Nuggets' Playoff Woes and the Struggle for Team Harmony

Unlock the gritty details behind the Denver Nuggets' playoff predicaments as we scrutinize their recent hard-knock lessons at the hands of the Minnesota Timberwolves. We're going beyond the scoreboards to dissect how a blend of strategy clash, physicality, and psychological warfare has the Nuggets searching for answers. From Rudy Gobert's mind-bending no-show to the parallels with a past 76er's showdown, we're putting everything on the table. Bear witness to Minnesota's ferocious rise, and hear our take on why Denver's usual spark seems to be dimming, with referees' leniency towards the Wolves' aggressive play only fanning the flames of the Nuggets' discomfort.

As the conversation heats up, the spotlight turns to individual player struggles and the underlying conflicts that might be plaguing the team's synergy. Jamal Murray's conditioning, Aaron Gordon's tactical mismatches, and the team's bench suffering from stage fright—it's all part of the intricate dance of playoff basketball. We don't shy away from the elephant in the room, Nikola Jokic's puzzling passivity, and we're spinning theories that could be affecting the Serbian sensation's game – is it a coaching gambit gone awry, or internal team dynamics at play? Plus, enjoy a whimsical detour into the realm of Jokic's mythical minions, bringing a dash of humor to the otherwise serious analysis of the Nuggets' challenging playoff journey.

Chapters

• 0:04 Nuggets Struggle Against Wolves Dominance
• 9:07 Nuggets' Playoff Struggles
• 21:01 Jokic's Possible Motivations and Conflicts

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:04

All right, everyone, welcome back to Fandom From Afar Nuggets fans. We are in a tough spot. The first two games against the Timberwolves have been ugly and demoralizing, and I'm glad I did not. My original plan was to do this pod right after game two and obviously if you watched it it was just a beat down. You could not get beat any worse by another team, both physically, mentally, on the scoreboard. Any way you want to put it, the wolves destroyed us and obviously I was not happy that night, and so I'm glad I did not do the pod right away, because it would have just been the saddest thing that you've ever heard, and while today won't necessarily be happy, it's going to be, I think, a little bit better than it would have been with the immediate reaction. So I'm glad I gave myself some time and I want to start first by giving the Wolves credit. They are a great basketball team. They remind me so much of the Nuggets last year where they had kind of been building towards something and it's kind of clicked for them to be like oh, we're great and we can show you how great we are and we're gonna go ahead and possibly win this championship. And it's fun to see them, because obviously you've you've heard me talk about the wolves all year how they were the toughest matchup for the Nuggets last year, and they're built to stop the Nuggets. But it's obviously not fun to watch them destroy the Nuggets like they have been, and we'll go into details on that. But I do want to give credit to the Wolves. I do not think it's just the Nuggets playing badly or the Nuggets not putting in any effort. I think that was the case in the Lakers series and the Nuggets just happened to be better than the Lakers. But this series Minnesota is doing everything well and Denver is not handling it. So credit to the Wolves. They are playing absolutely incredible right now, and I guess I'm going to mainly focus on game two. Game one, I think, was very similar to the Lakers series, where it seemed like the Nuggets were just not playing like themselves. The Wolves are playing great and the Nuggets figured that they could just come back and win, like they normally do, and the Wolves just were not having it and then they ended up pulling it out in the end. So I think game two is really different than the other games we've seen in the playoffs so far, and so I want to focus on that one today.

Speaker 1: 2:58

The Nuggets, obviously, after losing in game one, probably had some adjustments ready to go and things to focus on. And I think a big part of some adjustments ready to go and, um, things to focus on and I think a big part of that was how to attack Rudy Gobert, who's the defensive player of the year, and then it came out before the game that he's actually going to miss the games, uh, due to the birth of his first child. So you think that'd be good if, uh, you get to go against a team missing their best defender. But there's something weird about this Nuggets team that if they're focused on something and ready for a big game and then something changes, like this where it gives them an advantage, they seem to come out very flat and almost think like they have the game in hand and they don't have to try. A very similar thing happened in the regular season when all the talk was how Joel Embiid was going to play in that game and it was going to be a great matchup and the Nuggets were going to get their revenge from Embiid destroying them in Philadelphia and then, at the very last second, from Embiid destroying them in Philadelphia. And then, at the very last second, embiid did not play in the game. And then in that game the Nuggets came out very, very flat and almost lost to all the 76ers bench guys, basically. And so it was similar in this Wolves game, where you thought the Nuggets were just going to come out and show, oh, we're the defending champions, you guys got one from us in game one, but we're going to show you what we really are. And that just did not happen.

Speaker 1: 4:30

The referees were letting the players play really physical with each other, which I love. I hate all the ticky-tack. Fouls get called sometimes during the regular season. So it was awesome, they were letting the guys play season. So it was awesome. Um, they were, they were letting the guys play. And Minnesota noticed it and said, oh, this is, this is great, let's go. And Denver noticed it and said, oh, let me think of 17 different ways that I can cry to the referees after every play and and let's uh, let's not like this physical, physical play and let's just get dominated. So, not great. But the Wolves kind of got to show off who they are with the way the game was being called. They were just surrounding every Nuggets player with the ball as we were trying to pass around.

Speaker 1: 5:20

The biggest compliment I can give the Wolves is it feels like there's six guys out there around. The biggest compliment I can give the wolves is it feels like there's six guys out there. They're constantly double teaming either Jamal Murray or Jokic with the ball and normally we'll swing it and get a wide open shot out of that, because those guys are used to just you want to double team us, we're going to make you pay. Yet against Minnesota they're struggling to pass to the open guy or even if they do, there's a guy right there rotating over and making it a tough shot. So it just feels like there's six of them out there because they're so athletic, they're so long and really it's just their mentality they're playing so hard right now that I think it's kind of just stunned Denver a little bit.

Speaker 1: 6:03

And it all starts with Anthony Edwards. He is a legit superstar. He's only 22 years old, so he'll probably keep getting better and just the way he plays like. He's had a few quotes after the games recently where he's like oh, I really like that guy, but I'm trying to tear his heart out. Or he's like he's like oh, I really like that guy but I'm trying to tear his heart out. Or he's like it's nothing personal, it's just I'm going to destroy you. Like he is just. He has the mentality that you're looking for and we'll get into that a little bit with one of our players who does not have that mentality right now. But Anthony Edwards has been so fun to watch.

Speaker 1: 6:44

Even though he's destroying the Nuggets, you can tell that he is the leader on that team. He's the best player and all the guys just love kind of following his lead. He's obviously super confident, um, and he can back it up, but the guys kind of feed off of his energy. He's always talking. He's always kind of flexing after a great play. He's talking to the crowd and the other guys love it and they are there to help him, uh, accomplish his dominance of him taking over the game and it's looking like taking over the league. So the wolves look great and truthfully I would not be surprised if they finish off the nuggets and go on to win the championship. They look that good and so obviously my hope is that the Nuggets can come out strong in game three and change that. But with the way the Wolves are playing now, they're just a scary, scary team. So let's flip that and talk about the Nuggets.

Speaker 1: 7:42

I mentioned how they did not handle it. The physicality seemed to get to them and once they started complaining to the referees then it just didn't stop and it took them out of their game. They were trying to get calls instead of just playing basketball. You could tell it was just in their heads so much. And even Michael Malone, I think, kind of freaked out because he could tell that it was happening to the team, and you just don't see that out of the Nuggets very often. Like normally, I feel like they handle physicality very well, but for some reason this just got to them and it snowballed and got out of control and it was awful. And so I kind of want to go through some of the key guys and things I noticed about how they handled it.

Speaker 1: 8:33

Most of it in a very poor fashion, but the team as a whole just has to do better, otherwise it's going to be a sweep and the Nuggets are going to have to think about some big changes, because if the series continues this way, it's not even close. If the series continues this way, it's not even close. There's no way that we can just bring back the same team and be like, oh well, we were just one shot away or one player away. It's been a beatdown so far. So I think let's start with Jamal Murray.

Speaker 1: 9:07

If you watch the game, you probably saw him basically having a breakdown. He was being swarmed by the Wolves. They have great defenders to match up with him. Even when Jamal's healthy he has a hard time with some of these defenders We've mentioned it in many podcasts this season but they just match up really well with what Jamal is not good at, which is athleticism and length. Now, when he's healthy, he can normally have a little bit of a burst and be able to dribble out of some trouble.

Speaker 1: 9:40

But in game two he was getting trapped and just could not do anything. He couldn't find the open guy. He could barely get across half court. He just really struggled. I've never seen him struggle before and the Wolves knew it and I think that kind of fed their energy and then had a hard time even getting the ball to a teammate once he did get past half court, and so we weren't even thinking about starting an offense until there was like 10 seconds left in the shot clock because there was just nothing that Jamal could do and I know the injury is a big part of it, but like he's got to do something different because that was just. There was no way we were going to get good looks at the basket If, if he's struggling to even get the ball to a player before the shot, clock's running out and he did not handle it well physically like he he looked like he was hurt and I I appreciate him playing through the pain and through the injury, but if if that's all he's got, then then maybe coach Malone has to give him some time to rest or even just time to think about something different because it was not not pretty.

Speaker 1: 11:14

Think about something different because it was not not pretty. Now, not handling it physically is one thing, but mentally, like I said, it looked like he was kind of having a breakdown and that was capped off by him throwing two different objects onto the court at a referee. Um, I know he was unhappy with the calls, but you never see an NBA player throw stuff onto the court just because they're upset. I'm shocked that he did not get suspended. He got a big fine, but it just seems like he was out of it and I don't know if he was trying to get kicked out or I really just don't know what he was out of it and I don't know if he was trying to get kicked out or I. I really just I don't know what he was doing. Um, it's going to be interesting how he handles game three and if if he's more of a decoy or if he figures something out that he can do to help the team.

Speaker 1: 12:09

But I think a really good point was brought up by Adam Mara's on the DNVR show is that, jamal, he comes into the season not in peak physical condition and he always tries to kind of get himself in shape throughout the season. The bad part of that plan is that he also gets hurt. Often it's always his legs. There's always something wrong with his legs. This year it was shin splints, the calf muscle. It's always something with his legs, and so this year the injuries were bad enough where he didn't get a chance to work himself into shape. And so now not only is he hurt, but he just doesn't look like he's in the greatest shape, and so he's just he's getting eaten up out there.

Speaker 1: 12:54

And I love Jamal. I will never forget what he did for us last year. He was just an absolute star in the playoffs, but it's. It's tough. He is. He's hurting us right now.

Speaker 1: 13:15

Uh, aaron Gordon he started off great. We probably would have lost by 40 if he didn't have such a good start, and so I love the start, but it's just not a great matchup for him. When we traded for Aaron Gordon, we were thinking, oh, we need to shut down Luka, we need to shut down Kawhi like the big wings, and Anthony Edwards is just too quick for him. Carl Anthony Towns is too big for him, and so it's just not a great matchup to use his. He is an elite defender, but it's just not a good matchup for him. So, ag, he's doing what he can, but I just don't feel like this is the series for him.

Speaker 1: 13:57

Mpj and KCP they both looked like they were blown away by the physicality as well. Kcp is an amazing defender. He's doing his best against Anthony Edwards, but Anthony Edwards is just too big and strong for him and he's pretty much doing whatever he wants against him. It kind of reminds me of if I'm playing in the driveway against my kids I can do what I need to do and I'm really not bothered by any defense. So hopefully KCP can figure something out, and NPJ just needs to stop getting the ball stripped from him so easily, get some rebounds and hopefully make some shots. And then the bench was completely non-existent. I don't know what's going on with Christian Brown and Peyton Watson, and Reggie Jackson rolled his ankle again, so that's not looking good. So we need something from the bench.

Speaker 1: 14:49

And then there's Jokic. You know me, I love Jokic. I feel so lucky that he was luckily drafted to our team and he's become what he's become. But this playoff has been very, very strange. He's been putting up some good numbers, but he seems just passive and uninterested. And at the end of the podcast I'm going to share some conspiracy theories of why maybe that's happening. But uh, jokic is our best player. He has to be our leader. He has to either lead by example Um, he's not a big vocal leader, but I've seen him do that in the past as well. He needs to do something to get these guys going, and I think he needs to be more aggressive when the Wolves are double teaming him. And just what he's doing is not working. Even though it may be technically the right basketball play, it's not working. It was tough in the Lakers series. But, like I said, we just happen to have a better team than them. But we need to try something else and it pretty much has to be Jokic, with Jamal being hurt and non-effective. But just him being uninterested and non-aggressive is just not like him.

Speaker 1: 16:09

When Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr were hurt a couple years ago, that's part of the reason why Jokic gained so much respect is because he took it upon his shoulders, and two years ago, when we were playing Golden State in the playoffs and we pretty much had all bench unit and Jokic and he still put up a fight. It was what we wanted to see out of our best player, out of our leader, and he's not doing that right now and I just don't know why. Carl Anthony Towns and Nas Reed they've flat out been better than him this series and there's just no way that they are even close to as good a player as him. And so something mentally or physically is going on and I don't know if it'll ever come out. But he has to do something different. He's passing to try and get his teammates involved because he's getting double teamed and the teammates obviously are not making the Timberwolves pay and I don't know. As you can probably tell in my voice there's really a hopelessness to what we've seen so far, and I would not be surprised if the Nuggets got swept. But at the same time, I've seen the Nuggets fight back. Just a couple years ago they came back from three to one, down two times in the same playoff. They're constantly fighting back from these 20-point deficits and so I would never say that the Nuggets have no chance, but it's not looking good.

Speaker 1: 17:47

Jokic is probably going to receive his third MVP award tonight and I think I'll probably do a separate episode just talking about how amazing that is. Especially, I don't want to mix in this sad sack episode with with uh talking about how great he is and what a great season he had. So I'll probably do a separate episode on that. But uh, it is kind of funny. Just he's won three out of the four last MVPs and, uh, the one year he didn't win it was probably his favorite year where he didn't didn't have to deal with all that mvp stuff and then got to win the championship. So um, episode coming on that because it really is special what we're watching. There's not many players that have won three mvps, let alone three out of the last four years. So um can't lose focus on the, on the big picture. It is absolutely amazing that the nuggets have one of the best players of all time.

Speaker 1: 18:42

Now let's talk about these conspiracy theories. These are wild theories that are probably not true, but got to throw them out there anyway, so some of them are more likely than others. I will let you choose which ones fall into which categories, um but but let me show you some conspiracy theories with you. So first one is that yokich is just dead tired. We have run him into the ground, like I mentioned, those those years where everyone was hurt and he had to carry everything on his back. Um, that that takes a lot of energy. And then this year we went for the number one seed where last year, when we won the championship, we rested a lot of our guys um really taking it easy the last month of the season and we looked fresh in the playoffs. This year was not the case. We we were playing everybody pretty heavy minutes trying to get one of those top seeds. We did tie for the best record in the Western Conference and tied the Nuggets record for most wins in a season, but everyone's looking pretty tired right now. So I'm wondering if it was worth it and maybe the wrong way to go.

Speaker 1: 19:58

Conspiracy theory number two maybe Jokic is hurt and it just hasn't come out. Um, maybe it'll come out in the off season, maybe not, but, like, like I said, he is not himself right now and I know he always puts on that big heating pad during timeouts, so maybe his back is bothering him. Maybe there's something else, but I don't know. That's just a theory. Maybe he's hurt and we just don't realize it. Very passive, aggressive at times. Um, throughout his years you've seen him have games where he only shoots like two or three times and it's just always overpassing to his teammates and who knows what causes that. Or if it's just him acting out of frustration for for no reason. But what if he's doing that now? What if I would?

Speaker 1: 21:01

I would say there's two, two options. What if coach Malone tried to motivate him sometime during the Lakers series and, like, tried to call him out in some way and Jokic just did not like that? And now he's just being super passive, aggressive and not being Jokic like he normally is? Um, it's possible he's. He's had coach Malone for eight years. Um, they obviously have a very good relationship, but uh, it's not uncommon that coaches kind of wear out their, their effectiveness.

Speaker 1: 21:35

With players Like the, the voice kind of starts to get drowned out and and, uh, they just kind of lose the team. And so that's definitely possible. Something happened. And then the other one is what if he's passive, aggressively, kind of acting out against Jamal? Um, jamal and him have been teammates for seven years and there's there's more and more stories coming out about how I guess uh, prickly Jamal is behind the scenes Like he's. He definitely uh acts out and is kind of a jerk to people, whether it's staff coaches, players. He just kind of has that personality.

Speaker 1: 22:18

And what if Jokic has just finally had enough? What if he's tired of Jamal being hurt in the playoffs or during the regular season and it all falls on him? I don't know, this one is definitely the darkest of all my conspiracy theories. It would definitely be a bummer if something happened behind the scenes and then this core of Jokic Murray and Coach Malone have to break up for some reason. But I would say it's not totally impossible. Last conspiracy theory that might be the most likely is perhaps Jokic sent the minions out on a secret mission and they failed to get that giant laser beam that he needed to take over the world and he's just mad and kind of sad about that. Think about it. Thanks everyone.