Game Thread PLAYOFFS: ROUND 1, GAME 1: BLAZERS @ NUGGETS - MAY 22, 2021 - SATURDAY, 7:30, ESPN

Wonder what the Denver Post were saying when the Nuggets looked dead in the water against Utah last year.

 

Yep. You weren't the only one. I thought it was strange to linger on him for about a full minute. Then they kept going back.

I thought Doris Burke might be handling the camera.

 

Though the Portland Trail Blazers are the weaker team on paper, NBA fans know how upsets are very much possible in the NBA Playoffs. Nikola Jokic has been the main man for the Denver Nuggets for the past few years. However, Nuggets coach Mike Malone will be missing the services of Jamal Murray. The Trail Blazers should grab the opportunity to exploit this. But they should remain wary of the rest of the Nuggets.

With that in mind, here are three ways the Blazers can stop Jokic and the Nuggets to win their first round duel.

Communicate and Rotate Diligently on Defense
Double-teaming the opposing team’s star player has been the usual remedy to contain him. But Nikola Jokic is such a special player that double-teaming him means giving up the easy two points. By now, it’s already been established that The Joker is the best passing big man in the NBA, and Malone has done a good job at integrating every little detail of his playbook around Jokic. So much so that the Nuggets offense involves tons of off-ball movement meant to confuse the defense. Jokic is such a good playmaker that more often than not, he’ll spot the opening—no matter how small—for the easy points.

The Trail Blazers’ only way to stop this is through constant communication on defense. Robert Covington, a former NBA All-Defensive Team selection, needs to take command on defense. Apart from possibly guarding Jokic, Covington should shout out the proper defensive rotations on the fly. This is a very big responsibility. But he’s the best and smartest defender on the Trail Blazers.

 

How genius is it to just let Jokic dribble around for a half hour while positioning himself for two points when every one of the players to whom he could have passed the ball to would have choked the shot anyway. Rather than using genius to devise that strategy, it seems to be mere common sense. Jokic and the four jokes means just let Jokic shoot, while the rest of the clowns do nothing like they did last night. Game two will be more of the same, which is why I say Denver should simply wave the white flag and give up. It is hopeless. They have nothing to counter the Blazer onslaught. Can't believe that anyone would think that the Nuggets could win even one game.

 

How can the Blazers be the "weaker team on paper"? It is Jokic and whatever four yokels, or jokels, as you prefer, they put out there. Meanwhile, the Blazers have Lillard, McCollum, an unguarded Anthony and on and on and on. Denver has nothing. I suggest they look into getting into the G League tournament. There is no need for detailed analysis. The Blazer can simply shoot their way out of any problem. The Nuggets can't stop them on defense and can't score. The Nuggets suck and the Blazers are the far better team on paper and on the floor.

 

They have a few players that can be more productive. Porter 3 FG's % was terrible and he shoots normally a very high percentage. Maybe he gets hot. Monte Morris is decent. Milsap has always given portland trouble inside out but he is a year older.
Portland played well enough to win easily but they won because they shot nearly 50% from the three, It will be interesting to see if they can keep it up. J Green and Gordon are not scrubs by any means and Green has been a thorn in our side before. But the key will be BOL BOL for them....jk

 

This Denver Post article is not optimistic about the Nuggets’ chances following last night’s game. Of course, he may be the Post’s version of John Canzno:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.denverpost.com/2021/05/23/nuggets-blazers-game-1-broom-kiszla/amp/

 

....”FUCKIN’ ESPN BROADCAST PEOPLE WITH THEIR CRAZY CAMERA ANGLES!!!!!”.........

 

If this post about ESPN offended anybody and their families I deeply apologize.

 

Did you see the shots he took ? It's not a case of "we're lucky he missed"

 

what Murray was doing was just fine. ESPN's prolonged focus on it was insufferable

but if that's Zach flipping double birds to Murray or the crowd or whoever, that's just classless behavior.

 

Just be thankful Collins didn't injure himself or a teammate.

 

boi, its nothing new for these two teams, weve seen that earlier with porter jr and evan turner

its gonna keep happening and you should know these two teams dont really like each other, especially after nurk wished them a happy summer and blazers kept them out of the playoffs twice and then beat them in the 2nd round of the playoffs

blazers caused them a lot of misery in the last few years (and it can happen again) and naturally they hold a grudge against the blazers

 

even if that's all true, and it may be, that's no excuse for what Zach apparently did. He's not some drunk fan....although I guess he's mostly been a fan the last 2 years

 

That's basically it. Unless Barton comes back, the Nuggets are who they are on defense. And Jokic doesn't play because he's a defensive stopper. He plays because he's such a versatile offensive player. Michael Malone just has to live with this.

The Blazers have been pretty consistently a 120-point per game scoring team against all but the best defenses lately. Powell's probably going to shoot the ball better than he did in Game 1. Kanter's probably going to have a game somewhere in there where he gets 10 points and 7 rebounds on garbage. The Nuggets need to find a way to efficiently score 125 points because they don't want Jokic running up and down the court all 90 feet for a lot of possessions.

 

heres porter jr middle finger



heres evan turner middle finger

 

I don't give a shit about a bird-flipping tit-for-tat....all were classless acts

 

Seems like a team hanging their hopes on Will Barton is a problem in itself? Barton has really never been a game changer IMO?