A lot of copium in this thread about Jokic supposed lack of help.
If he didn’t have multiple players play above their heads so far they wouldn’t have even made it out of the first round.
Jamal Murray 23-6 on 48-41-90 splits against a top 5 defense in the league in the first round.
Ugly ass Aaron Gordon averaging 19 a game on 50% in the first round.
Russel Westbrook going 13-31 in threes at 41% in the first round after shooting 32% in the regular season.
Jokic was horrible yet again, but outside of Game 3, the dude is getting almost no help outside of Aaron Gordon. Here are his supporting cast's numbers today:
Murray: 5/16
Westbrook: 2/12
MPJ: 1/7
Braun: 4/10
Watson: 1/3
The vast majority of these are wide open 3's or mid-range shots created by Jokic. Every single one of Braun, MPJ, and Watson's misses were wide open shots. He's been really bad himself, but it's compounded by the fact that his supporting cast is ing dog- .
The fact that Denver has 2 wins this series is a miracle.
All they gotta do is get it to 7 imo. Don't think OKC is ready for that tbh.
Think you're really underestimating the negative effect of having Westbrook play major Playoff minutes in 2025 tbh. The dude is absolute buns offensively. For every hustle play or defensive play that he makes, he gives back two more offensively because he's such a terrible shooter and overall scorer.
But it's not just him. Braun, MPJ, and Peyton Watson are all brick-layers too. And it's really compounded by the fact that Joker is ting the bed as well. This Denver roster has been severely flawed all season so we shouldn't be surprised -- this is par for the course. They just don't have a good enough roster to win this series imo, especially with them needing to win another game in OKC.
Fing Spurs fan picking Jokic over TD in his/her all-time starting 5 in another thread. What a joke. Nuggets can still win this (it's going to be very tough, though), but Jokic needs to actually start showing up. He's had his ass shut down since game 1. OKC doing a tremendous job on him. Some of it is on him, but Thunder are also doing a great job.
Last edited by Ice009; 05-11-2025 at 07:04 PM.
Refs set this one up, OKC was on the line by the middle of the fourth. There’s an agenda but Jokic is getting shut down.
They have the perfect team to slow him down though with so many big bodies/length to throw eat him with Chet, Hartenstein, and Jaylin Williams, plus multiple athletic defenders to crash down with SGA, Jalen Williams, Caruso, and Dort who can all recover to their man in a timely fashion. They're doubling and/or sending help every time he touches the ball in the post, hence why keeps firing away from 3 instead. OKC's entire game plan is to not let Joker beat them and force his ty supporting cast beat them from 3 and it's working like a charm because Jokic is surrounded by too many non-shooters like Westbrick, Braun, Watson, and MPJ (who sucks ass right now cause he's playing with one arm). Even Jamal Murray has been trash outside of one game because OKC has athletic wing defenders to throw at him.
He was hitting his threes in the regular season. He's missing threes and free throws now. That's not all on the Thunder defense. I doubt these guys could have shut down a prime Shaq, prime TD, prime Hakeem etc. I don't know, maybe I'm wrong, but I just don't see it. I think some of it is definitely on Jokic. Can't blame his teammates for all of it.
Yea cause he wasn't facing the #1-ranked Defense in the league most games in the regular season.
I'm not saying Jokic doesn't deserve some blame. He absolutely does. He hasn't played well outside of Game 1, where they allowed him to get comfortable and go 1-on-1 in the post far more often. And him missing all these FT's has been a huge factor too (their whole team is missing way too many this series). He has to play better, period.
But Denver's roster construction is also just not good with so many non-shooters and so little depth. They easily win this game today if Murray, Westbrook, Braun, and MPJ don't go a combined 12/45 from the field. And a ton of those looks were wide open 3's generated by Jokic's gravity. That's just not going to get it done, period. Joker has to be much better, but so does his supporting cast.
With that said, unfortunately, I think it's too late. I think today's loss determined the series as I don't see them winning another game in OKC. Thunder are just the better team imo.
Alright, I'll relent. A lot of what you're saying is correct. I just think that half of it is also on him.
I think it's not over yet, but it's close. If OKC blows them out in game 5 (they'll gain too much confidence at that point), then I think OKC can take game 6 too.
The Pacers are whooping some Cavs ass right now.
IMO, that fracas in the 1st Q should have resulted in a double ejection. The punch by Mathurin was a bit of a move, but Hunter sold that like the witch he is. I guess Mathurin was finally tired of all the cheap fouls Hunter has committed on him this series.
Pacers/Knicks in the ECF would be must-see TV imo.
The Cavs look like complete frauds right now. They remind me of the D'Antoni Suns, high scoring and at the top for regular season wins, but playoff duds.
Crazy beating Indy is throwing down on themselves
Allen and Mobley getting punked by the small ass Pacers is hilarious. These two seem to be constantly underperforming in the playoffs. I was assured that Mobley was awesome this year
Bottom line, there is no escaping the fact you need an MVP-caliber player to legitimately compete for a Championship.
Those 2004 Pistons, 2014 Spurs and 2024 Celtics are, by no coincidence, a once-in-a-decade teams which relied on immense depth cons uted of multiple high-end 2nd tier stars and past-their-primes future hall of famers.
The 2025 64-win Cavs, just like the 2022 64-win Suns, lack in the first ingredient and don't have enough of it in the second formula.
If OKC doesn’t ring this year or next then idk if they do ring tbh. That was huge win in Denver. Tbh this series is going 7. I see both home teams losing the next two. And the Knicks aren’t beating Boston. That series is going 6 and Boston is going to win it. I would love a Pacers Denver match up. ABA vs ABA. Low ratings. No drama just basketball
OKC controlled both games they lost, tbh. Don't think Denver has chance if Thunder D keeps throttling Jokic on offense like this. By far the worst playoffs series of his career..
I'll say it again, but if Thunder blow them out game 5, I think that will give them extreme confidence and they might just win game 6 and not have to face a game 7. We'll see, though, as I hope it goes 7. If it goes 7 and the Thunder win it, I think that will have made them battle tested and will solidify them to have the belief to go on and win it all.
Is Indy the only team crazy enough to play full court D for 48 mins?
How does those humans have the stamina?
That's disrespectful to Mitc . He's been arguably the most consistent first option in these playoffs.
This was his first bad game, but he couldn't have done much. The media is obsessed with Edwards, but Mitc has been better than him.
Carlisle plays 11 man rotation.Is Indy the only team crazy enough to play full court D for 48 mins?
How does those humans have the stamina?
For comparison 4 Nuggets are averaging 38mpg+, while Haliburton is at 35mpg and 3 other starters are at ~32mpg.
Their 8th-11th players average 10mpg.
Those POs is a reminder of how different it is from regular season, not the same game at all. Spurs making the POs next year is a must, there is no way to understand what adjustments are needed in terms of play style and roster without battling in the POs
Tatum is too soft to be Superman...he is more Superman on kryptonite.
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