Nuggets Put Up No Fight Against Depleted Wolves

The Denver, Minnesota series is over, and I would have bet any amount of money going into last night that Denver would have found a way to extend the series.

And I thought, I thought that more after it was revealed that Ayodesunmu was going to be out for this game 6, adding the latest star player to the Minnesota Timberwolves injury report, joining Anthony Edwards, Dante DiVinnzo.

I mean, the injuries have just been racking up.

For the Minnesota Timberwolves.

So I just thought going in and like Denver will get it done, even if there's no Aaron Gordon, Denver will get it done.

And they're probably going to win the series because they'll win at home cause the Timberwolves tapped out.

That didn't happen.

Uh, the Timberwolves guys all stepped up.

Um, you had, uh, I mean, you, you had Jaden McDaniels playing one of the best two-way games of the series, locking up.

Uh, Jamal Murray scoring on the other end.

Rudy Gobert, this series, ET to me it was like a Rudy Gobert.

It was a Rudy Gobert redemption series.

It was like all, all the grief.

Like Rudy gets so much grief, and it's a lot of it's because of the playoffs, right?

Like in the playoffs he's either getting cooked in the perimeter by a Luka Dacic or not playing, um, against.

Guys like Jokic one on one.

Usually it's Karl-Anthony Towns or it's Julius Randall or it's somebody else that's matching up with, with Jokic.

This series, he played Jokic straight up a lot and he outplayed Jokic in a lot of these games.

Look, I look at Jokic's line from Thursday night, great line, but he didn't play a great game by any stretch.

I thought Colbert did an excellent job defending him and defensively, we'll get to this.

Defensively, Jokic is.

He's got a lot of issues on that end of the floor that cost the Nuggets, I think, big time in this series.

But look, this was like, to me, this was a team that wanted more in Minnesota.

They wanted to advance, even though like, They may have no shot against San Antonio with Di Vincenzo out and Edwards playing at less than 100%.

Like they want to win this series more.

They went into game six and they took it.

Guys like Jalen Clark and McDaniels and Randall and Gilbert and Mike Conley is coming off the bench and getting minutes again.

Like they wanted it more than Denver did, and now Denver's got to go home and do a lot of soul searching.

And they're super pride as well, you know, I think one thing with Timberwolves, they're like, every time a new injury popped up, they're like, bro, we're not going down for this.

We're not going to lose to these guys.

And I think one thing that Jaden McDaniels has spoke on that I think Denver has to really pay attention to now, even though Peyton Watson was hurt yesterday and Aaron Gordon.

Guys have confidence cause like no matter what, if we're playing and big fella's playing, we have a chance because defensively, they're terrible.

Do you understand what I'm saying?

Like, like sometimes when you sit here, we, we look at Jokic's numbers, which is unbelievable.

He's unreal.

But there's a lot of possessions, there's a lot of games that almost goes back to The Steve Nash days where so many possessions and such bad defenders.

It's like, yo, the other guy is going to ball just as much as he's going to ball because of so many possessions, how they have to play the, the defensive set, especially in this day, day and age in the NBA.

Like, Joker is, he might get killed when he's up on and touch the screen on a pick or they're going to have him stand back and every kid can shoot a pull-up jumper.

And I think now we're getting to a point where it's coming down to it of, uh, To lose to a team like that yesterday and they're missing so many guys, I believe Timberwolves, their culture is very good.

I believe they have very talented players that, that, you know, it's underrated, but at the same time, anytime you want to work in the middle of the pack defensively, And you think that's going to allow you to get out the first round or make a run in the wild, wild west.

I think you're kind of playing yourself.

And, and, and when it came down to it, players know players.

Like, I remember we played in 2019 and how that team was built up.

It was like, yo, the, the, the, the, the Nuggets are good, but all you do is take them to the the post, and then you throw them in a pick and roll and let Dame wear their ass out.

Like you can't play in this game and you have defensive liabilities and, and I'm not saying anything bad.

I just know like pros, players, and even coaches, that coach did a hell of a job of being like, yo, we're gonna be OK.

No matter what, we're going to be.

Even when I was watching the game, I got nervous.

They didn't stop him for 8 minutes.

They were literally going down like Terrence Shannon Junior was going to the Baja like this shit is sweet, bro.

They went downhill.

It, it was, it , it, it was crazy.

I'm like, brother, they're not scared of them at all.

This is the sweetest thing I've ever seen in my life.

And defensively, huh?

No.

That's it, you're right.

And I was getting like these texts from coaches last night about kind of what you're talking about.

Like it's not rocket science here what Minnesota is doing.

They're going straight to the rim where Jokic can't rim.

Jokic has never averaged more than 1 block per game in his career, and he plays 40 minutes.

Like he does, and he plays with his arms down, and he doesn't, he just doesn't have great feet, and Minnesota, to their credit, recognizing their own.

Offensive limitations.

We're like, we're gonna keep the main thing the main thing.

We're gonna keep it basic.

And we're gonna go straight to the basket.

We're gonna take Terrence Shannon Junior go to the basket.

We're gonna let McDaniels get as close as he can.

Julius Randall is gonna bully his way to the rim.

And even Gobert, like, again, I can't get past this, Evant.

Like the Gobert stuff defensively, it was redemption for him, but he's out there looking like a 7'3 Steve Nash with like wrap-around passes to the corner.

Like, I, I saw the Nuggets.

I think it's hilarious.

Like, I think it's a hilarious when .

Like you see Gobert come rumbling down the lane with the ball.

And if your instinct as a wing defender is to come over and help, like, that's a problem, right?

If you think that Gobert is gonna like have some kind of acroba.

Eptic finish at the rim.

What are you doing doubling down and leaving corner three point shooters open?

I didn't get that strategy at all from Denver, but this was great.

This was a great series for Rudy, man.

I'm happy for Rudy because he's a nice guy.

He's a nice guy who takes a lot of grief, but give him credit.

Like the playmakers went down, bro.

He was diming shit yesterday.

Like 8, like 8 assists.

Like the game before, like diming.

Like the way he picked his game up, the way he attacked Jokic, he didn't look for no credit, no nothing.

He just did it for his guys.

I got a lot of respect for Rudy Gobert.

A lot of respect for him.

And also too, to all the people who are on Wimpy's credit for uh on, um, Wimpy's side for crying.

Y'all remember when we made fun of Gobert a couple of years back.

So we all owe Gobert.

A little bit of an apology because we all were like, you soft as hell, he cried because he didn't make All-Star and when we cried on a 25 point comeback versus a team that started 6 and 15, like, you know what I mean?

I mean, it's the French, it's the French, they're emotional.

The French are.

I love it.

Um, well, a last thought on Denver.

This is This is going to be a, a tough offseason for them because this felt like a team that had reached its expiration date.

Like the core of this team is the same that won the championship in 2023.

Jokic, Murray, Aaron Gordon, uh, Christian Brown was there as well.

Bruce Brown, Lester, you know what I mean, they're, they're just, if you can't beat injury-ravaged Minnesota in the first round.

You are not cut out for a championship.

You're not a championship caliber team.

And I know they had a great finish to the regular season.

That game against Denver they played or against San Antonio played in early April was outstanding.

Um, but even if they had won this series, I wouldn't have thought they'd get very far against San Antonio.

The 2nd round.

Uh, and look, I, I don't know exactly what the solution is.

Like Jokic is still in his prime.

You're gonna give him an extension in the offseason.

Jamal Murray's got years left in his contract.

He's probably not going anywhere.

They did have a dynamic offense during the regular season.

So, uh, I don't know that you change that up.

But the Gordon.

Thing is, I think, a real problem here.

Like when Gordon's on the floor, they're an elite team.

Um, you know, you look at the second-half statistics in the regular season.

When Gordon got healthy, their defense went straight up.

Like they weren't an elite defensive team, and they went from bottom 3rd in the NBA to somewhere in the back 10 to 12 kind of, kind of range.

But this is the 2nd year in a row, Evan .

That Aaron Gordon has missed playoff time because of these tissue injuries.

Um, I think last year was a hamstring injury.

This year, he's got the calf stuff.

Like these are soft tissue injuries that he keeps coming up with over these last couple of seasons.

I don't know if he's tradable because he has years left in his contract and pretty good money, but I don't think you can go into next season.

Depending on him, I, I don't think you can believe that he'll, uh, he'll be there.

It was just bad luck the last couple of years, two straight years with soft tissue injuries, and when he incident, when he's, yeah, when, when he's not healthy.

They're just not very good.

Like they don't have a perimeter defender.

They don't have that catch-all defender who can defend anyone from Wambayama to a two guard, Anthony Edwards.

Uh, they're just not, they're, they're a bottom third in the NBA defensive team without him, and I don't know how you can go into next season thinking you're gonna depend on him.

Plus, one last thing here, there's gonna be roster overhaul anyway.

Like, I don't think they can afford Peyton Watson.

Uh, you may see Tim Hardaway Jr .

who was a finalist for Sixth Man, go somewhere else for some more money.

Bruce Brown could be gone again.

Um, you, you're looking at maybe reincorporating or incorporating Valentunis as well could be let go.

He's got like a partial guarantee in his contract.

You're looking at bringing in like 4 new rotation players to this team.

I, I don't, I, I, I have, I'm deeply pessimistic right now about the Nuggets' ability to compete in the Western Conference in the next couple of years.

Yeah, 100%.

And also too, just even when you look, you lose Aaron Gordon, I mean, I love Spencer Jones, but is that gonna be his replacement, you know what I mean?

I feel like there's they might not be able to afford.

Spencer Jones, like, I mean, he shot 40% from the 3rd year.

He had a good year.

I'm, I'm, I, I'm worried because if you get rid of him, who else are you going to go get?

Like who's out there for you going to go get?

And then you look at certain teams, like even in your division, like the Trail Blazers are gonna be, uh, really, really good next year when Dame comes back and those guys have an extra year on him.

Are you coaching that team next year?

I mean, I, like I said, man, 900K in a company car, and I'll, uh, I'll consider it, man.

I'll consider it, all right?

I, I want to be like the VP of finance from the Atlanta Hawks.

You know what I mean?

That guy, that guy was fire.

That guy was lit.

That guy, bro, like, bro, but it's so wild when you sit there.

You see a lot of people from, you, you've been in summer league and all these dudes where you're like, bro, you're not supposed to be, you're not supposed to be in here.

Like, you know what I'm saying?

Like you are not.

Why do you have a table at Liv nightclub?

Like, do you understand what I'm saying?

The only thing I, the only thing I, I wanna find out the name so I can double check and, and, and, and send his name in extra and be like, I, I hope we ain't have women in common.

Cause I know if you, if I worked hard for my money and you were spending company money.

One of my favorites You gotta go under the gel, but, but you're right, you're right about the Nuggets though, they're, they're trending down, and there are other teams that are gonna be trending up next season.

Yeah, but what, what do you do with that though?

Like when you have a player like Jokic and you need him on the court, he orchestrates what.

Do you hope that Magic, you know, You have more magic inside where you're just like, hey, bro, hopefully our offense is top 5 and we can win with maybe a 1617 defense.

I, I don't, when, when we're looking at is, because we're also letting them off the hook too.

Like, hey, bro, you took a 1st-round exit, dog.

Like, As one of the greatest players to ever play the game.

You understand what I'm saying?

Like, like, where does it go from here in that sense, because Part of it is him getting worn out defensively.

Part of his, his presence is, is so impactful, but then it, man, defensively, bro, like when we play defensively, man, it's hard to win defensively, bro.

It's, it's not good with him defensively.

It's not gonna get better with him defensively.

I, I, I appreciated how he, uh, he took all the blame after the game.

I, I like when guys do that.

Like there's no point in like saying like, you know, if we'd only shot the ball from 3 better , wink, wink, nod, nod, Cam Johnson, don't stink for 2 of the 3 last 3 games, um, or like, you know, kind of pointed the finger at David Adelman.

He, he could have done all those things, but he didn't.

He took it all.

Upon himself.

I, I think for Jokic, one thing I hear pretty consistently from coaches that go up against him is that he's not in the kind of shape you need to be in to be a, I mean, he's a great offensive player, to be, be a serviceable defensive player.

Like his championship season, he was serviceable.

Like he was, he was fine that year.

He's never gonna be elite, but he was a fine, good, solid team defensive player.

Uh, the way I look at it, uh, I think his conditioning is not at the level you need to be serviceable defensively.

I think he's got to get better, in better shape.

Going into next season.

Even that, I don't know if that's going to resolve the issues here.

Like this is not a team, Evan, that spends money, right?

Like they're not.

They're not gonna go into the deep into luxury tax.

They're not gonna go into one of the aprons if they don't have to, especially if they don't have a championship team.

This is a team that got beat in the first round.

Like ownership is not gonna go.

Let's double down on investments here and, you know, see what we can do with this group next season.

I, I just think there's gonna be a lot of hard questions asked this offseason of everybody.

Yeah, I'll just finish off with this though, like, if, if anybody's listening and being like, hey, like, listen to your guys, but also listen to the players on the floor, like.

Man, Jaden McDaniels is what, 24?

There's a group of like 22, 23, 24 year olds literally speaking out like, oh no, even after they lost, no, we're gonna attack them because they're soft.

Like, you know what I mean?

Like, and, and that, that has to, like a, a group of little ass kids, like Jokic is one of the best to ever play.

Like I, I know we got geniuses in the front office, but like, If, if, if, if, if there's young kids hearing that and being like, hey, bro, we just lost, we just lost baby Jordan, we just lost Dante Di Vincenzo and AO sitting out , we still gonna beat their ass like.

If there's no fear, and there's no fear with the big man.

And they called him by his name.

Either, you know, go to church, go, go, you know what I mean?

Go, go in that luxury uh tax and go make it an arms race, but like, that's not good if people are like, Where's the lemon?

That's a lemon.

So it's not going away.

Nobody makes Jokic come in at any different shape.

We all say like we love that he doesn't like basketball and all this cool shit, while all the other hoopers got to come back and hoop at a high level.

It's like, hey, eventually.

Especially as a player, it's like yo, I know I'm not getting 100 point triple-doubles, but dude is fucking us up.

I've been on teams with enfranchise players and been like, hey, bro, we like not saying we lost cause of this, not saying cause I hit shots, but we could have won this game 100 points under if mans would have fucking guarded.

And that comes from coaching, that comes from people respecting each other's time and being like, yo, this is This is, this is ridiculous, bro.

We, we, like everybody else is over, you know, overexerting themselves because we have to carry his load.

You talk about soft tissue, it, it injuries, it was 4 or 5 of them that whole year trying to carry big man's load.

If I'm, I'm sorry for saying that, I'm just like, bro, it has to matter though, you know.

I agree.

I agree.

Uh, you don't get better defensively everywhere, you're not gonna win anything.

And as good as they are offensively, as great as Jokic is offensively.

You don't win Jack being a bottom 3rd defensive team.

Simple as that.

And I don't know how they get back to being at that level.