Let's discuss the upcoming Denver series

[Wolvesfan21]

Hands straight up and move your feet KAT.

I agree that we will likely use KAT on Jokic. Isn't it ironic that in our first two series we're likely defending the oppositions best player with KAT?

I think KAT can guard Jokic pretty well and he'll probably still score 30 a night. You're right. Move your feet. Hands up. Rudy can rotate from behind and contest at times too. This series will be the toughest matchup for Jokic in the NBA. And their entire team.

As far as why we can win. I think it's to achieve balance in the universe. We owe them a loss after they beat us last year. Also Wolves fans have been beaten down for 20 years. We are owed some serious fucking payoff at some point. Might as well be now. The universe has spoken.

[FNG]

Yet ANOTHER one of Porter, Jr.'s brothers got in trouble. Sheesh, what a bunch of knuckleheads....

Didn't affect MPJ against the Lakers, but in the past couple of weeks he's had one brother sentenced to jail for killing someone while drunk driving; another brother banned for life from the NBA for betting on games; and now a third brother that got busted for a DWI last weekend. The latest one to me is especially egregious after his older brother literally killed someone doing the same thing.

Can't imagine how I would react if I had three brothers screwing up their lives, but it hasn't seemed to impact MPJ at all.

He was the most enigmatic character in the 2018 draft (you know...the one where 10 teams passed on SGA and the Wolves got their man Josh Okogie instead of taking Jalen Brunson). He was rumored to be in the conversation for the second of 4th picks, but ended up dropping to 14th for the Nuggets. The main concern was his bad back, but I also recall there may have been some concerns about his character (Michael Porter Sr.'s book "How to Raise your Boys to be Good Citizens" has not aged well). But needless to say, that pick worked out very well for the Nuggets.

So many are calling him the X Factor in this upcoming series. He's going to hit that 3-point shot if he's left open. Maybe we'll have Ant on him, but I would prefer having Jaden's length bothering him (and leave Ant to stop Murray). MJP killed us last year, and I can't remember who we had guarding him...but we know it wasn't Jaden. If Jaden and Ant can make life miserable for MJP and Murray, and if KAT can stay out a foul trouble, we have a good chance in this series. But I fully acknowledge those are big 'Ifs".

[FNG]

I pointed out that our concern about the Wolves' turnovers was offset in the first round by the fact that the Suns were more turnover prone than us, and sure enough we had fewer turnovers in the 4 games than the Suns. But not true in this series...Denver had the 4th fewest turnovers in the league this year.

But on the other side of the coin, despite the fact that the Wolves foul more than the Nuggets, we also get to the line far more frequently than the Nuggets...22.9 FTA per game compared to 19.9 (second lowest in the Association). It's frustrating to watch an opponent hunt for fouls and parade to the free throw line, but Denver is not one of those teams. Those three points per game could be significant in close games.

[FNG]

Losing to the Suns in the last game of the season forced us to have to face them in the first round, and that was perceived with dread by many of us. How could it not when they had handled us so easily during the regular season.

Now it occurs to me that our loss to Denver late in the season is causing us to have to face arguably the best team in basketball in the second round without home court advantage. And Vegas has us as heavy underdogs. There's some symmetry here (lose the final game against them, and then face them in the playoffs), and let's hope we get the same result we got in Round 1.

[Q-is-here]

The key to me is let Joker get his and do anything and everything to stop Jamal Murray.

In games Where Jamal Murray score 18pts or less the Nuggets are 12-9 and in games he score over 18 they're 36-6.

If you can Make Porter and Aaron Gordon have to beat you and if you win the Non Joker Minutes you can win this series.

Good stat, jester, and I agree with your premise about letting Joker get his. The Wolves seem to agree with you with their approach to defending him...don't double team him to try to take away his ability to find the open man. Holding Murray to less than 18 sounds like a tall order...Ant, NAW and Naz will have their hands full.

Jester's key to the series above worked out in Game 1. We held Murray to 17 points and Jokic took by far the most shots.

Porter had an efficient game BUT he only took 13 shots attempts, 7 of which were 3's. He is such a great shooter that we can't just hope he misses or goes cold. Instead, just try to stay home on him and deny him shot attempts since he has a pretty tough time creating for himself off the bounce. We did a good job of that last night.

Gordon was efficient also, but similar story to Porter, he only had 6 shot attempts.

[rapsuperstar31]

The key to me is let Joker get his and do anything and everything to stop Jamal Murray.

In games Where Jamal Murray score 18pts or less the Nuggets are 12-9 and in games he score over 18 they're 36-6.

If you can Make Porter and Aaron Gordon have to beat you and if you win the Non Joker Minutes you can win this series.

Good stat, jester, and I agree with your premise about letting Joker get his. The Wolves seem to agree with you with their approach to defending him...don't double team him to try to take away his ability to find the open man. Holding Murray to less than 18 sounds like a tall order...Ant, NAW and Naz will have their hands full.

Jester's key to the series above worked out in Game 1. We held Murray to 17 points and Jokic took by far the most shots.

Porter had an efficient game BUT he only took 13 shots attempts, 7 of which were 3's. He is such a great shooter that we can't just hope he misses or goes cold. Instead, just try to stay home on him and deny him shot attempts since he has a pretty tough time creating for himself off the bounce. We did a good job of that last night.

Gordon was efficient also, but similar story to Porter, he only had 6 shot attempts.

Almost every shot Murray made was a tough circus shot as well, he had to work for everything.

[Coolbreeze44]

On NBA countdown, Perk just said the Wolves are going to the NBA finals. And he said it with conviction.

[Q-is-here]

On NBA countdown, Perk just said the Wolves are going to the NBA finals. And he said it with conviction.

To his credit, he has consistently been a Wolves and Ant backer, dating back to the regular season.

[Coolbreeze44]

It's kind of odd to play 4 consecutive road games in the postseason. It would be even stranger to win all 4.

[davemang]

It's kind of odd to play 4 consecutive road games in the postseason. It would be even stranger to win all 4.

Also with the difficulty increasing in each of the 4 games - we’ll see if the wolves are up for the challenge to cap off this “road trip” in den game 2!