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

[life_saver]

Wolves were a decent rebounding team in RS but nothing spectacular...infact for all the size on the team, you'd have expected Wolves to be a better rebounding team in RS but so far in playoffs, rebounding has been excellent, lot better than RS. Seeing lot more effort from the team on rebounding side in playoffs than they did in RS.

Wolves had top10 EFG% and TS% even in RS but it was the turnover rate that was dragging down Wolves offensive efficiency in RS...they were close to bottom5 in turnover rate in RS. But so far in playoffs, they have been making lot loss unforced errors on offensive ends, leading to less turnover rate than RS. Rebounding and less turnover rate have been biggest difference so far between RS and playoffs for Wolves.

[TimberKat]

Wait so lemme get this straight last year Lebron WITH AD got swept vs these Nuggets and 21 year old Ant got 1 game.

Then this year Lebron WITH AD only got 1 (which looked like Nuggets gave it to him out of pity) while Antman already won game #1 on the Nuggets home floor which Lebron WITH AD has never been able to do??

And this is 22 year old Ant we’re talking about here. Eye test tells me Jordan is at least 2x the player Ant is. I don’t ever wanna hear about no Jordan-Lebron comps ever again. Basically a shorter poor man version of Jordan beating Jokic while Lebron with prime 30/15 AD cant even get one vs Joker. What a joke

Comparing LBJ at this age to Jordan or even Ant is asinine. Those dudes SHOULD be beating lebron at this stage of his career. What he's doing now isn't adding anything to his legacy, apart from raw stats. He's lucky enough to be healthy and still athletic enough to play in the NBA. But acting like this is prime lebron, just because his numbers are essentially still as good as other players' primes, is really just foolery.

It's literally just the 2014 crowd that predicted his decline was imminent, but they were slightly off (by about 7 years), who are now coming with the "see I told you he isn't that good" garbage.

Anyway, I'm loving seeing how a player who has more of that Jordan/Kobe/Tmac etc. build is still able to be a huge factor in this era, despite not posting overall gaudy stats, like the Jokic, Doncic etc. types. Awesome seeing these two clash in this series.

Last I checked, NBA games are still 5 on 5 with most teams play 8 to 10 players each game. You could put the Wizard's MJ in with DLo and Reaves and I am sure you get the same results.

[Zman80000]

I’m a Denver fan we will make adjustments it will go the distance. I’m concerned about Murray’s calf. As a basketball fan it is fun watching ANT and Jokic battle.

That’s the first time I’m not confident in Nuggets repeating, I was last year , this year this Minny team looks solid , will be long 6/7 g series

Either way Champion is in this series

Outside of Celtic hate, can anyone give a genuine reason as to why the Wolves beat the Celtics?

It's such an egregious take. The Celtics are the best defensive team the Wolves will face. They'll struggle to score 100 every single game.

The Celtics are the 5th best defense in ppg.
The Wolves are the best defense in ppg.

It is not going to be easy for Boston either.

[JustBuzzin]

Remember I said it first.


#TheYearOfTheAnt

Can you imagine if this kid wins a NBA championship at 22 then goes on to lead us to gold in the Olympics.

Those MJ comparisons would no longer be a meme.

[Zman80000]

To those complaining about the Nuggets bench after game 1. Look at the top 3 off the bench for the teams they played last year.

Minny: Anderson, prince, Jaylen nowell (starting NAW)
Phoenix: Shamet, Landale, TJ Warren
Lakers: Rui, Schroeder, Lonnie Walker
Heat: Lowry, Martin, Duncan Robinson

It's not exactly a murderers row. This isn't on the bench it's on Jokic, if he's really an all time great. Let's see him get his team pumped up like Ant does. Gotta see some leadership and aggression out of him the rest of this series.

This is some of it, but you're leaving out that the T-Wolves have three bigs (who can eat all of the minutes and can go small with 6'9 Kyle Anderson for a few minutes). If the Nuggets don't dust off DeAndre Jordan, they only have Jokic and Gordon for all 96 minutes. Those two had 8 fouls between them tonight, which is fine. What is worrisome is the fact that you can't afford either to get into any kind of early foul trouble, especially Gordon. I trust Nikola to play with the fouls more than Aaron.

I've seen some stats saying Jokic isn't being enough of a deterrent at the rim, but the reality is, without a quality backup, he can't afford to pick up cheap fouls trying to block or alter shots too early in the game. Everybody is trying to attack him on that end just to get him off the floor (that was literally the Lakers entire game plan with Lebron and AD pick and rolls). His defense tends to pick up in the 4th, but the Nuggets need to make a concerted effort to get their offense rolling early so that their opponent is forced to play catch up with them for a change.

If the Nuggets keep getting off to these poor starts, this series will be over a week from today.

Dever was down 14 halfway through the first.

They need to figure out their first quarters. They stormed back from 14 down and took control of the game, and then in the second half the defense backed off and Minnesota shot 70% from the field. The fact that they were down 14, and managed to get back in the game and get it down to the wire shows that they simply have a higher ceiling than Minnesota.

Anyone who has watched this team this season may recognize that they have had an extremely difficult time reaching that ceiling this year. All year. the opposite of FrontRunners

I also think they dominate game two. And depending on how that looks, I assume they take game 3 as well. They're the better team, But they're not playing with the same hunger they played with last year.

Frankly, that's the only adjustment they need to make to win this series. If they decide they want it as much as Minnesota collectively, there's nothing Minnesota can do. They're out classed and we saw spurts of that tonight.

If Denver doesn't go down 14 in the first quarter, this is a wire to wire win for Denver, with a lead that bounces between 8-12 all night, and that's with Murray no showing.

I think its premature to call it wrap. They haven't had a good game all playoffs.

But, it did happen.

Denver was down after the 1st quarter in 4 of the 5 games vs. the Lakers.
This wasn't a one off fluke.
It's how Denver is playing.

[bisme37]

That’s the first time I’m not confident in Nuggets repeating, I was last year , this year this Minny team looks solid , will be long 6/7 g series

Either way Champion is in this series

Outside of Celtic hate, can anyone give a genuine reason as to why the Wolves beat the Celtics?

It's such an egregious take. The Celtics are the best defensive team the Wolves will face. They'll struggle to score 100 every single game.

The Celtics are the 5th best defense in ppg.
The Wolves are the best defense in ppg.

It is not going to be easy for Boston either.

Wolves #1 in defensive rating, Celtics #2. PPG doesn't account for pace.

[bisme37]

This is from the email NBA.com sent me today. Good stuff.

HOW MINNESOTA’S DEFENSE STIFLED DENVER IN GAME 1

In the First Round of the Playoffs, a few Timberwolves plays started going a little viral. A lot of them came from Ant Edwards, of course. But this one – making the rounds on social for days – looked a little different.




The Wolves defense rotated perfectly as the Suns moved the ball around the perimeter, resulting in a steal, which led to Edwards' viral dunk of the night on the other end.

The moment epitomized a Wolves team that, on Saturday, pulled off a feat that’d happened just once over the past two postseasons: beating the Nuggets at home.

It was just the ninth time (regular season or Playoffs) that Denver was held below 100 points this season.
All nine of those games were losses.Three came at the hands of the Timberwolves.

How did Minnesota's top-ranked defense stifle Denver’s top-5 offense?

1. On-Ball Defense: Watch Edwards and Jaden McDaniels stick with Jamal Murray, fighting over screens and not allowing separation.





The Wolves ranked in the 96th percentile defending both pick-and-roll ball handlers (allowing 40.5% FG) and isolations (allowing 38.4% FG).
Edwards was in the 99.7 percentile in isolation defense – allowing just 10% shooting
McDaniels was in the 84.7 percentile in pick-and-roll – holding ball handlers to 39.8% shooting

2. Rim Protection: The Wolves ranked second in the league in rim protection (60.7%), led by Rudy Gobert at 52% allowed.






As a team, the Wolves hold opponents 2.3% below their average shooting percentage – 4.2% below average within six feet of the basket. Gobert’s numbers are even better as he holds opponents 6.1% below average overall and 13.7% lower within six feet.

3. Versatility: As teams constantly hunt mismatches in the Playoffs, having bigs that can stay with guards on the perimeter and guards that can help protect the basket is necessary.



Gobert was able to stick with Michael Porter Jr. from the 3-point line into the paint before forcing a turnover
Edwards switched onto Nikola Jokic in the post, and reacted in time to stop a MPJ drive with a block on the give-and-go

Can the Wolves replicate this defensive effort and take a 2-0 lead in Denver ?

[Domejandro]

Read on Twitter

Rudy is having a kid, so he might be out.

[Mrakar]

I dont think there is a chance of him missing this game.

[CIN-C-STAR]

Read on Twitter

Rudy is having a kid, so he might be out.

That would be crazy to miss a playoff game for a non-injury reason.
I mean, I get it, I suppose, but this IS his job. It's how he's going to support the kid.
Regular season game? Sure. But playoffs?? Idk man, I think I'm kind of old school on this one. Do your job.

[Onus]

Read on Twitter

Rudy is having a kid, so he might be out.

Is the kid being born in Denver or is Rudy in Minnesota?

[GeorgeSears]

Must-win game for the Nuggets. They're going to come out fast and desperate. They need to.

[Ambrose]

Read on Twitter

Rudy is having a kid, so he might be out.

That would be crazy to miss a playoff game for a non-injury reason.
I mean, I get it, I suppose, but this IS his job. It's how he's going to support the kid.
Regular season game? Sure. But playoffs?? Idk man, I think I'm kind of old school on this one. Do your job.

To be fair, most jobs would let you leave to see your kid being born.

If they lost game 1 I doubt he'd be listed as questionable.

[sikma42]

This is interesting bc I think Minny can win without Gobert and this also means that Malone adjustments won’t really be applicable until they go to Minny (away).


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM mobile app

[Rauxcee]

Kinda shocked to see people say a basketball game is a good reason to miss the birth of your child. That's wild.

[TheMartian]

Read on Twitter

Rudy is having a kid, so he might be out.

That would be crazy to miss a playoff game for a non-injury reason.
I mean, I get it, I suppose, but this IS his job. It's how he's going to support the kid.
Regular season game? Sure. But playoffs?? Idk man, I think I'm kind of old school on this one. Do your job.

I dunno, DWhite missed a playoff game when he had a kid, so i don't think Gobert would be any different. Family always comes first.

[TinmanZBoy]

Read on Twitter

Rudy is having a kid, so he might be out.

Potentially the FVV effect, good news for Minnesota

[Chuck Everett]

Read on Twitter

Rudy is having a kid, so he might be out.

That would be crazy to miss a playoff game for a non-injury reason.
I mean, I get it, I suppose, but this IS his job. It's how he's going to support the kid.
Regular season game? Sure. But playoffs?? Idk man, I think I'm kind of old school on this one. Do your job.

Delon Wright missed a game against Boston in these playoffs for the same reason.

[CS707]

Read on Twitter

Rudy is having a kid, so he might be out.

That would be crazy to miss a playoff game for a non-injury reason.
I mean, I get it, I suppose, but this IS his job. It's how he's going to support the kid.
Regular season game? Sure. But playoffs?? Idk man, I think I'm kind of old school on this one. Do your job.

ESPN is making it sound like the birth already happened so sans any sort of complications I agree. I didn’t even meet my youngest until she was almost 5 months old due to deployment and that was in the days before FaceTime and emailing pictures and all that. It’s between Rudy and the organization obviously but it’s a pretty weak sauce if he does miss, again, assuming the birth has already occurred and mom and baby are doing well.

[Klomp]

I have stayed away from this thread, just because in the time I was away this weekend, the thread ballooned from 14 pages to 91 pages....I ain't readin' all that!

I really wasn't all that surprised by the outcome, especially once I learned Murray wasn't 100%. The Nuggets have three guys who concern me: Jokic, Murray and Porter. But while the three of them concern me, Minnesota also has answers for all of them.

I said at the beginning of the series Minnesota in 6 or Denver in 7. But now seeing Denver lose their first home game, a 7th-game Denver win isn't necessarily a certainty unless Murray heals up with all of the extra off days baked into the schedule. I really like Minnesota's chances, and it's not only about Anthony Edwards. It's because if Denver finds a solution to their Ant problem, there's a good chance it will open up the floor for someone else to take advantage.

One thing that Ant is seeing once again is the lack of a rim deterrence inside. Jokic is a big body, but he's not really stoping guys from attacking the rim. And that opens up a chain reaction within the Minnesota offense.