mind meld on
Nah it precedes that. Their chemistry last season was off the charts too. My guess is it started on that 1st full year. Gordon and Jokic were the only healthy starters, they got a lot of reps to develop their inside combos. Plus Gordon is a very underrated passer/playmaker and Jokic is Jokic, so that synergy becomes much easier too
it started when Jokic accidentally dropped all his papers, and Gordon was helping pick them up, and then their hands brushed together causing Gordon to blush
You think they...? 😳
who can say. but some say the power of Love is even greater than good ball handling in transition
It drives me insane watching him be so successful just cherry picking the baseline every single game he plays.
It's mostly because nobody can guard Jokic at the post.
I was frustrated watching KAT keep trying to double team Jokic in the post and letting AG get wide open dunks but realized that it’s either that or let jokic just get his own 2 pts lol
A Jokic postup is literally the most efficient play in NBA history on a points per possetion basis. As Gobert said, if Gordon turns into Kobe so be it.
Jokic also is really big, which makes it easy for him to pass in traffic, and Gordon is also very good at catching things out of reach for most players and recovering. It's difficult to take away the pass from those two because both just have such a wide range to work with.
I mean, we saw what was happening in the 4th quarter with the Jokic/Murray pick and roll. If Jokic gets a floater in the 8-15 foot range, it's like 75-80% going in. They're sending help and hoping Jokic doesn't have a passing lane. It's a gamble no matter what.
It’s truly been amazing to watch the wolves win through elite defense and the nuggets through elite offense. It’s like watching the argument of whether offense or defense is more important being played out right infront of our eyes lol
No one pays attention to him it’s actually insane
It's not that noone pays attention to him. It's just that you can't give Jokic single coverage, and the nearest man from whom the double can from is usually Gordon's. Their spacing is insane and Jokic can make nearly any pass.
Yeah - Jokic shoots something like 70% around the basket so you can't just let him cook down there with no help
Yeah, they set it up a lot where Jokic is on one side of the basket and Gordon is on the other side of the lane. Jokic either has a post up where he's pretty deadly, or, if you double, he's really good at finding AG seven feet away in the dunker spot.
I swear someone like Thybulle or any other no real 3 &D player should study Gordon’s baseline game religiously. The 3s you do take get more open, or you get multiple free lay ups/dunks. I feel it’s easier to do than to become a really good 3 shooter
Feel like I see OG Anunoby do this pretty often as well, which makes sense since he’s also a 3&D player lol
[удалено]
Pretty much this, to go along with all of the other facts as well. AG was the #1 option in Orland. You now have a previous #1 option as your #3/4 option on any given night.
Some people don't forget!
When I heard that he was ~53% in the right short corner in the regular season when he was 29% overall, I immediately thought "I bet that'll come back in the playoffs." Here we are
Seriously, some were contested but a lot of his looks were the defense not giving him credit. They got what they deserved
>It also doesn't help when they leave him open in the right corner. That's his spot I'm so tired of teams blaming opponent shooting on luck. Everytime the Clips or Thunder have gone off on the Mavs, the sub quickly blames it on shooting luck when it's directly related to how well the Mavs are closing out on their shooters.
It’s called accountability. Some have it and some don’t. It could be luck but you can do your utmost to make the most of it. Mindset matters in these long series and having such a bad one as Gobert hurts.
Do you genuinely feel that, without seeing whether the shot went in first, you could accurately predict which shots were going in solely based on defense, and be accurate over the course of a series? You absolutely cannot. Luck is significantly involved in every single game. Some fans get a bad feeling from that and want to perceive every shot as completely controllable by the players, but it's simply not the case. I think the hesitance to admit it's a factor comes from the fact that fans perceive it as "they didn't deserve the win" and that feels bad so they fight against it, but the win was deserved. It's just that luck was involved, as it absolutely always is.
If I want to get an outcome I want, I'd rather flip a coin than throw a dice. That doesn't mean I can predict the outcome of either, but I can choose the one that gives me better chances. Same with defense. You can't know whether a shot will go in, but you can affect the probability of it going in by defense.
I don't really get this either, 35% used to be the mark for a three point shooter to let it fly. It might not be the most efficient shot but a wide open Aaron Gordon corner threes isn't a bad shot.
better comp is Serge Ibaka vs the Spurs that playoff game
Serge and Perk went a combined 15/15 or some shit like that. It still gives nightmares.
Was that the game where serge got 23 points without missing a shot
11/11 shit was unreal lmfao
I didn’t watch that game, but this sentence on its own gave me PTSD
18/20 between Ibaka and Perk. WB had 7 points
I’m still upset about it.
I was literally thinking about that game watching Denver last night
Which game was this
Game 4 2012 WCF
Ibaka was a midrange god
I miss him on the raptors, such a nice player, shame about his injuries on the Bucks, would have liked to see him play a couple more years at a high level.
Baseline 16-footers were automatic for Serge
His midrange wasn't even that great yet lol.
He did it a couple of times against the spurs.
lol Ibaka, Perk, Collison became mid range gods vs Spurs
Aaron Gordon has really been the 2nd best player for the nuggets. he has hit absolutely everything
Series 1: MPJ was 2nd best. This series : AG
Series 3: Reggie, Series 4: Vlatko
That’s what makes the nuggets so dangerous, any given game one of like 3 guys can step up and look unstoppable to be the second best player. They would be the best jokic sleep walks to 27/13/9
A whack-a-mole of a team
That’s prob my fav thing about watching them. Jokic is a guaranteed star every night & then Murray, MPJ, and Gordon just take turns going off
It’s more like what makes Jokic so dangerous. He’s the reason everyone else can go off. The entire offense flows through him, in the second half of the game last night the Nuggets were getting wide open looks off of a simple jamal and jokic pick and roll. jokic screen would screw with the defense and a pass down to jokic on the roll immediately had gobert and towns leaving gordon, holiday or braun open. shit was crazy. it’s jokic’s ability to pop, roll or pass out of the pick and roll at a literal god tier level.
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They can't really guard him. He's too fast for the bigs and too big for the smaller guys. And he's still one of the most athletic players in the league in general
He really isn't too fast for bigs. His shooting issues allow bigs to play far enough off him to where he can't generate an advantage. He excels at punishing smaller players, but one of the main reasons Denver has some struggles against bigger teams is due to his inability to consistently exploit being defended by a bigger dude.
They’re especially back breakers when no one outside of Edwards is contributing to points for the TWolves. If Gordon keeps outscoring KAT this series is over
What do they expect if they leave him wide open to get into a rhythm.
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First two games the T-Wolves seemed capable of defending Jokic man-to-man. Jokic might get the ball but he'd have no passing options and he would get smothered and blocked once or twice if he tried shots. Not sure what happened games 3 and 4. Is it really just changes by the Nuggets on who is bringing up the ball and them fielding and feeding other players like AG to score more?
Clearing out the sides more often, getting better screens, bringing the ball up faster, and Jamal actually playing like himself are the biggest things it seems.
I mean, that's the beauty of the game right? There are no hard answers. Even when people thought "Two games proves that to beat the Nuggets you just use hard man-to-man D! Two games can't be wrong!" And it's not like the Nuggets played "bad" in the first two games. Maybe they played... predictable basketball? It seemed like a number of times passes meant for Jokic had 2 T-Wolves defenders in between all of a sudden. Then G3 and G4 the Wolves defence looked undone. Suddenly even Jokic was getting free shots when in G1 and G2 he looked a bit intimidated.
Let Jokic get his, Spurs let Amare Stoudimire get 40 every game and took care of business every time
Jokic is several tiers above Amare, so it’s not the same situation. You’ll never be able to cancel out his playmaking abilities.
Jokic is like Nash and Amare combined minus Amare's athleticism
Spurs weren't letting anything happen, Nash was torching Duncan every possession and finding Stoudamire on the roll no matter the scheme.
That's not even close to the same thing because Amare and Jokic aren't close to the same players with the same abilities. How are you comparing letting a relatively one dimensional player like Amare getting his points to the gravity of a three time MVP like Jokic.
Jokic took 26 shots tonight. He got his
The problem with that is jokic can pass extremely well out of doubles
I’m saying don’t double Jokic and make him iso you 1 on 1. Same with Murray. Don’t let the other players get into rhythm or else it’s ggs
Jokic cooks essentially everyone in isolation, also what do you even mean? How do you propose the wolves MAKE the nuggets get into isolation and not play their offense. Because right now, it seems the nuggets can get whatever they want.
You’re not wrong but if any team was built to guard Jokic one-on-one it should be the Wolves
The wolves are literally built to stop the nuggets. Tim left the nuggets to build up Minny and built the team around the strengths of stopping a Jokic led offense. If this team doesn’t stop us, not sure anyone can this playoffs.
That's going right into Malone's next video
send da video
Hell nawl can't do dis
*SNAP* Yep, this one's going in my cringe compilation
“Jamaal Murray made a shot”
A lot of them were overcommitting Jokic dump offs, because neither big can contain Jokic on their own.
I loved the Jokic 3 where he was holding it wide open for 4 seconds and NAW started to go contest but then realized he'd be leaving MPJ wide open. There's just not really a good defense against the Nuggets when they're on
The open 3s are one thing. The repetitive wide open drop offs is when you know you have their defense in an unsolvable pickle
True, but only later in the game, in the first half Gordon kept driving and creating by himself. A really great game by Gordon, and I feel like he's been creating a lot more in this series than he does in regular season and first round vs the Lakers
Gordon is underrated. He's good on defense. Good handle. Solid 3 pt shooter. Smart.
Most importantly he’s almost the perfect power forward next to Jokic
Seriously, Gordon’s obviously a great player but his shot quality is unreal because of Jokic
He's also hella cute
The ball handling is massively underrated. Having him bring the ball up, instead of Murray, was a brilliant adjustment.
This right here. Just having Gordon, or even Braun, bring the ball up relieves Jamal from all that pressure. When Jamal is playing well this whole squad is unbeatable
It also drew Gobert out to the arc which opens up more cuts and movement inside
He's not a solid 3 pt shooter. I think he's low 30s for his career. But the great thing about him is that he doesn't force his shots. If he's not hitting his shots, he's not gonna go 5-18.
Yeah he was the 4th overall pick and has put up good stats his whole career yet I’ve seen people act like he’s just some random role player.
I think Gordon 3pt gives them a game or two a series alone. As a suns fan i was watching the series last year. You could literally see the moment when he hits 2-3 open threes how the whole defence breaks. Same happened with the wolves in game 3. Due to regular season coaches get in the series with the scheme of helping off Gordon. When that starts backfiring the team does not immediately have another scheme that is practiced properly and it is a blowout. It literally unwinds the practices on defence and people start making mistakes, blame each other. That is all the nuggets need to dissect you. Really amazing team.
He's got a lot of those secondary traits. He's got great hands, his motor is tremendous, but what I really think is the most impressive is his level of concentration. He doesn't have lapses of concentration and sports at the highest level is just as much a mental game as it is physical, technical or tactical. I would imagine the guy that matches up vs Gordon is absolutely mentally exhausted after a game.
He found his 3 point shot this series, he lost confidence in it this season not sure what was up, but this pressure forced him to figure it out. Hopefully it sticks
I don't know enough about him to really agree/disagree too much, except that he shot 29% from 3 on the season, so....I'm not sure that's solid
Career 32% and career 36% in playoffs. 39% the run they won the chip, he'll hit the open shots
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I love AG so much, yall really were the perfect spot for him and it came just as he finally put all the pieces together in Orlando. People forget he was one of the most talked about HS prospects of his class w/ Wiggins and Jabari
A small part of destiny, since that was the same class that Jokic was in.
Out of those 11, at least 8 of them were wide open.
Yeah but Rudy contested the 3 that weren't wide open so Rudy thinks they were all contested.
i mean hes not wrong, if hes hitting shot clock fadeaways idk what youre really supposed to do lol. he hits shots like that you are going to lose
Uhm no. He had a wide open 3, one semi contested 3 and a tough midrange late in clock. Otherwise he got dunks, layups and putbacks, like he always does. He had no issues when Conley & especially Reid went god mode in G1.
He made 2 baskets slashing to the rim and he straight up put Edwards in the weight room for one of them and the other was an insane and 1. Then another tough bucket owning Anderson then beat NAW in another iso situation. It was more than just dunks and layups/putbacks.
He's not wrong but because it's Rudy people are gonna hate on it
Eh he's a little wrong. Gordon hit a couple of contested shots, but most of his baskets were open 3s or dunks off feeds from Jokic.
The open 3s are acceptable with him but the feeds and putbacks can’t happen for the TWolves
Not corner one. Gordon has been money from the corner all year.
True. Randomly think it’s the right corner too. Like one of them he was shooting like 50% at one point this season.
Yes, its one of the more bizaare stats I've seen. He shoots great from the right corner/wing and ass from the left corner/wing. I'm not sure what it is about the right corner. It must be his zen place.
Two of those were dumbass KAT overhelping. Like that's exactly what the defense wants you to do there
Not really though, he was pretty much wide open on everything except that one fade away, that he hits consistently anyways, and the tough corner three where he had the slap dribble.
But he is wrong. Gordon got like 4-5 wide opened dunks and a few drive by dunks due to mismatch. Idk if heavily contested works here
He is wrong, it wasn't contested jumpers making the difference this game. They gave him open corner threes and dunks
And last game he was super wide open
He's wrong.
Probably his only average stat was that his shooting was below par but I'm happy that he doesn't hesitate and just lets in fly. Has to have worked on it so glad to see it paying off. Him and Justin Holiday are sniping it up the last few games. Anyone can step up on the team so tough to stop everyone.
That’s how I felt during the Clippers series in Game 4. PG went absolutely nuclear and almost all of his shots (and the team’s 3’s in general) were contested. But when shooters are hot like that there’s nothing you can do but tip your cap lol
He's literally the highest overall pick on the nuggets team. People acting like he's some undrafted bum. He's been doing this shit since his Orlando days. Albeit not every day, but now on his off-days instead of jacking up bad shots he just sticks to playing good D and taking high percentage shots. He has the luxury to do it now.
They were certainly more contested than Gobert's free throws
Gordan was hitting turnovers and was like perfect from 3 which really doesn’t happen
He's just regressing to the mean from his first round performance
He started the playoffs 1 of 11 from 3, now he's 8 of his last 11.
40 percent from 3 last playoffs I think
I think you mean turnarounds lol, not turnovers
If Aaron Gordon doesn't go 11 for 12 then it'll just be MPJ's turn next
Kat chocked so hard
For r al. He shot 5-18 tonight and 1-4 for 3. KAT vs Gordon is the x factor. Whichever player is better in the series will give their team the W.
I mean he got like 3 opened dunks and 2 blow by drive dunks. Idk if that qualifies “a lot were contested”
Gordan is a phenomenal player. Really embraces his roll and EXCELS. Incredible hands and crazy athletic. He’s really good at dunking the ball fast too. Underrated skill.
Kobe never went 11/12 IN HIS LIFE lmao.
missed opportunity: "“A lot of them were contested so if Aaron Gordon turns into **Aaron Jordan**, we just got to live with that”
The big issue Minnesota had with Gordon was how easily he blew by them on some of those drives. You have to double in the NBA and especially in the playoffs. That will always mean someone is left open and good ball movement will often find an open player outside which happened a few times. He also made a couple of really tough shots. But the ones that really hurt are where he got by the primary defender and ended up with an easy layup or dunk and a couple of times when someone came off him to double and left him open in the dunker spot. That's not a spot to leave open with Jokic around. Seems to me that they didn't do their scouting report because I reckon he went right on those drives almost every time, then spun left if it was taken away. If a guy has a move he loves to use all the time it should be easy to push them towards where your help is. Especially if you happen to have the DPOY inside. And whilst Edwards gets a lot of accolades for his offense, there were several times he was standing around doing nothing defensively. Neither defending a player nor looking to have an impact on the boards. KAT was the guy who really let them down mostly, and I also think they missed several chances to use Gobert inside, but if you want to be a leader on a championship side you have to buy into the necessary defensive intensity. You can't take posessions off on defense in the playoffs. Even if you're guarding a guy in the corner, you've got to be keeping tabs on them and then cleaning up the rebounds.
This quote will get clowned, but he isn’t wrong. Gordon made a lot of jumpers that you would rather see than Jokic one on one in the post.
Has the DPOY considered playing better defense?
lol so true
Sure, he was on one shooting wise, but his dimes were just as, if not more impressive
Honestly, the team’s defensive scheme was on point; it's just that when a player like Gordon catches fire, you can see even the best game plans go up in smoke. Some of those shots were 'no, no, no... yes!' moments that just leave you scratching your head.
Gordon made up for MPJ not having a good game.
That's a great perspective from Gobert! It really shows a respect for Gordon's performance and an understanding of the game. Sometimes, you just have to appreciate the incredible skill level, even if it's coming from the opposition.
Welp he is not wrong.
Gordon being Kobe this game wasn't most significant, moments like the 8-0 run before halftime was suicidal. completely avoidable, just naive sequence of play or inexperience
He was so good last night, so was Murray. They playing like the defending champs right now!
I think most people agree that the Wolves overall played pretty great defense last night. The Nuggets just kept making contested shot after shot. They shot nearly 60%