Denver/Minnesota Game 4 Game thread

[KillerLeft]

Goodness, I sure hope Malone has something better up his sleeve than to allow Murray to switch onto KAT and then get posted into the dirt.

[KillerLeft]

Edwards, coming downhill, whether in transition or off of a poorly played screen, might be the scariest thing going in the NBA right now.

[KillerLeft]

Gotta say, despite what I just wrote about Edwards, who is obviously a beast...and maybe because I'm crazy...

...give me Minnesota over Denver as a Mavs opponent (if the Mavs reach the next round).

[KillerLeft]

KAT is allowing himself to be guarded pretty effectively by KCP.

[KillerLeft]

It's so funny how far off of the national radar a player can fall when he accepts a support role for a good team. I mean, we love team-first, winning-mentality players in theory, but I kind of get where some of the selfish guys are coming from, a little (not to be taken as support for that mindset, just an observation).

Take Aaron Gordon: I remember back when he played for Orlando, there were scads of posts on the old board about how people wanted him to be on a Mav. The perception then was that he was an up-and-coming star. I never much agreed, back then, and nowadays you don't read much about him, either here or nationally. But my goodness, he is better now than he ever was in Orlando. He's just not in a scoring role anymore (rightfully so). But man, he is a BAD ASS role player.

EDIT: Gordon is sort of the opposite of Jerami Grant, who went the other way with his career.

[KillerLeft]

Lol, the Nuggets are now playing Gordon at center on defense and PG on offense.

And it's working like a charm.

[KillerLeft]

Naz Reid has a guard pinned in the paint and instead they throw the ball to the corner. Bad read, or does Naz not have an inside game?

[KillerLeft]

Still a ton of game left, but right now Denver looks three levels better and more experienced than Minnesota.

I think BOTH of these teams would be tough matchups for our Mavs, but Denver has been there, done that. That's what scares me, personally.

[KillerLeft]

Moving here so as not to ruin Around the NBA

[KillerLeft]

Jokic is just murdering Gobert.

[KillerLeft]

The only weakness Denver has, as far as I can tell, is that Jokic isn't quick enough laterally when he defends at or above the level of the screen. But, Luka is obviously not as quick around the corner as Edwards is.

[KillerLeft]

Naz Reid is so fascinating to me. I've never seen someone with his body type who's more dangerous facing up, with the ball, outside of the three point line, than he is in the paint. Even his paint points seem to come most attacking closeouts off the dribble. Bananas.

[KillerLeft]

The Nuggets play GREAT team defense. They always seem to know where the help is, and the help always seems to be in the right place.

[KillerLeft]

Both of these teams play great defense, actually.

[KillerLeft]

Good lord, Jokic can pass

[KillerLeft]

The refs really don't want to give Edwards his third foul, lololol

[KillerLeft]

This series is the jam...am I really the only one watching???

[KillerLeft]

Oof...already, you can't go under on Edwards. Usually it takes like 5 years for that type of player to establish that.

[KillerLeft]

OMGOMGOMGOMG!

Edwards forces a dribble drive, loses the ball to Jokic, who passes it up to MPJ (I think) for a dunk. Then, Minnesota tries to inbound all the way past half court to get a buzzer beater, but the ball ends up in Marray's hands, who promptly hits a 3/4 quarter shot to end the half!

What a CRAZY finish!

[KillerLeft]

I can't get over it...an 8-0 run in the LAST 20 SECONDS OF THE HALF!