The Nuggets are No Longer Perfect but Still Amazing

We're breaking down recent games and dissecting the team's performance, from their blowout loss against the Timberwolves to their impressive plays against the Mavericks and Bulls. Michael Porter Jr.'s defensive prowess is up for discussion, as we gush over his potential All-Star status. We lament the unfortunate injury Jamal Murray sustained during the condensed season schedule and underline the necessity of his full recovery.

Ever wondered what makes Jokic tick? We share a hilarious anecdote that perfectly encapsulates his character, while also admiring his conditioning efforts. Our confidence in the Nuggets' repeat this season is unwavering, and we're stoked about the young guns - Christian Braun, Peyton Watson, and Julian Strother - on the bench. We also throw the spotlight on the All City, All NBA Podcast hosted by Adam Mares and Tim Legler, as a delightful bonus. Stick around for updates and previews of upcoming interviews, as we wrap up the previous week's activities and anticipate the weeks ahead. From Jokic's witty remarks to the Nuggets' season roundup, this episode is a fun one!

Chapters

• 0:03 Denver Nuggets NBA Week Two Review
• 11:23 Jokic's Conditioning and Nuggets' Confidence
• 19:33 Podcast Updates and Upcoming Interviews

Transcript

Brian: 0:03

Hey everyone, welcome back to Fandom from afar. It's been another week already and I appreciate all the feedback that I got from the first week in review. I had fun doing it, so we're going to do it again. So this will be the review for week two for our Denver Nuggets NBA season. First we'll go over the games that happened since last time recorded. There were four of them. Pretty fun week overall. Nuggets went three and one. That one was to the Minnesota Timberwolves. They lost one, 10 to 89, and truthfully it wasn't even that close. The Timberwolves just dominated.

Brian: 0:38

It was one of those nights. The Nuggets on the road, I'm guessing in Minnesota in November it's pretty cold, I don't know what was going on, but they just did not have it that night and it's just one of those games. I tried to tell myself that last year but it was very frustrating because the Nuggets had quite a few of just one of those games. But now that we got championship rings then it's a little bit easier to take these games. So it was just a blowout dominated, nothing really to say. But I'm really interested in the next matchup whenever these teams play again. I think the Nuggets obviously they got pride on the line. They don't want to have a team out there that just has dominated them and is really a bad matchup for them overall. But I think the Nuggets skill level they should be able to handle the T-wolves no problem. Obviously they did in the playoffs last year, but it'll be interesting. I think the Nuggets will come out a little more motivated next time those teams play. So it should be almost like a playoff atmosphere. So I'm excited to see that On Monday night Minnesota actually took down Boston.

Brian: 1:51

So the two top teams are what people consider the top teams in the league. Minnesota has beaten them both and at the time of this recording they've given them their only losses that they have on the season. So if I'm a Timberwolves and that's pretty exciting so I'll have to reach out to my buddy Ryan, who was on the podcast earlier on and see how he's feeling about those Timberwolves. The next game was against the Mavericks and this was a fun one. This was the first game of the in season tournament, so they had the crazy court and the new jerseys and it was fun. The Mavericks actually came in undefeated as well.

Brian: 2:30

So it was a good test for both teams and Nuggets kind of took care of business. They really looked like the better team. They had just an answer for anything the Mavericks wanted to do, including Luca, which Luca has been having an amazing season, but it was really fun to see the Nuggets have multiple options that can guard him pretty well, the most surprising being MPJ. He was kind of shutting him down a little bit. Luca was trying to drive or post up and kind of do some isolation on him and MPJ wasn't having any of it. He's using his height Like MPJ is a legit 6'10", 6'11" and he's using his height to kind of give guys space, because he knows he's not as quick as most guys but he's bothering people. He's playing some defense and it's really fun to see, because of course Michael Porter can shoot as good as anyone in the league and if he's adding some defense to it as our fourth, fifth, like third option on offense, that's pretty deadly. So it was really fun to see MPJ. I think he's finally getting healthy. He had the ankle issue in the preseason and so it's fun to see him kind of putting it all together now and it kind of coincides with Jamal's injury, so it's perfect timing. But it's also just very exciting for the big picture to see MPJ playing defense like he is. And then also he had 24-9 in the Dallas game and if he's putting that in every night, that's just huge for the Nuggets Next game second night of a back-to-back we had the Bulls come in and it was close for the first half, but it was one of those things where the Nuggets were kind of playing with their food a little bit.

Brian: 4:16

They didn't try very hard in the first half and then the third quarter just came out and they really it was beautiful to watch, but they they kind of put the bulls away in the third quarter. Michael Porter Jr Again 27 points in this game too. Like I said, he's just he's really just kind of putting it all together. It'll be really interesting to see if the nuggets continue to have such a great record that Chances are they're gonna end up with two all-stars. Like they can't just say it's all yokich, especially when you have such Great performances by teammates. So if Jamal's out for an extended period of time, then it'll be interesting to see if MPJ can become an all-star this year the way he's playing.

Brian: 4:56

Like I would not. I would not doubt it. So unfortunately, like I said, jamal is hurt and he tried to play a little bit in this Chicago game but ended up having to leave with hamstring injury and already before that he had a thumb injury and a wrist injury, and he, more so than anyone else, has kind of showed the downside of having all these games so early in the season. The, at the time of this recording, the nuggets are seven and one, which is the most games played in the NBA, and they've all been pretty condensed into a short period of time. And so I think Him, more so than anyone, has really kind of gotten beat up by all these games. And it's really unfortunate because obviously all the fans really wanted him just to kind of continue on from what he was doing in the playoffs and making all-star team, and I was even predicting he was gonna make an all-NBA team. But Right now, with with him being out, I really don't want them to rush him back. I would rather him take his time, get fully healthy and then come back and and then we'll make our run. Like I really wouldn't even mind if he took a couple weeks off just to make sure it wasn't one of those lingering things where he tries to come back and then tweaks it again and then he's just out for more time. So Get healthy, jamal, but we'll we'll hold down the fort while you're going. And Then the last game was Monday night against the Pelicans and Zion.

Brian: 6:26

They were missing CJ McCallum and we were missing Jamal. So both teams are a little short-handed, but it was a good game. The Pelicans were actually up by 20 in the first half and it was looking like, oh no, this is gonna be another Effort, like we saw against the Timberwolves. But then the third quarter came and, oh my goodness, the Nuggets just really kind of showed what they could do and they ended up winning the game by 18. So talk about a 38 point turnaround in a pretty short period of time.

Brian: 6:59

And of course, Jokic was a big part of that. He had an amazing game. He really controlled everything. He had 35, 14 and 12, but that doesn't even really Showed just how much he dominated the game. He's amazing, he's really taken it to another level and and I already thought he was the best player in the world. But it's just so fun. Every night he has new ways of kind of Controlling the game and just having fun out there. Like on the Pelicans game he had a couple passes that the guys ended up blowing shots that would have been just all-time highlights with like behind the back from the post past to Reggie Jackson that blew the layup and then he had one where he went between his legs to KCP for a three who just happened to miss. But he's just tried new stuff just because he can and it's kind of fun. Now a big story.

Brian: 7:50

The second half to was because of Jamal's injury, reggie got moved to the starting lineup and then Colin Gillespie was Playing a little bit, but Julian straw there got a lot more time than he normally does and if you listen to my podcast Last week, I was really hoping that he would get to play more and he did not disappoint. He Came out and was playing some good, good, solid minutes, nothing special. But then once he made his first shot, it was on like he he was making everything and they were from deep and he was Staring at the crowd kind of doing the the mean mug, all pumped up and everything. It was so fun. And then his Conference afterwards he said that that was the loudest crowd he's ever played in front of and it kept pumping him up. And so if that, hopefully that's just the beginning of what we see from Julian moving forward and hopefully that'll earn him some good minutes now.

Brian: 8:43

I did mention that the the bench was playing with Kong, gillespie and and straw there, but Christian Brown, peyton Watson, zeke, like they're, they're all. They're continuing what we talked about last week and they're just playing so well and I no longer cringe when Yoke it goes out, because that was just. We would bleed points last year when the bench had to come in. But this year we just have such a good fit that they play hard. They're shutting people down on defense, but they're actually scoring a little bit too, and now, adding strother into this, it could get really exciting and hopefully Create a little bit more opportunity for the starters to rest. We don't want anyone else kind of getting worn down like we saw with with Jamal. So the bench has been really exciting and Strother most recently was just Insane. It was great.

Brian: 9:36

Now the next segment is called my favorite Yoke-ism of the week. Now I might have to change that title after listening to the podcast Last week. It was going great until I tried to say that title and then all of a sudden it sounded like I had Mouthful of marbles and I just didn't have a tongue that worked or something like that. I don't know why my brain cannot say yoke-ism, but so far, so good today. So if we can make it through this segment, then we'll keep the title and move forward.

Brian: 10:06

We have three nominees For our favorite yoke-ism of the week and then we will give our winner. So we'll start from the bottom. Number three Yoke-ish had two Sombor doubles this week. If you're not familiar with that, a Sombor double is it's kind of like a term that Nuggets nation has kind of dubbed when Yoke-ish has Almost a triple double but he falls either one point, rebound or assist short of a triple double. So we've we've named that a Sombor double, which is still an amazing game. It just doesn't fall into the category which we talked about last week where he's he's rising up the all-time ranks of triple doubles. So I I'll have to look it up for next week. But he, he has a ton of Sombor doubles and that's why it was just so hilarious last year when some analysts were saying that he tries to pad his stats and the only cares about stats, because he really doesn't care. Nominee number two you. The two failed highlight passes that I spoke about earlier the between the legs and the behind the back post up. It would have been awesome to add those to the highlight reel, but it was not meant to be, and now he's kind of shown himself that he can do it, so I'm sure we'll see it again in the future.

Brian: 11:23

Number one he had a hilarious quote after the Dallas game. Luca is obviously the Dallas Mavericks best player. It's always fun to see the best players in the NBA go up against each other, and so obviously one of the kind of softball questions the reporters asked him after the game was what is it like playing against Luca Doncik? And obviously they're friends and they have a history together and everything. So his answer was hilarious. He said oh yeah, I like playing against Luca Luca because I beat him and then I can make fun of him and it just so perfectly shows that's how Yokech thinks about stuff. It's not like, oh, I have to beat him to show the whole world that I'm the best. He's just he just wants to have bragging rights over his buddy. So I love that.

Brian: 12:06

Now, while all those nominees were great Yokechisms, the number one winner of the week is Yokech's conditioning. Now I talked about how the nuggets have played the most games in the NBA and we've had back to backs. We've had five games in seven nights and I talked about guys like Jamal kind of getting worn down and beat up and one thing that really sticks out about Yokech is that that does not show for him. He's beaten people down the court in the second half. He's helping these big comebacks. He doesn't seem to get tired in the second half in these back to backs anytime. It's really outstanding for how huge he is and people obviously say that he's out of shape because he doesn't have the big beach muscles, but he is strong as can be. His conditioning is fantastic and it's really showing Like he's wearing these other centers out and I think that's part of his plan. Like he'll sprint up and down the court in the first half just to wear them out and then they're not able to handle the fast break in the second half. They're not able to handle him in the post when he's spinning right by them or even drive and buy him. One of his favorite plays so far this year is kind of faking the pick and then sprinting like towards the basket and his teammates pass him the ball and he gets a nice easy layup. So conditioning Yokeism of the week.

Brian: 13:34

Next segment is the confidence scale on. How confident am I that the nuggets are going to repeat Now? Last week was a 10 because we were undefeated and just playing amazing basketball With that Minnesota game. With a loss under our belt, I can't say a 10 anymore. I'm going to go all the way down to a nine. I am still really confident. The nuggets look so good and I'm just so excited. Seven and one top of the west. The only negative is Jamal's injury, so hopefully he gets healthy quick and, like I said, fully. Healthy is the key because I don't want it to be an on and off thing, but I am pretty confident Still in the nuggets repeating. Next segment what am I looking forward to? So in this upcoming week, I'm looking forward to more of the nuggets young bench.

Brian: 14:34

Now. I mentioned Colin Gillespie played in the Pelicans game on Monday and I was pleasantly surprised with how well he did. I obviously, with his injury last year, I hadn't seen a lot of Colin play and it was really interesting to see because he kind of got beat pretty bad when he was trying to play defense in the first half and didn't do much on offense, but then in the second half he really stepped it up. He was fighting over screens on defense, kind of being a pest. He was running the offense pretty well. So I don't know, I'm kind of excited just to have a solid backup point guard that can come in if Chimal or if Reggie is hurt. And we still have Jalen Pickett, who I'm excited to see as well. So our point guard depth is looking really great. And then obviously I mentioned it a bunch before but the three some of Christian Brown, peyton Watson and Julian Strother together I think is going to be just an amazing combination for the bench. So I'm excited to see our young bench continue to get more minutes.

Brian: 15:37

And then, second, by the time I record next week, will the nuggets be able to get their record to 10 and one? They have three games, I think, coming up in the next week, not easy games. They're going to be playing the Warriors, the Rockets, who are actually playing well, and then the Clippers. So 10 and one is doable. And man, that would look nice on the standings there. But that's, that's kind of what I'm looking forward to this upcoming week.

Brian: 16:03

As I mentioned last week, I want to have this section of recommendations, just ways for y'all to become better fans and just enjoy the sport. Enjoy the not necessarily just the nuggets, but just basketball in general. If you like this podcast at all, hopefully you checked out six trophies that I recommended last week, and this week's recommendation is another podcast that I really enjoy and it actually just launched last week, so you're getting in on the ground floor. It is the All City, all NBA podcast hosted by Adam Mahrez and Tim Legler. Those are two of my favorite basketball voices. Adam Mahrez, one of the founders of DNVR, and Tim Legler obviously has been on ESPN for 20 years, so them together, I've really been enjoying the conversations. It's more of a total league wide look, which is always fun for me to listen to as well. But check out All City, all NBA podcast. It's great.

Brian: 17:01

And then, of course, last but not least, everyone's favorite category. Oh, there are other teams. I have been accused of only talking about the nuggets and only caring about the nuggets, and while 99% of this podcast will end up being about the nuggets, it's time for everybody's favorite category. So teams I'm kind of worried about is kind of how I went in this direction, or the direction for this week, and I know it's way way too early to say anyone is is out of it or anything like that.

Brian: 17:34

But the expectations that these teams had going into the season to how they've played so far, just I'm I'm a little worried. So first we'll say the sons they haven't had Bradley Beal yet. They've had Devin Booker for maybe half of the games, and so there's nothing what they're going to be like later on. But I think the injuries just show the lack of depth on this team and it's, it's not been pretty so far. The Kings, kind of the same thing. The Aaron Fox out. I think it just shows how much they depend on him. Even the guy like Sabonis, who's really good, kind of depends on Fox to get him the ball and open up those lanes and really kind of set the table for him.

Brian: 18:17

So sons, kings, and then the Grizzlies started out. Oh and six, they finally got a win. The whole joke used to be that they were better without Jaumarant, and he's suspended for the first 25 games this season. But they, they have definitely not been better with them this season. So they are struggling. Steven Adams is hurt for the entire year, and so I just think this, this is going to be a rough year for the Grizzlies. They're. They're the one out of all these teams that I just I don't see them digging themselves out of the hole already.

Brian: 18:50

And then last, going over to Eastern Conference, I thought the Bucks were going to be amazing. Just, they're starting five, the tandem of Dame and Giannis. Now, while the Bucks have a good record they they currently are four and two as I record this but they just haven't looked as good as I thought they would, either with the Dame Giannis combo and offense, or the defense is just been atrocious really. And so it'll be interesting to see if they're just kind of easing their way into it and learning each other's play styles and they can. Well, it's nice to be able to say you can turn it around when you're already four and two, but I thought I thought they would look a lot better. So I'll be keeping my eye on that.

Brian: 19:33

And that was oh, there's other teams, all right y'all. Thank you so much for listening again. Quick little podcast. It's been another fun week. We'll continue to do these, and I got a couple of fun interviews lined up for some. Some other fans who are are fans from afar, so keep an eye on the feed. There'll be new podcasts coming out soon. Thanks y'all, yeah.