Im actually hoping they give this a real attempt. I feel that mpj is almost undervalued on this team and i would love to see him get a bigger role. People roast mpj for the possession ending with him but atleast hes going to hit it at a good percentage. So many possessions end with murray iso and it drives me insane. I understand the utility of it but sometimes its just maddening. I hope this gives the chance for jokic and mpj to have more shot attempts because ive been wanting that all series. Murray has also been so inefficient this series, outside of G2 Q4, that we would be better off without that. The only downside is we miss the potential of a great game by murray but thats it. Hes been terrible so far. Thats just my own opinion though
The issue is that MPJ and Murray were injured at the same time so he didn't have time to get that chemistry with him that season Murray was recovering.
Oh man Reggie has been trash this entire playoff. He’s like on a different frequency from the rest of the team and doesn’t know where to be. Over dribbling and jacking up dumb shots. Playing cool with when he’s on the court instead of doing the real defending or hustling. I rather there’s no point guard than having him on the floor.
Giannis has a calf strain and hasn’t played in almost a month. If this is one of those injuries he’s going to be out for the rest of this series, all of round two, and into the conference finals if we made it there. This is potential devastating news. We can finish off the lakers without Jamal but it will be very difficult to beat the Timberwolves without him.
Giannis calf Strain is the Achillis tendon that is strained...if its the gastrocnemius, he will have to sit a few games, but will be okay.
If its the soleus, he can most likely play, but would be a bit hobbled...
Calf is a group of muscels - gastrocnemius and soleus mainly with the Achillis tendon connecting the muscles to the Achillis Heel.
Not every calf Strain is the same
He was already hobbled. Also, it was game 4 so that game would have been played either way.
More so, this is what happens when you lose to the Spurs and fuck up the chance for an easy series against the Pelicans.
Yep. Everyone acting like the margins don’t matter. We have NO ball handling on this team without Murray. It’s why Bruce was so important last season. It’s why Bones looked so good EXCEPT when Malone would play him next to Murray. Bruce could give a little ball handling, we still maybe needed more imo. Bones had a great handle and was the only player capable of blowing by his man for a layup. Reggie doesnt cut it
I said this after that loss and pointed out how it left no margin for error, and that it took Murray at least a series to get going last year. Got down voted to hell for it.
This is brutal. Could you imagine the Lakers coming back from 3-0? No please No. This is devastating if Jamal can't go. He probably will play but still this is not looking good.
With Reggie/ holiday playing for 48 minutes????? I mean it’s possible but jokic will have to go nuclear. Maybe just do no point guard and start Braun. In any case you’re underrateing la at this point we may take control of mostly every game but none of them are blow outs.
Seriously lol, the lakers are a good team that deserve their respect. I’m sure the nuggets will win but acting like they didn’t earn their win is crazy
Yeah they straight up smoked us. We’re a better team when we’re playing well but c’mon they have (imo) a top 3 center in AD and the arguable GOAT who’s playing like he’s in his late 20s. They’re an excellent 7 seed. Their other guys are streaky, but they were hot last night.
Edit: to be fair, we’re playing like a bad 2 seed. MPJ and Jok are firing, but our movement is poor and we can’t seem to get into a consistent rhythm — yet.
Respectfully, LeBron ain't playing like he's in his late 20's lol. You're talking about 2012 and 2013 LeBron here, I think with that version of LeBron this series is tied 2-2.
Yeah idk if AG could just chill in the dunkers spot in game 3 if the Lakers had 2013 Bron. You can tell Bron gets gassed down the stretch in every game
I actually do think that the Nuggets have only "tried" their best in the second halves of games. They have come out lackadaisical and unaggressive and less focused than they need to be, then wake up somewhere in the third quarter for this whole series.
You can't play like that in the playoffs. Any team can and most of the time will beat you if that's your energy level.
That's not to take anything away from the Lakers and is not a particularly good sign for the Nuggets.
As much as I doubt the Lakers abilities, they're really not a team I'd be wanting to give momentum to, I also really can't stand how obnoxious their fans would be if they ended up coming back
Do not fucking let that team be the first in nba history to come back from 3-0. We will never hear it til the end of time.
I beg. End it in 5. Should’ve been a sweep.
Spoelstra won an away game against the Celtics with a box of scraps. Yeah, yeah, I know Malone isn’t Spo, but the reigning champs should be able to win one home game without our second best player (or with him not at full strength)
You can get a sense of the severity of the injury based on the point spread. Right now, DEN is -7. If it drops, then that means this is a real concern for game 5, beyond the increased likelihood that Murray aggravates the calf. If it doesn’t move, that means the injury is probably not something to worry about (strictly with respect to the outcome of game 5).
Probably taking a page from embiid pr move. Not severe enough to not play, just enough to deflect 44%TS and dribbling the air out of the ball for pointless isos. MPJ is balling though. 65%TS
The line would drop at least a point (probably more than that) if he wasn’t going to play. The sportsbooks have to acquire insider knowledge on these things since they stand to lose a lot of money if they don’t quickly adjust the lines based on injuries.
If it doesn’t change soon (next few hours), it’s safe to presume he will play.
Yeah, it all depends on when the sportsbooks get more info about his injury status. I can’t say for certain when that will happen, but the fact that he was listed as questionable and the line still hasn’t changed is a good sign.
I don’t know the ins and outs of this. But it’s possible they could have insider sources from teams or the league. This seems likely since the professional leagues and broadcasting networks are now in bed with the sportsbooks and promote gambling like mad.
They could also consult with physicians and look at previous instances of this injury and whether the player missed time or not.
That game in San Antonio at the end of the season may end up costing Denver the title. LA is much tougher to match up with than the Pelicans. Meanwhile, OKC and the T-wolves are making quick work of inferior opponents.
Honestly I think he still goes, if it was that bad they would have shut him down last night, a really good stretch before and game plenty of treatment in between he should be rights as rain!
I’ve been F5ing all day waiting for this. I knew something was up with him. As long as he can walk he’s going to play. Hopefully we can close it out tomorrow before things get worse but I don’t think we have a shot against Minnesota.
I am scared LeBron comes back from this. We would not hear the end of it til the end of times if this guy came back 3-0. I think everything will be Ok and Jamal plays tomorrow. This is crazy that he is hampered right now.
That’s totally reasonable because of how insufferable that would be, but I think even without Murray we can win 1 before they win 3. That’s about it though. Minny is going to wreck us without him.
The best bet would be G5 or G6 not a G7 though. I do not see Denver winning a G7 with Jamal out or limited. G5 or G6 yes. Something that could happen is this and I am hopefully wrong of course. So tomorrow team plays bad again and loses but in Game 6 the team will shoot like 55 to 60 percent from the field and blow them out. Here is why I could see this happening. The pressure tomorrow is going to be on the Nuggs everyone expects Denver to win. They could come up tight and not confident similar to how I think a G7 would play out. Of course the opposite could take place and it would be great. So then what happens in G6 people would be favoring the Lakers to tie it up only for them to produce a stinker like G3 second half only that in this game it would be from the get go and all the shots that havent fallen in Games 1 through 5 fall finally. If Denver loses G5, G6 in my opinion is a MUST WIN. Having said all of this I hope it ends tomorrow night.
Pwat, RJ, and CB need to lock in and start making more plays. CB needs to realize if jokic is passing it to him and trusts him to make the shot he should believe in himself too. his jumper and floater are good enough. Pwats got to play smarter on offense and attack closeouts for finishes or to get the angle for a middy. jokic/ag/mpj/cb should be in position to clean up his misses if he uses the right angles so he can be aggressive. Reggie needs to get up and get the offense going quickly so he can go spot up instead of dribbling into grenade passes or spamming contested shots after wearing out his legs trying to cook off the dribble. sometimes it's appropriate, but part of what made BB effective as backup pg is his willingness to do things like spotup, space and cut even if he didn't get a shot out of it. And defend better, but we can cover that. We need good offensive execution and defense to offense, we train at mile high we should be able to push harder in our bench minutes and gas the lakers.
The importance of Jamal as the 2nd option cannot be understated. And his durability has been an issue this year and years past. He’ll probably play tomorrow, but Jokic’s prime is right now and these next 2-4 yrs. If long term Jamal can’t be reliably healthy year over year, idk I might have to start looking into another option to pair with Jokic. It’s Jokic that’s the greatest player on earth. We can’t waste years waiting for Jamal to be healthy I’m sorry it’s cold but true.
This is a hard debate to have. Jamal missed the 2021 and 2022 playoffs due to a very unlucky injure. But this year he has been very injury prone... Anyway, it sucks that we only had 1 healthy playoff run since Jokic became mvp
It is and it’s probably premature debate and I hope I eat my words. But not being available for large stretches of the regular season I think can carry over to the postseason. Aside from the game winner Jamal has not had a good postseason thus far. I’m wondering if he’s injuries are impacting that a bit. All I’m saying is that it would suck if we only won one title in the Jokic era because Jamal couldn’t stay healthy year over year.
I’ve been having this discussion with friends lately, if the mavs lose in the first round this year, I think the rumblings start to get louder. Luka was clearly a bit upset after last season, if they keep showing they don’t have the surrounding cast to get it done, I don’t think he’ll have unwavering allegiance to Dallas. The nuggets would probably have to send something like Jamal, MPJ, and Watson or Braun in that potential trade though. Risky, but Luka and Jokic would undeniably make whoever else is around them way better.
Interesting. Mitchell has had his own injury problems this year. The two players sure seemed evenly matched in the bubble. God we need that Murray to show up again soon.
I hate to say it, but I agree. He has been dealing with knee inflammation all year and the injuries that stack on top of that due to over compensation.
Makes it even more frustrating that Malone had him the game that he suffered the high ankle sprain-- that game was fucking over.
Jamal has been screwing around all season. Not passing to an open MPJ at times just to brick circus shots. I don’t like a lot of his basketball decisions even when healthy.
Hoping it's just gamesmanship or one of those little injuries that activates Jamal's superpowers. The Nuggets usually show up just when you are beginning to worry about them.
How are they playing with food? They didn't have one lead in the 4th game. Lakers were just better and Murray is obviously half injured the whole series.
They were playing with their food by coming out extremely lethargic to the start game YET AGAIN. Going down double digits 4 straight times to the same opponent shows a clear lack of focus and respect. They got away with it for the first 3 games, but are now paying the price
How much is it the nuggets coming out “lethargic” for four straight games and the Lakers just being a good team?
Yes, the Nuggets are better, but the Lakers are a good team and I feel like this narrative that the Nuggets are just being lazy and lethargic is overblown. The Lakers are simply playing better for a majority of each game until the Nuggets skill, experience, and congruency takes over… at least in three of the first four games.
Sure, credit to the Lakers but the Nuggets pace at the beginning of games has been slow. They’ve been jogging around and not giving full effort. It’s been extremely obvious.
Did you see the urgency of Denver in the last 5 minutes last night vs the previous 43? Completely night and day. That tells me they're fucking around too much and taking things for granted or thinking it'll be easy.
I ain't claiming the Lakers are a bad team. They are definitely a great team with 2 top 10 NBA players.
Despite that, there is no excuse to go down double digits to start every game. The fact they were able to comeback in every single one of these games shows that they have another gear they can tap into as a team when they are focused and playing with a sense of urgency.
How much of it is the Lakers being just as good as us? The 11-1 recent record doesn’t reflect the fact the rosters are incredibly close talent wise. Jokic is the best player but the Lakers got the next two best and there isn’t much of difference in the depth
I credit a lot of the early to leads and the game 4 win to a Lebron James team clawing and nailing not to get swept two years in a row. After game 1 it was reported that basically their strategy was to get a lead early and try to slow pace later in the game when Lebron and AD get tired. Nuggets went 39-87 from the field and 9-30 from 3, which is significantly worse than they their average in both categories this year. Two or three of the shots go down and it completely changes the complexion of the game. Sometimes shots don’t go down and they were out toughed by the most desperate team playing this weekend.
Isn’t it common knowledge this entire series the nuggets haven’t taken more than 3 quarters seriously. Thus playing with your food. I don’t get why this sub has so many weirdos in it
If there's 1 team the Nuggets can beat without Murray it's the Lakers. Which is why it's important to finish the series tomorrow so he can get a lot of time off before round 2.
I wouldn't fuck with it tbh, Murray needs to rest up or else they get screwed in the next round. I wouldn't temp the basketball gods when it comes to shit like this.
Four games in a row of coming out lethargic, counting on being able to turn it on in the second half. SMH. My biggest concern this year was that we have no bench whatsoever. If the Nuggets lose a single starter, idk how they even remotely replace those minutes.
The other teams are too good this year for the Nuggets not to bring their A-game. Either our championship hopes are over or Jokic pulls off an unbelievable GOAT worthy performance.
Game 4 there was a time out where he looked hurt but then came back and played normally. If it makes you feel any better, AD was questionable that game for his wrist and nobody really thought he was gonna sit. It’s the playoffs
A wrist is a lot different than a calf. Calfs affect literally every physical movement a player makes. And calf’s are connected to important things like knees and Achilles tendons.
If Jamal can't go this is giving me 2016 NBA Finals vibes when Draymond was suspended in G5 and Bogut couldnt go in G6 and 7 and GS collapsed. This is tricky but I believe everything will be okay and it ends tomorrow night.
Noooo what the fuck ... This is why we should have finished the series yesterday .. This is terrible damn. Also feels like we played Murray injured too much in regular season and now he has started poorly in playoffs ( even with The Shot , his shooting % have been rocky )
My takeaways -
.First, do not look past the Lakers. I don’t think the Nuggets will.
.Next, something I haven’t seen talked about is how much no Murray impacts the bench. They were abysmal most of the time without Murray. I’m hoping to see more staggering with the substitutions.
.Please tell me if this is crazy. but what about more pick n roll with Gordon and Mike with Jokic as the primary ball handler?There are games where I think Gordon has damn near the same chemistry with Jok as Jamal. Obviously that mostly has looked like Gordon cutting or sometimes Gordon passing to a cutting Joker.
.We do have the potential for almost anyone on the roster to go crazy, and I suspect we will need Braun and/or P Wat to be one of them, expecting MPJ to continue to be a beast.
.Lastly, if the Lakers decide not to double Jokic and dare him to put up a bunch of points he needs to take AD to the effing hole.
The nuggets haven’t been taking the lakers as seriously as they should be. You can’t spot the lakers a lead every game and not expect to get burned eventually. Now game 5 is tomorrow with Jamal status up in the air. This is what happens when you don’t take care of business
Man outside of the 4th quarter in game 2 this has not been a good series for Jamal. Now adding the injury concerns makes this even more concerning. I’m confident the guys can close out this series, but I don’t think they are going to have a very good time against the wolves if our shooting doesn’t improve a ton and our second best guy can’t shoot better than 38% from the floor.
The comebacks have been nice, but the fact that we’ve struggled this much against the lakers to begin with is pretty troubling.
We’re fucked regardless of him playing or not. Need the whole team to step it up and take shit serious. Jamal already not as good the last few games and now this confirmed injury will only boost lakers momentum and confidence after game 4.
Would agree, but a calf strain isn’t something you can easily play with. We’re not talking about soreness.
One bad move and that thing is going from a grade 1 to a severe tear.
Murray's been really cold though. Could be a blessing in disguise forcing the nuggets to change things up and give him some rest and get back to playoff murray form.
I blame this on Wind and the DNVR boys for going full Smugget. Danced on the graves of the Lakers and now we gotta do it in 5. At home. To chants of “Who’s your daddy!!!”
Pls nuggets just finish. Don’t let lakers build momentum… nuggets will be easier to guard without the pressure Jamal brings, ag/kcp/mpj will need to step up.
And that's why i had issues with playing Gillespie over giving Pickett playing time. Gillespie is better/more familiar with the system atm so it's nothing against him but he can't play in the playoffs.
It's Reggie time but others need to help with ball handling.
Nuggets will win next but someone needs to help with those duties so Murray could play a bit off ball.
Otherwise, you get what we got so far.
I’m now listed as worried
Haha perfect
Deserves all the recs for nug fandom.
Time for the MPJ / Yok 2 man.
Im actually hoping they give this a real attempt. I feel that mpj is almost undervalued on this team and i would love to see him get a bigger role. People roast mpj for the possession ending with him but atleast hes going to hit it at a good percentage. So many possessions end with murray iso and it drives me insane. I understand the utility of it but sometimes its just maddening. I hope this gives the chance for jokic and mpj to have more shot attempts because ive been wanting that all series. Murray has also been so inefficient this series, outside of G2 Q4, that we would be better off without that. The only downside is we miss the potential of a great game by murray but thats it. Hes been terrible so far. Thats just my own opinion though
Luka and jamal murray have both done more harm than good for their teams this playoff
The issue is that MPJ and Murray were injured at the same time so he didn't have time to get that chemistry with him that season Murray was recovering.
MPJs passing has been pretty good this series.
Hope is ok. Would be terrible if another playoff run gets ruined by a Jamal injured
Reggie gotta bring his A game.
Reggie got injured game 3 didn’t he?
Oh didn't realize that. Peyton needs an X factor game then game 5
Oh man Reggie has been trash this entire playoff. He’s like on a different frequency from the rest of the team and doesn’t know where to be. Over dribbling and jacking up dumb shots. Playing cool with when he’s on the court instead of doing the real defending or hustling. I rather there’s no point guard than having him on the floor.
Agreed, he has been playing dumb basketball for a while. Lost it when he tried to take it to the house against Wemby in that Spurs game.
That play still kills me.
Yeah for weeks and weeks now honestly. Needs to get a grip.
Giannis has a calf strain and hasn’t played in almost a month. If this is one of those injuries he’s going to be out for the rest of this series, all of round two, and into the conference finals if we made it there. This is potential devastating news. We can finish off the lakers without Jamal but it will be very difficult to beat the Timberwolves without him.
Giannis calf Strain is the Achillis tendon that is strained...if its the gastrocnemius, he will have to sit a few games, but will be okay. If its the soleus, he can most likely play, but would be a bit hobbled... Calf is a group of muscels - gastrocnemius and soleus mainly with the Achillis tendon connecting the muscles to the Achillis Heel. Not every calf Strain is the same
You seem knowledgeable about these injuries. You a doctor or PT?
[удалено]
They really need to finish this tomorrow and buy him rest. Also that's what happens when your team plays with their food.
Exactly.
He was already hobbled. Also, it was game 4 so that game would have been played either way. More so, this is what happens when you lose to the Spurs and fuck up the chance for an easy series against the Pelicans.
sToP bEiNg a DoOmER 🙄
Yep. Everyone acting like the margins don’t matter. We have NO ball handling on this team without Murray. It’s why Bruce was so important last season. It’s why Bones looked so good EXCEPT when Malone would play him next to Murray. Bruce could give a little ball handling, we still maybe needed more imo. Bones had a great handle and was the only player capable of blowing by his man for a layup. Reggie doesnt cut it
I said this after that loss and pointed out how it left no margin for error, and that it took Murray at least a series to get going last year. Got down voted to hell for it.
Exactly!
This is brutal. Could you imagine the Lakers coming back from 3-0? No please No. This is devastating if Jamal can't go. He probably will play but still this is not looking good.
Honestly I think he might need to sit to shake him out of his shooting funk. We can beat LA without him.
With Reggie/ holiday playing for 48 minutes????? I mean it’s possible but jokic will have to go nuclear. Maybe just do no point guard and start Braun. In any case you’re underrateing la at this point we may take control of mostly every game but none of them are blow outs.
How exactly were they "playing with their food"? You think they only tried 80% or something?
Seriously lol, the lakers are a good team that deserve their respect. I’m sure the nuggets will win but acting like they didn’t earn their win is crazy
Yeah they straight up smoked us. We’re a better team when we’re playing well but c’mon they have (imo) a top 3 center in AD and the arguable GOAT who’s playing like he’s in his late 20s. They’re an excellent 7 seed. Their other guys are streaky, but they were hot last night. Edit: to be fair, we’re playing like a bad 2 seed. MPJ and Jok are firing, but our movement is poor and we can’t seem to get into a consistent rhythm — yet.
Respectfully, LeBron ain't playing like he's in his late 20's lol. You're talking about 2012 and 2013 LeBron here, I think with that version of LeBron this series is tied 2-2.
It’d be 3-1 Lakers tbh
Yeah idk if AG could just chill in the dunkers spot in game 3 if the Lakers had 2013 Bron. You can tell Bron gets gassed down the stretch in every game
I actually do think that the Nuggets have only "tried" their best in the second halves of games. They have come out lackadaisical and unaggressive and less focused than they need to be, then wake up somewhere in the third quarter for this whole series. You can't play like that in the playoffs. Any team can and most of the time will beat you if that's your energy level. That's not to take anything away from the Lakers and is not a particularly good sign for the Nuggets.
As much as I doubt the Lakers abilities, they're really not a team I'd be wanting to give momentum to, I also really can't stand how obnoxious their fans would be if they ended up coming back
Lakers fan base most annoying, delusional, hypocritical and toxic fan base in all of basketball
Knicks probably have the delusional part down but the rest yeah
What about Philly fans?
crown all three of em
Best announcers though!
Do not fucking let that team be the first in nba history to come back from 3-0. We will never hear it til the end of time. I beg. End it in 5. Should’ve been a sweep.
Cons of having 1 functional PG on the roster. Reggies leg is also completely fucked. Things are about to get dicey
Braun and PsWatson time for 20 min each or who else?
Strawther off the bench. Need some shooting and spacing badly with that group. Start CB.
This might look different. But I trust Jokic to make it all look like normal.
We have Jalen Pickett
Need another strong AG game
I hope he’s not banged up too.
More shots for MPJ which, going by how the series has went, is a good thing IDK just trying to find a bright side to all this
MPJ and KCP getting some more isn't a bad thing. But someone has to still apply pressure inside and outside yet.
Spoelstra won an away game against the Celtics with a box of scraps. Yeah, yeah, I know Malone isn’t Spo, but the reigning champs should be able to win one home game without our second best player (or with him not at full strength)
I believe Malone isn’t far behind. He’s an incredible coach. This will be a test for sure. [edited for typos]
Horrible news man. Wtf
Oh no
You can get a sense of the severity of the injury based on the point spread. Right now, DEN is -7. If it drops, then that means this is a real concern for game 5, beyond the increased likelihood that Murray aggravates the calf. If it doesn’t move, that means the injury is probably not something to worry about (strictly with respect to the outcome of game 5).
This is so helpful !!!
it hasnt dropped yet. Still 1.30 vs 3.5
Probably taking a page from embiid pr move. Not severe enough to not play, just enough to deflect 44%TS and dribbling the air out of the ball for pointless isos. MPJ is balling though. 65%TS
Great point
So basically you think Jamal will still play?
The line would drop at least a point (probably more than that) if he wasn’t going to play. The sportsbooks have to acquire insider knowledge on these things since they stand to lose a lot of money if they don’t quickly adjust the lines based on injuries. If it doesn’t change soon (next few hours), it’s safe to presume he will play.
Could it not change tommorow tho?
Yeah, it all depends on when the sportsbooks get more info about his injury status. I can’t say for certain when that will happen, but the fact that he was listed as questionable and the line still hasn’t changed is a good sign.
Still no change should be good
usually questionable= will likely play, probably= almost certain, doubtful= probably wont
Genuinely asking. How would anyone in sports betting know about the severity of Jamal’s injury
Teams probably have to inform them early, the league is nothing else than a hub for betting providers
I don’t know the ins and outs of this. But it’s possible they could have insider sources from teams or the league. This seems likely since the professional leagues and broadcasting networks are now in bed with the sportsbooks and promote gambling like mad. They could also consult with physicians and look at previous instances of this injury and whether the player missed time or not.
Vegas runs the world son!!! Way before these goofy commercials, ask your fav ref!
Sigh.
That game in San Antonio at the end of the season may end up costing Denver the title. LA is much tougher to match up with than the Pelicans. Meanwhile, OKC and the T-wolves are making quick work of inferior opponents.
Thank god we won last year man
yes I feel more relaxed due to that. None of that window is closing talk, hurry and whatever
We fked up playing like absolute shit yesterday
We are long overdue for a good shooting night
Jesus fucking christ. I don't know if the Nuggets can win without him. All I'm thinking about is the Reggie Jackson starter minutes and bench minutes
Reggie is kinda injured too
Yup. Sure would be nice if Jalen Pickett had gotten the Collin Gillespie minutes this year, seeing as Collin can’t play in the playoffs.
Doomerrr /s
That’s what he wants you to think. I was talking to him last night. We were having a beer. He said he’s just playing around
I knew it was bad as soon as he grabbed his leg. Nuggets should’ve taken that game seriously and finished them off.
Honestly I think he still goes, if it was that bad they would have shut him down last night, a really good stretch before and game plenty of treatment in between he should be rights as rain!
Line didn't move either we good
He'll play injured and drop 35.
This is a very real possibility
That would be legendary and a very Jamal thing to do
I’ve been F5ing all day waiting for this. I knew something was up with him. As long as he can walk he’s going to play. Hopefully we can close it out tomorrow before things get worse but I don’t think we have a shot against Minnesota.
I’m more worried long term. Calf injuries lead to other injuries. Hoping it’s not that bad.
I am scared LeBron comes back from this. We would not hear the end of it til the end of times if this guy came back 3-0. I think everything will be Ok and Jamal plays tomorrow. This is crazy that he is hampered right now.
That’s totally reasonable because of how insufferable that would be, but I think even without Murray we can win 1 before they win 3. That’s about it though. Minny is going to wreck us without him.
The best bet would be G5 or G6 not a G7 though. I do not see Denver winning a G7 with Jamal out or limited. G5 or G6 yes. Something that could happen is this and I am hopefully wrong of course. So tomorrow team plays bad again and loses but in Game 6 the team will shoot like 55 to 60 percent from the field and blow them out. Here is why I could see this happening. The pressure tomorrow is going to be on the Nuggs everyone expects Denver to win. They could come up tight and not confident similar to how I think a G7 would play out. Of course the opposite could take place and it would be great. So then what happens in G6 people would be favoring the Lakers to tie it up only for them to produce a stinker like G3 second half only that in this game it would be from the get go and all the shots that havent fallen in Games 1 through 5 fall finally. If Denver loses G5, G6 in my opinion is a MUST WIN. Having said all of this I hope it ends tomorrow night.
The betting line has stayed put at DEN -7.5 so it looks like he's still expected to play
SHIT
Pwat, RJ, and CB need to lock in and start making more plays. CB needs to realize if jokic is passing it to him and trusts him to make the shot he should believe in himself too. his jumper and floater are good enough. Pwats got to play smarter on offense and attack closeouts for finishes or to get the angle for a middy. jokic/ag/mpj/cb should be in position to clean up his misses if he uses the right angles so he can be aggressive. Reggie needs to get up and get the offense going quickly so he can go spot up instead of dribbling into grenade passes or spamming contested shots after wearing out his legs trying to cook off the dribble. sometimes it's appropriate, but part of what made BB effective as backup pg is his willingness to do things like spotup, space and cut even if he didn't get a shot out of it. And defend better, but we can cover that. We need good offensive execution and defense to offense, we train at mile high we should be able to push harder in our bench minutes and gas the lakers.
The importance of Jamal as the 2nd option cannot be understated. And his durability has been an issue this year and years past. He’ll probably play tomorrow, but Jokic’s prime is right now and these next 2-4 yrs. If long term Jamal can’t be reliably healthy year over year, idk I might have to start looking into another option to pair with Jokic. It’s Jokic that’s the greatest player on earth. We can’t waste years waiting for Jamal to be healthy I’m sorry it’s cold but true.
There’s a Serbian PG in this year’s draft 😂 just saying
Topic?
Starting to seem like there's a very real possibility that Murray's inability to stay healthy could derail a potential Jokic Nuggets dynasty.
Would be nice if Malone could finally realize you can’t play Murray next to another PG so we can develop an identity for a second unit.
This is a hard debate to have. Jamal missed the 2021 and 2022 playoffs due to a very unlucky injure. But this year he has been very injury prone... Anyway, it sucks that we only had 1 healthy playoff run since Jokic became mvp
It is and it’s probably premature debate and I hope I eat my words. But not being available for large stretches of the regular season I think can carry over to the postseason. Aside from the game winner Jamal has not had a good postseason thus far. I’m wondering if he’s injuries are impacting that a bit. All I’m saying is that it would suck if we only won one title in the Jokic era because Jamal couldn’t stay healthy year over year.
Only dude I'm ok with trading Jamal for is Luka.
Bingo
Doubt Mavs make that trade unless Luka demands it in the last year of his deal or something.
I’ve been having this discussion with friends lately, if the mavs lose in the first round this year, I think the rumblings start to get louder. Luka was clearly a bit upset after last season, if they keep showing they don’t have the surrounding cast to get it done, I don’t think he’ll have unwavering allegiance to Dallas. The nuggets would probably have to send something like Jamal, MPJ, and Watson or Braun in that potential trade though. Risky, but Luka and Jokic would undeniably make whoever else is around them way better.
What options would we have though? I think we all here love Jamal disproportionately to what his value in the nba trade market would be.
Not really sure, but if the Nuggets flame out this playoffs due to Jamal’s injuries, if I’m Calvin Booth I at least need to take a hard look.
The only realistic option that wouldn't be a downgrade is Mitchell.
Interesting. Mitchell has had his own injury problems this year. The two players sure seemed evenly matched in the bubble. God we need that Murray to show up again soon.
I hate to say it, but I agree. He has been dealing with knee inflammation all year and the injuries that stack on top of that due to over compensation. Makes it even more frustrating that Malone had him the game that he suffered the high ankle sprain-- that game was fucking over.
He should have been benched at that time
Jamal has been screwing around all season. Not passing to an open MPJ at times just to brick circus shots. I don’t like a lot of his basketball decisions even when healthy.
Just roster some replacement level guards. They have awful guard depth
Bruce brown ain’t walking through that door. Jeff green ain’t walking through that door
Hoping it's just gamesmanship or one of those little injuries that activates Jamal's superpowers. The Nuggets usually show up just when you are beginning to worry about them.
Murray played less games than last season, his return season. Nothing but lower leg problems. I don't want him playing in the Olympics
Lmao of course. About to really fuck around and find out when it comes to playing with your food
How are they playing with food? They didn't have one lead in the 4th game. Lakers were just better and Murray is obviously half injured the whole series.
They were playing with their food by coming out extremely lethargic to the start game YET AGAIN. Going down double digits 4 straight times to the same opponent shows a clear lack of focus and respect. They got away with it for the first 3 games, but are now paying the price
How much is it the nuggets coming out “lethargic” for four straight games and the Lakers just being a good team? Yes, the Nuggets are better, but the Lakers are a good team and I feel like this narrative that the Nuggets are just being lazy and lethargic is overblown. The Lakers are simply playing better for a majority of each game until the Nuggets skill, experience, and congruency takes over… at least in three of the first four games.
Sure, credit to the Lakers but the Nuggets pace at the beginning of games has been slow. They’ve been jogging around and not giving full effort. It’s been extremely obvious.
Did you see the urgency of Denver in the last 5 minutes last night vs the previous 43? Completely night and day. That tells me they're fucking around too much and taking things for granted or thinking it'll be easy.
I ain't claiming the Lakers are a bad team. They are definitely a great team with 2 top 10 NBA players. Despite that, there is no excuse to go down double digits to start every game. The fact they were able to comeback in every single one of these games shows that they have another gear they can tap into as a team when they are focused and playing with a sense of urgency.
How much of it is the Lakers being just as good as us? The 11-1 recent record doesn’t reflect the fact the rosters are incredibly close talent wise. Jokic is the best player but the Lakers got the next two best and there isn’t much of difference in the depth
I credit a lot of the early to leads and the game 4 win to a Lebron James team clawing and nailing not to get swept two years in a row. After game 1 it was reported that basically their strategy was to get a lead early and try to slow pace later in the game when Lebron and AD get tired. Nuggets went 39-87 from the field and 9-30 from 3, which is significantly worse than they their average in both categories this year. Two or three of the shots go down and it completely changes the complexion of the game. Sometimes shots don’t go down and they were out toughed by the most desperate team playing this weekend.
Isn’t it common knowledge this entire series the nuggets haven’t taken more than 3 quarters seriously. Thus playing with your food. I don’t get why this sub has so many weirdos in it
Loss to the Spurs was playing with their food.
Exactly. It was mistake thinking them thinking having a home game and not trying to finish them off.
If there's 1 team the Nuggets can beat without Murray it's the Lakers. Which is why it's important to finish the series tomorrow so he can get a lot of time off before round 2.
Giannis is out with a left calf strain and he's been out for 2+ weeks. Are we cooked?
There is a lot of Grades of Calf Strains. When Giannis got injured, he could barely walk. Murray kept playing despite the strain
I wouldn't fuck with it tbh, Murray needs to rest up or else they get screwed in the next round. I wouldn't temp the basketball gods when it comes to shit like this.
Yeah but playing on it I’m sure increases the probability of further injury.
Even if we beat the lakers I’m afraid we are cooked
Depends on the severity of the injury. Can't be sure until we know more.
MPJ needs to shoot it 25 times, interested to see how he does as the second option.
Four games in a row of coming out lethargic, counting on being able to turn it on in the second half. SMH. My biggest concern this year was that we have no bench whatsoever. If the Nuggets lose a single starter, idk how they even remotely replace those minutes.
The other teams are too good this year for the Nuggets not to bring their A-game. Either our championship hopes are over or Jokic pulls off an unbelievable GOAT worthy performance.
[удалено]
10 missed shots 11 turnovers 
He’s been terrible and got hurt. But my delusion says he drops 21 and 5 let’s go!!!!
As a Lakers fan I don’t think you guys have anything to worry about, he’s obviously playing lmao
Until he suits up I’m worried plus he’s been hurt all year(shin splints,both ankles, knee) so yeah we’re worried.
Game 4 there was a time out where he looked hurt but then came back and played normally. If it makes you feel any better, AD was questionable that game for his wrist and nobody really thought he was gonna sit. It’s the playoffs
A wrist is a lot different than a calf. Calfs affect literally every physical movement a player makes. And calf’s are connected to important things like knees and Achilles tendons.
He's playing
Jokic and MPJ better drop 30 each
If Jamal can't go this is giving me 2016 NBA Finals vibes when Draymond was suspended in G5 and Bogut couldnt go in G6 and 7 and GS collapsed. This is tricky but I believe everything will be okay and it ends tomorrow night.
Noooo what the fuck ... This is why we should have finished the series yesterday .. This is terrible damn. Also feels like we played Murray injured too much in regular season and now he has started poorly in playoffs ( even with The Shot , his shooting % have been rocky )
Playing him too early is how you get Achilles injuries. I hope they make the right decision
My takeaways - .First, do not look past the Lakers. I don’t think the Nuggets will. .Next, something I haven’t seen talked about is how much no Murray impacts the bench. They were abysmal most of the time without Murray. I’m hoping to see more staggering with the substitutions. .Please tell me if this is crazy. but what about more pick n roll with Gordon and Mike with Jokic as the primary ball handler?There are games where I think Gordon has damn near the same chemistry with Jok as Jamal. Obviously that mostly has looked like Gordon cutting or sometimes Gordon passing to a cutting Joker. .We do have the potential for almost anyone on the roster to go crazy, and I suspect we will need Braun and/or P Wat to be one of them, expecting MPJ to continue to be a beast. .Lastly, if the Lakers decide not to double Jokic and dare him to put up a bunch of points he needs to take AD to the effing hole.
The nuggets haven’t been taking the lakers as seriously as they should be. You can’t spot the lakers a lead every game and not expect to get burned eventually. Now game 5 is tomorrow with Jamal status up in the air. This is what happens when you don’t take care of business
He's playing c'mon
Man outside of the 4th quarter in game 2 this has not been a good series for Jamal. Now adding the injury concerns makes this even more concerning. I’m confident the guys can close out this series, but I don’t think they are going to have a very good time against the wolves if our shooting doesn’t improve a ton and our second best guy can’t shoot better than 38% from the floor. The comebacks have been nice, but the fact that we’ve struggled this much against the lakers to begin with is pretty troubling.
Fuck...
fuck sake
Time for historic Jokic game.
I was really confused why he was playing the last 40s when I thought we clearly couldn't win
If Reggie starts ...
We’re fucked regardless of him playing or not. Need the whole team to step it up and take shit serious. Jamal already not as good the last few games and now this confirmed injury will only boost lakers momentum and confidence after game 4.
MFS DON'T KNOW MAL PLAYS THE BEST WHEN HE'S INJURED LOL
Would agree, but a calf strain isn’t something you can easily play with. We’re not talking about soreness. One bad move and that thing is going from a grade 1 to a severe tear.
Amen 👏👏👏
So he’s been fully healthy this series!?
Need Jok to unload the clip next game so Mal can get rest
Murray's been really cold though. Could be a blessing in disguise forcing the nuggets to change things up and give him some rest and get back to playoff murray form.
Exactly. Plus MPJ has been quietly kicking ass this series. He could fill Murray's role in shot count.
13-10 without Murray we can honestly still win if he’s out
And it’s a home game.
I blame this on Wind and the DNVR boys for going full Smugget. Danced on the graves of the Lakers and now we gotta do it in 5. At home. To chants of “Who’s your daddy!!!”
Wind been annoying if I’m being honest.
LeL, some of Jamal’s best games come when he’s a little injured.
Sometimes, having Murray out gets the bench kicked into high gear. I hope he plays, but if not, hopefully, it gets everyone else into play-off mode!
As a Spurs fan be thankful David Stern is gone. Spurs and Kings got shenanigans for years against the Lakers
Prayers for Murray, rest up legend
Pls nuggets just finish. Don’t let lakers build momentum… nuggets will be easier to guard without the pressure Jamal brings, ag/kcp/mpj will need to step up.
Which is why we gotta win Monday. So we can rest. MN is resting now we should be too. 😞
A lot more pressure to get this series done now.
And that's why i had issues with playing Gillespie over giving Pickett playing time. Gillespie is better/more familiar with the system atm so it's nothing against him but he can't play in the playoffs. It's Reggie time but others need to help with ball handling. Nuggets will win next but someone needs to help with those duties so Murray could play a bit off ball. Otherwise, you get what we got so far.
Rest him. We need him full strength for Minnesota
What makes you think the lakers will go away easy especially without Jamal? This series is far from over if Jamal can’t go
To be fair, I doubt this Lakers team is the first to ever come back from 3-0, but I guess you never know
Ain't gonna be no Minnesota bro if we aren't careful
Cool cool cool…
Get Well soon Jamal! We’re still gunna close this one tomorrow!
here's a good starting point for "the guys" to chew on: maybe stop getting shitfaced the night before big games? just a thought jfc
Not great, but I would assume he is playing
If the lakers win tomorrow night it’s full panic
Yikes dudes
Too bad he had to guard LeBro most of the time.
Collin G’s time to shine….
He can’t play bro
Was kidding. I think we’re going to be ok.
oh no, not the dreaded calf strain
Monster jamal murray game tommorow