2024 NBA Playoffs: West Semifinals: #2 Denver Nuggets vs #3 Minnesota Timberwolves (Series tied 3-3)

[BelgradeNugget]

Denver just doesn’t look the same as last year. Jokic is going to have to take over like he did last year for them to even have a chance.

Okay, but also Minnesota is a better team than any they played in last year's playoffs also.

You can see how missing Jaden (defending Murray) and no Naz Reid made them much worse, particularly against a team like DEN. Plus Ant has grown a lot, and Rudy is fully healthy.

This ain’t last year’s Wolves.

I said a few times, but for me biggest diference from Minnesota last year and this year is chemistry they buildt. Jaden and Reid are great but last year before playoffs Wolfes were fighting each other, punching wall, everybody hated Gobert. Now they have great chemistry, they act as a team, play as a team and I think Mike Conley has a lot to do with it.

[Enso]

I just find it absurd that people are crowning the Wolves champions, and Ant as the next MJ after one game against a Nuggets team that is hobbled.

It's a bit silly.

There’s always a small portion that jumps the gun, they’re the type that swings on takes from game to game. Ants is sick but you can’t crown him until he hoists the Larry O.

[lambchop]

I just find it absurd that people are crowning the Wolves champions, and Ant as the next MJ after one game against a Nuggets team that is hobbled.

It's a bit silly.

There’s always a small portion that jumps the gun, they’re the type that swings on takes from game to game. Ants is sick but you can’t crown him until he hoists the Larry O.

Well, it would only get worse then. I can remember the "Kawhi is the goat" threads after that 2019 championship.

A lot of people would put Edwards ahead of Kobe all time, if he wins this year. And some will start goat debates and, even if they'll still have MJ first, he'll easily be ranked ahead of LBJ all time with a ring this year.

[Enso]

I just find it absurd that people are crowning the Wolves champions, and Ant as the next MJ after one game against a Nuggets team that is hobbled.

It's a bit silly.

There’s always a small portion that jumps the gun, they’re the type that swings on takes from game to game. Ants is sick but you can’t crown him until he hoists the Larry O.

Well, it would only get worse then. I can remember the "Kawhi is the goat" threads after that 2019 championship.

A lot of people would put Edwards ahead of Kobe all time, if he wins this year. And some will start goat debates and, even if they'll still have MJ first, he'll easily be ranked ahead of LBJ all time with a ring this year.

Yeah those would be the same type of people but now the knee jerk statements are on a bigger scale. Usually young fans who haven’t watched enough basketball, guys who get swept up into the emotions of the moment or just normie fans who don’t know much about the game.

[mademan]

There’s always a small portion that jumps the gun, they’re the type that swings on takes from game to game. Ants is sick but you can’t crown him until he hoists the Larry O.

Well, it would only get worse then. I can remember the "Kawhi is the goat" threads after that 2019 championship.

A lot of people would put Edwards ahead of Kobe all time, if he wins this year. And some will start goat debates and, even if they'll still have MJ first, he'll easily be ranked ahead of LBJ all time with a ring this year.

Yeah those would be the same type of people but now the knee jerk statements are on a bigger scale. Usually young fans who haven’t watched enough basketball, guys who get swept up into the emotions of the moment or just normie fans who don’t know much about the game.

Kobe was getting was MJ comps when he was playing 2nd fiddle to Shaq on a title team. Overreactions will happen but it will also even out after a little while. It was 2 weeks ago we were talking about Jokic being in GOAT convos. A month from now, those convos will look ridiculous or prescient

[Shaka_Zulu]

I just find it absurd that people are crowning the Wolves champions, and Ant as the next MJ after one game against a Nuggets team that is hobbled.

It's a bit silly.

There’s always a small portion that jumps the gun, they’re the type that swings on takes from game to game. Ants is sick but you can’t crown him until he hoists the Larry O.

Well, it would only get worse then. I can remember the "Kawhi is the goat" threads after that 2019 championship.

A lot of people would put Edwards ahead of Kobe all time, if he wins this year. And some will start goat debates and, even if they'll still have MJ first, he'll easily be ranked ahead of LBJ all time with a ring this year.

[Quentin]

Ant recived tech with 1:15 left in the 3Q and result was 73:68 at the time.
With 6:24 left in 4Q result was 84:84. With 3:13 left it was 94:91, so it looks like tech had a prolonged effect.
Lakers fans made 5 pages tread of overturned foul on DLo. C'mon Wolfes fans you're better than that.

BTW while I hate these type of tech fouls called, how do we know it was because of stare down? Because Reggie Miller sad so?
Ant did a little bit of talking in previous series against Durant and Suns, we know. Ref was there, maybe he said something.
It shouldn't be called anyway but maybe, just maybe, it was the diference between what he did and what Murray did.

How do we know?

It’s all on camera. He didn’t say a word.

BS call. 100%.

Do you have camera angle with his face when he was looking at KCP or just back? If you do please share.

The ref that called the tech had the same angle as the camera we have all seen and was no less than 30 feet from the play.

[F Saunders]

[list=][/list]

That tech on Ant seemed like desperation from the refs to keep the game close. Absolutely ridiculous. Ref should be fined imo.

Ant recived tech with 1:15 left in the 3Q and result was 73:68 at the time.
With 6:24 left in 4Q result was 84:84. With 3:13 left it was 94:91, so it looks like tech had a prolonged effect.
Lakers fans made 5 pages tread of overturned foul on DLo. C'mon Wolfes fans you're better than that.

BTW while I hate these type of tech fouls called, how do we know it was because of stare down? Because Reggie Miller sad so?
Ant did a little bit of talking in previous series against Durant and Suns, we know. Ref was there, maybe he said something.
It shouldn't be called anyway but maybe, just maybe, it was the diference between what he did and what Murray did.

The ref was not there, though.

Courtney Kirkland made the call from across the court, with Ant’s back to him and no angle to even see if Ant said anything, while the ref right there didn’t call anything.

Watch on YouTube

[bisme37]

Awesome win last night Wolves fan congrats! I keep waiting for Ant experience the ups and downs of a 22 year old human basketball player in an NBA postseason but so far he's been superhuman lol.

I just read a thing from Gobert talking about how much the Wolves players all love and support each other. Good stuff!

[benhillboy]

I’m a pretty big Bruce Brown fan. I thought not resigning him would bite them in the arse this season. I thought for sure the Nuggets brass knew they don’t win a title without him last season.

I like Braun, always hated Reggie Jackson, and come on with Justin Holliday. That bench just isn’t equipped. KCP + Bruce guarding Ant is infinitely better than just KCP taking the assignment. Sure Gordon is an excellent help man but you need as many sound individual defensive bodies as possible to face Ant right now and the Nuggets simply don’t have it.

[KyRo23]

Ant is great but let's not forget about Luka/Shai and mostly Wemby before saying that he's the next face of the league. Likely the best american player though.

He's flat out been better than them all so far. This is the biggest stage and the most important time of the year, and Ant has delivered everything and more.

Yeah, for like the last 5 games

I don’t think we can already call him better than Luka. Luka for his career has been a killer in the playoffs. He’s definitely on his way though. I know people are excited right now, but people need to slow it down a bit

[mcmurphy]

This post-season Murray had 3 games of 7 with a GameScore (a measure of player productivity from basketball-reference.com) lower of 12.0 which led to 1W-2L.

Last post-season Murray had only 3 games of 20 under 12.0 of GameScore which led however to 2W-1L (wins against PHO and LAL).
The only loss was right against Minnesota despite a monstrous performance from Jokic 43/11/6 ts% 0.68 (GameScore of 34.3).

If we consider that this year Minnesota has improved in everything Murray must have at least average performances by his standard if my team wants to have a chance.

This post-season:

Jokic GS_avg= 28.5
Ants GS_avg= 27.3
Murray_GS_avg= 14.3 (last season 20.8 overall and 20.4 against Minnesota)

[shrink]

From canishoopus.

Nikola Jokic averaged fewer assists against the Timberwolves than any other team in the league this season, and it certainly showed. Karl-Anthony Towns deserves a ton of credit for the way he has been able to fight in this match up.

Karl Anthony Towns since the start of last season and the playoffs has held Nikola Jokic to 37.8% shooting. It’s like 46 points on 48 shots, and of any player that has guarded Nikola Jokic as much as he has, that is the lowest field goal percentage by far. The next closest player is Sengun, at 48-49%.

When you’re able to be physical with Jokic, and prevent him from getting to the front of the restricted area, forcing him to play in the midrange area where you can contest shots without fouling, you’re doing things right.

Gobert is an awesome defender, but Jokic is one of the few matchups that favors Towns. Jokic isn’t quick, Towns can stay out of foul trouble (if they aren’t self-inflicted), and he’s still long to make it harder for Jokic to pass. Last night, he had 9 assists but 6 turnovers.

[Dan33185]

Ant is great but let's not forget about Luka/Shai and mostly Wemby before saying that he's the next face of the league. Likely the best american player though.

He's flat out been better than them all so far. This is the biggest stage and the most important time of the year, and Ant has delivered everything and more.

Yeah, for like the last 5 games

I don’t think we can already call him better than Luka. Luka for his career has been a killer in the playoffs. He’s definitely on his way though. I know people are excited right now, but people need to slow it down a bit

Just say you haven't watched any Wolves games this year before the playoffs

[Wolfgang630]

I swear that San Antonio loss will haunt the Nuggets forever.

[TinmanZBoy]

quite frankly, Denver could not defend him in last year's playoff too... Denver's problem is their own offense is not on par..

They haven’t looked good all playoffs. This is definitely on Denver, not the Lakers or Wolves.

Nah, dude. The Wolves just improved this much over last year’s team. Denver isn’t some perfect idealized roster incapable of being outplayed.

We marveled Jokic’s leading offense in recent years, is has not shown up much this season… instead Denver’s defense has been rock solid all season long.. but they can’t repeat without their A game on offense

[Charlesareed]

So hypothetically if minny was to beat Denver can they actually beat the Boston Celtics in a 7 game series ???

[TimberKat]

That tech on Ant seemed like desperation from the refs to keep the game close. Absolutely ridiculous. Ref should be fined imo.

Ant recived tech with 1:15 left in the 3Q and result was 73:68 at the time.
With 6:24 left in 4Q result was 84:84. With 3:13 left it was 94:91, so it looks like tech had a prolonged effect.
Lakers fans made 5 pages tread of overturned foul on DLo. C'mon Wolfes fans you're better than that.

BTW while I hate these type of tech fouls called, how do we know it was because of stare down? Because Reggie Miller sad so?
Ant did a little bit of talking in previous series against Durant and Suns, we know. Ref was there, maybe he said something.
It shouldn't be called anyway but maybe, just maybe, it was the diference between what he did and what Murray did.

I hope this helps: "Anthony Edwards’ (MIN) technical foul at 1:15 of the 3rd quarter on 5/4/24 (vs. DEN) has been rescinded upon league office review."

[KyRo23]

He's flat out been better than them all so far. This is the biggest stage and the most important time of the year, and Ant has delivered everything and more.

Yeah, for like the last 5 games

I don’t think we can already call him better than Luka. Luka for his career has been a killer in the playoffs. He’s definitely on his way though. I know people are excited right now, but people need to slow it down a bit

Just say you haven't watched any Wolves games this year before the playoffs

You think Ant has been better than Luka this entire year? Just not true. He’s been better so far in the playoffs, but he is not better than Luka, sorry. Feel free to make a great point, but don’t boil it down to “you haven’t watched any Wolves games”

[Howard Cosell]

Yeah, for like the last 5 games

I don’t think we can already call him better than Luka. Luka for his career has been a killer in the playoffs. He’s definitely on his way though. I know people are excited right now, but people need to slow it down a bit

Just say you haven't watched any Wolves games this year before the playoffs

You think Ant has been better than Luka this entire year? Just not true. He’s been better so far in the playoffs, but he is not better than Luka, sorry. Feel free to make a great point, but don’t boil it down to “you haven’t watched any Wolves games”

It’s much closer than most are giving credit to…if you throw everything into the mix. Edwards leadership and defense puts him higher than offensive efficiency stats some here are addicted to everyday.

Edwards defense is legit. Luka was better in regular season but the ascending Edwards don’t have much to make up.