Playoff Jamal Rips the Laker's Hearts Out

Discover the tenacity and heart-stopping moments as we unpack the Denver Nuggets' thrilling series win over the Lakers, which concluded with a gentleman's sweep—a testament to their playoff resilience. Feel the pulse of the game as we recount Jamal Murray's game-winning heroics, weigh in on his health, and laud Michael Porter Jr.'s unwavering impact. As the Nuggets gear up for their next hurdle against the Minnesota Timberwolves, we dissect the strategic plays that could tip the scales in this nail-biting matchup. Join me, your courtside companion, as we explore how Denver's key players can neutralize the offensive threats of Anthony Edwards and tackle the defensive prowess of Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert.

Revel in the Nuggets' journey thus far, from their series efficiency to the brimming excitement for their clash with the Timberwolves. With a spotlight on the potential x-factors coming off the bench, we anticipate the pivotal roles these unsung heroes could play. As the anticipation for Saturday's game mounts, you'll feel immersed in the strategic intricacies and bold predictions that make playoff basketball a spectacle to behold. Buckle up, fans—this episode is a fastbreak through the high-stakes world of the NBA postseason, where every play could be the one that writes history.

Chapters

• 0:04 Nuggets' Playoff Resilience and Effort
• 14:34 Nuggets vs. Lakers and Timberwolves Preview
• 23:56 Key Players in Close Matchup

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:04

All right, nuggets fans, we can take a breath. The Nuggets just finished up one of the most unusual series you will ever see against the Lakers, where the Lakers led pretty much most of the time in every game. And yet the Nuggets finish off a four to one gentlemen's sweep. And each game was just so unusual. And the last game was no different. And it is now Tuesday.

Speaker 1: 0:39

The game was on Monday night and I'm equal parts exhausted and excited and just wanted to kind of share some thoughts I had for both last night and for this series. The first person we need to talk about from last night is obviously Jamal Murray. He hit the game-winning shot for the second time in the series and he probably shouldn't have even played. After the game, coach Malone said that he and Jamal had a pretty emotional conversation and I guess Coach Malone was pretty much saying, like Jamal, it's okay, you don't have to play, you could cause further injury, we're trying to look out for you. Like I understand, the team understands and I guess Jamal was just very adamant saying, hey, I, I wouldn't be able to, I wouldn't be able to accept the fact that I let my my teammates down if I didn't play tonight or at least give it a try. And so once I heard he was playing I thought he was going to hobble around a little bit and just give it a go. But just wouldn't be able to do much. But he came out on fire. He scored like 12 points pretty quickly and obviously that game winning shot he looked like playoff Jamal and so that mentality is just so impressive. And so that mentality is just so impressive. I'm still really scared that he's going to injure himself further and we're going to lose him for the rest of the playoffs. But for last night I think he showed his teammates, he showed his coach, he showed the fans obviously just how much he wants to play and be out there. And there's other players obviously that do not have that same mentality. They will sit out if they have a little hangnail. But I'm just so thankful Jamal did play last night because I don't think we would have won without him and it was just really cool to see his emotions after the game.

Speaker 1: 2:42

Obviously he hit the game-winning shot. The Lakers threw up a half-court heave that missed, and then Jamal just was soaking it in from the crowd. He went right over to his dad who was pretty close to the court there and was just so pumped up. You could tell that that was a really cool moment for them. When he was getting interviewed after the game, he he was kind of speechless. He just he didn't know what to do Cause you you can tell he was probably scared of going out there too and risking further injury.

Speaker 1: 3:12

But the the way the night worked out was just really special. Um, it'd be interesting to see which game winning shot meant more to him. Uh it, in the moment after the game he said that it was that game five. Uh one, because it it kind of clinched the series. But obviously the other one was pretty special as well, being a buzzer beater, and it was pretty nice that both of them came at home and the nuggets fans just got to explode seeing both of those shots. So it was just a really cool experience as a fan to see someone kind of gut it out like that, probably being a little bit too risky with an injury, but for the good of the team it worked out pretty much as good as you could have hoped for and I think the Nuggets have a lot of guys like that and I kind of want to go over a couple of the main guys, just because this series really showed a mental toughness and really just kind of about what makes this team so special and the fact that we have a group of guys that all kind of are on the same wavelength as far as like, hey, this is a team, I do what's best for the team and if that means going out there when I'm bumped, bruised muscle strains, anything it's going to, uh, it's going to have to happen. So last thing on Jamal is just it's it's kind of ridiculous at this point how different a player he is in the regular season and in the playoffs. He doesn't like the nickname Playoff Jamal, but you can't deny it. He has the NBA record for his point per game average, increasing from the regular season to the playoffs. And then just all these big moments. You can make an entire highlight reel of just his big playoff moments. And yet it's very possible that he's going to go down as one of the greatest playoff performers ever and he doesn't take the regular season serious enough, to the point where he might never be an all-star. The West is so loaded with just young guards and talent overall that it's very possible he doesn't get those accolades for the regular season. Yet he'll go down as one of the most clutch big time playoff performers ever and hopefully that leads to multiple championships. And I'm sure, if you ask jamal, that's what? Uh, that's what he really cares about.

Speaker 1: 5:42

The next guy I gotta talk about is mp. The whole series there were some players on the Nuggets that it just didn't look like they were giving full effort or kind of in cruise control a little bit. But MPJ was not one of those guys. I feel like he was always giving top level effort and he just shot so well this entire series. He was making big shot after big shot. In LA he had that huge play where he dove on the ground for a loose ball and then passed it to Jokic. Just his mentality, he led by example. He scored a bunch of points. Those threes were huge. His threes always seemed to be worth more than just three points. They always seem to be big shots coming at a big time or kind of back breakers that if the Nuggets are on a run, you know MPJ is going to get open and swish a three and it just kind of demoralizes the other team. So he was so steady and so awesome the entire series.

Speaker 1: 6:49

It's kind of hard to think about now because it's been maybe a week or two since all this stuff happened, but he's going through one of the hardest periods off the court in his life right now. One brother just got banned from the NBA for life for gambling and then his other brother was sentenced to jail for a drunken driving incident. So he's dealing with all sorts of stuff off the court but you wouldn't be able to tell by the way he's playing on the court. He is locked in and it's just so fun to see him Like. He has that big smile. It's so fun to see him. He's loving life out there right now because his shot is so pure and he's looking. You couldn't ask for a better third or fourth option on the Nuggets. But that's the beauty of the team aspect that we're going over right now is there's nights where he's the fifth option, but then there's nights where he's the first option. He's so talented and has accepted his role as part of this team so well that the Nuggets they just fit so well together with so much talent that that's why people keep using the word inevitable for them. When the Nuggets are on, they're just so hard to beat.

Speaker 1: 8:08

Ag kind of falls along that same line, he will do what is necessary to win. Last night it was more rebounding and defense. He had a huge night in LA and he scored. I think it was like 29 points and 15 rebounds. He was a monster, but last night he was doing the dirty stuff just kind of he'll guard the brawn, he'll guard ad, he'll do whatever needs to be done to help the team win. And one thing I think that's kind of underrated from last night he hit a giant three-pointer right before halftime and obviously when, when we only win by two points, every shot counts and that that shot, I think, was a little bit underrated. Obviously it's not our top choice for ag to be taking three pointers, but he sunk that one and it ended up being huge and I just I I love him. I know, uh, we got some some magic fans out there that aren't super happy that he couldn't become a star with them, but he's fit so perfectly on our team and I think this next series he'll be even more important, just with how big Minnesota is as well.

Speaker 1: 9:19

Kcp also got injured in the game last night. He fought through it, though he could hardly walk when game action wasn't going going. So it's going to be interesting to see if he's going to be able to play in game one or game two. I haven't heard how bad his injury was, but man, he gutted it out and he he had some big plays, he had a big three-pointer. Um, he obviously is our best perimeter defender and he took that on last night. But he was constantly getting switched on to LeBron and LeBron's a monster, obviously, so he scored on him. But man, kcp was battling and I think, like Jamal, it just I don't think it was even an option for KCP not to play last night. He knew his teammates needed him and, man, he, he gave what he had and it was enough. And I just I I give it up for kcp because you could tell he was in some pain.

Speaker 1: 10:15

And then obviously gotta talk about yokich. What a confusing night for the big fella. He, this whole series he never really looked like he was putting forth full effort. Um, he's a basketball genius. He's one of the best players ever. So it's tough to question him because I feel like he was putting a in just enough effort and he knew exactly what was just enough. Obviously, by the way, that we kept coming back.

Speaker 1: 10:50

Um, last night he was especially passive. As far as he knew, the Lakers were doing a double team every time he touched the ball and so he was passing almost immediately trying to find the open guy, trying to get his teammates going, and it was a little bit frustrating watching because I've seen him before. He can split a double team, he can still score with two guys, three guys on him, and last night he just wasn't even looking at the basket for the majority of the game. But you got to give it up for Jokic. He knows what he's doing. Hopefully he was saving himself a little bit of energy that he'll be able to take on all those seven-footers that Minnesota is going to throw at him. But when we win 5-1, I can't complain. He just wasn't playing to the level we know he can play to.

Speaker 1: 11:49

Eric on the DNVR podcast last night, I think, said it best that Jokic has reached a level that we can only compare him to himself, and so we've seen him dominate games both as a scorer, both as a passer, a defender. Just with his mind he can dominate a game, and so seeing him kind of passively just pass out of these double teams every single time was, like I said, confusing, but it obviously worked and when you compare him to other players, his numbers are just absolutely ridiculous. Last night he had another 20-20 and nine assists. He didn't quite get another triple-double with 20-20. But for the series he ended up averaging 28.16 rebounds and 10 assists. That would be a career game for 99% of the players that have ever played. Yet that was his average for the series and I think most nuggets fans would say that he never really had a great Jokic game.

Speaker 1: 12:58

And so with Eric's comment last night I really did kind of take a step back and think like man, if I'm disappointed with a 2029 game and he averages 28, 16 and 10, I'm pretty spoiled. Right now. As a basketball fan, I have to be so thankful that he is on our team and that he has done what he's done already and will probably do for many more years. So it was a good perspective, because it is frustrating sometimes, but at the same time he's so amazing and I just love watching him so much and just think what he could do if he ever got to shoot a free throw. He was getting beat up last night and got zero free throws. Coach Malone called it out in the post-game press conference right away and he kind of did it in a tongue-in-cheek way of saying yeah, it's really amazing, jokic didn't miss a single free throw tonight. He went zero for zero and then just kind of paused for effect, and so it really is ridiculous, because he's so big and powerful that the refs just kind of let other players just maul him to death and that's how he gets all those scratches on his arms and they're yanking at his jersey all the time and everything. But he's a beast, he, he powers through it and, uh, puts up those giant numbers and then, spoiled me, sits at home and was like, oh, why didn't you do more? But he's the best.

Speaker 1: 14:34

So, as we look back on the series as a whole, like I said, it was a gentleman's sweep, which means we let them win one game but we took care of business otherwise. I talked about how Jokic and some of the players kind of seemed like they were in cruise control for quite a large portion of the series and I'm almost wondering were they just trying to save energy or was it almost like a you hate to say it, but like a little bit of a lack of respect for the Lakers? The Nuggets won 11 games in a row against the Lakers. The Nuggets won 11 games in a row against the Lakers, even though after we swept the Lakers last year, the Lakers were talking quite a bit during the training camp before the season started, saying they'd had some conversations and they had made some adjustments and they were ready to go. And then we proceeded to beat them on opening night, we beat them on the Kobe statue night, we beat them again on the night that LeBron passed 40,000 career points and then we went ahead and just beat them four out of five games in the playoffs. So it's obvious the Nuggets are a better team. But I just wonder, were they saving some energy or was it a little bit of lack of respect? So I just thought that was interesting. Uh, it's.

Speaker 1: 15:54

It's looking like it's going to be the end of the lakers as we know them. There's already reports today saying they're going to fire their head coach, that lebron's probably going to opt out of his contract and look at other options. That doesn't necessarily mean that he won't come back, because obviously he loves LA and he just likes kind of putting pressure on teams so that they'll make moves. So who knows, that pressure may end up meaning Anthony Davis gets traded or a bunch of their kind of complementary players get traded. So it'll be interesting to see what they look like next season and I'm sure they'll have more conversations and make more adjustments and the nuggets will still beat them. So one thing that just kind of sticks out with this series in general is yokich should be looked at as an all-time great. Murray should be looked at as an all-time great playoff performer but it's the team in general, and then obviously coach Malone of how he leads the team. I hope that we're getting to the point where this Nuggets starting five gets remembered as a great starting unit in general.

Speaker 1: 17:04

Throughout this series everybody had moments where they just came up huge and it's just so fun to see them get excited for each other when they're, when the other guys have the big moments, and it seems like they really love playing with each other, and I think Denver's just lucky to have a team like this. Um, it's beautiful basketball. The guys seem to have the right attitude and the guys are young, so hopefully we can do this for a couple more years and just enjoy this golden era that we're in. But now we have to look forward to the second round and Minnesota. They swept their way past the Suns, which oh my goodness, the Suns were such a mess this year, but I think everybody knows that. Minnesota last oh my goodness, the Suns were such a mess this year. But I think everybody knows that Minnesota last year in the playoffs they were our toughest matchup and I think they're going to be again. I think they're even better than last year.

Speaker 1: 17:58

If you'll remember, last year they had both Nas Reed and Jaden McDaniels, which are two of their top players. Both of them were injured last year and did not play. So I think they're going to be better because they're healthier, but also because Anthony Edwards has just, he's become a superstar. He's so talented. Obviously, everybody loves watching him play, but I think it helps too that he has a really fun personality, um, and people just kind of love everything about him and he is going to be a beast and I love him and I'll apologize in advance because I will basketball hate him for two weeks and then I'll go back to loving him.

Speaker 1: 18:44

The teowolves defense is legit. They have have Carl Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert, two seven-footers, to throw at Jokic. Jaden McDaniels is just, he's all arms and legs, so he's going to swallow up Jamal Murray, and if he doesn't, they have Nikhil Alexander-Walker, and so it's going to be a tough series. These guys, they play defense with joy and that's unusual they seem to love shutting people down, and so it's really going to be an interesting kind of battle of wills, because the Nuggets offense is beautiful and the T-Wolves defense is beautiful, and so really I'm expecting a battle. I would be shocked if either team won in less than six or seven games. So we'll have to see how it plays out. And before I sign off for today, I just did want to give a few quick keys to the series as far as what I think, and we'll see how it kind of plays out. So number one is can we slow down Anthony Edwards? I would not be surprised if he kind of pulls a Devin Booker from last year where he averages something ridiculous like 40 points against the Nuggets for the round, but the Nuggets still win. He is that talented and I'm just kind of mentally preparing myself that we can still win, but he's going to get a ton of points.

Speaker 1: 20:17

On the Minnesota side I'm interested to see who guards Jokic. Often they will put a smaller player, such as Kyle Anderson or someone like that on Jokic and then let Rudy Gobert just be kind of lurking behind him as a help defender. I think Jokic is used to that strategy. Every team uses something similar to that. Gobert is the best at being that help defender and I think it does bother Jokic just because he's so long. But Jokic is a basketball computer. He has everything figured out, and so I'm really interested to see if his strategy is just to get the smaller guy in foul trouble, just to go right at Gobert and then pass out to open three-point shooter. It's really going to be interesting to see how they approach it and if they ever use Carl Anthony Towns on Jokic. He's not the best defender, but he is big. But Towns does seem to take himself out of games pretty often with foul trouble or just making silly mistakes and getting frustrated with the referees. So it's going to be really interesting. No one can guard Jokic, but Minnesota does, I think, probably the best job of anyone in the league.

Speaker 1: 21:36

My third key is our KCP and Jamal going to be healthy. Um, the game was on Monday night last night and the first game of the Minnesota series is on Saturday. So that's great to get a few days off, but with. I think it was probably an ankle sprain for KCP and then it's a um, a tight calf, or a pulled calf muscle, I'm not sure with Jamal, but I'm sure they could use a couple of weeks off to get healthy. So I'm just not sure if either one of them are going to be healthy, if either one of them are going to be able to play in game one um, we need both of them. Minnesota is that good where we need both of them, so hopefully they will be and we can uh, hopefully not get any more injuries.

Speaker 1: 22:25

Fourth key is Peyton Watson and Christian Brown injuries. Fourth key is Peyton Watson and Christian Brown. The Lakers series just was not the series for those guys. They really struggled in their minutes and they ended up not getting very many minutes, and so I'm really interested to see if they can attack the Timberwolves a little bit differently. I think both of them would be a good option on either Mike Conley, jaden McDaniels, kyle Anderson, those type of guys. They were just getting muscled by Anthony Davis and LeBron, so it just wasn't a good matchup for them. But I think the Minnesota one will be. So I'm really hoping those guys can bounce back and kind of be positive contributors.

Speaker 1: 23:08

And then, last key is who's going to step up and be the unsung hero, either for one game or multiple games On Minnesota. It could very easily be McDaniels or Nas Reed or Mike Conley. It seems like Mike Conley never misses a three-pointer against us. He's just for some some reason he loves playing against the Nuggets and for Denver. Is MPJ going to be able to keep up his, his shooting AG? Is he gonna be able to just out muscle all these guys that they're? They're? They're good defenders, but they're not as big as him or KCP? If he's healthy, can he just be a sniper from the corner and just hit open three after open three, like it'll?

Speaker 1: 23:56

It'll be really fun to see who out of those non superstars can really be the difference, because I think, uh, these teams are so evenly matched. It could come down to some of the bench guys. So that's my update for now. Nuggets fans, we should be so happy that we got through that Lakers series the way we did. It would have been such a pain to have to go seven games if we didn't come back in a few of those and just be so thankful for the team that we have. And it's going to be fun, starting on Saturday watching Nuggets versus Minnesota. All right, thanks everyone.