Nuggets' Rom Com: We Love them!

Have you ever wondered how your favorite NBA players might fit into the whimsical world of rom-coms? As the Denver Nuggets ride the highs and lows of their season, I've taken a creative leap, blending the thrill of basketball with the charm of classic romantic comedies. Imagine DeAndre Jordan as the enduring "You've Got Mail," or Michael Porter Jr. capturing our hearts like "Sleepless in Seattle." And for a hearty laugh, picture Russell Westbrook's LA saga with a dash of "Pretty Woman" flair, featuring a humorous cameo by LeBron and Jokic. Join me for a playful escapade where the hardwood meets Hollywood, celebrating the Nuggets' unique personalities in a way you've never seen before.

In this special Valentine's-themed episode of Fandom From Afar, we take a detour from serious analysis to revel in the light-hearted and entertaining. The Nuggets are soaring into the All-Star break with newfound energy, and I'm here to bask in their success while crafting fun, film-inspired player comparisons. Beyond the box scores and stats, it's a chance to appreciate the quirks and qualities that make this team endearing both on and off the court. So, grab your popcorn and settle in as we weave together the magic of basketball and the timeless allure of rom-coms, offering a heartwarming perspective on our beloved Nuggets.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:04

All right, everyone, welcome back to Fandom From Afar. And I must say I can only laugh at this point because immediately after publishing the last episode, the Nuggets went on to lose three in a row. Right after, I just spoke for a whole episode about how well they're doing and how I think they can win the championship, but in true Nuggets fashion, they have now won eight in a row. So I'm going to talk about how great they are again. We're just going to skip over that little three-game losing streak, no matter how terrible each of those losses were. But the Nuggets really have been playing well. I don't know if the trade deadline passing has really kind of lifted a weight off their shoulders or it's just the maybe lesser competition. We'll say They've been playing some pretty bad teams. But either way, the Nuggets have won 16 out of 20, and, as I mentioned, eight in a row and going into the All-Star break, they are looking good. I'm hoping this rest can only help them and really I'm very, very excited about how they're playing and kind of what they could accomplish the rest of the season. Now, as I mentioned, the Nuggets are having fun again. They're on a break, so there's no specific games to talk about. So I thought we would just have some fun today. Valentine's Day just passed, so in today's episode I'm just going to compare the Nuggets players to famous rom-com movies and not necessarily the deepest basketball analysis, but it'll be fun.

Speaker 1: 1:35

Here we go. First one I'm going to pair You've Got Mail with DeAndre Jordan. Now, you've Got Mail was released in 1998, and it seems like DeAndre is so old that he's been playing since 1998, but really both are holding strong. You've Got Mail, like I said, is a classic and DeAndre Jordan's giving us great backup center minutes. Not that he's doing anything spectacularly, but he's solid. He's a presence in there, getting some rebounds, some blocks, goes up for a lob every now and then, and I just love what DeAndre has given us. So, deandre, I will classify you as a classic as well.

Speaker 1: 2:17

Next up is Sleepless in Seattle. I'm going to pair that with MPJ, that with MPJ. So it almost seems like in the 90s that movie studios only thought America wanted to see Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan fall in love, and this is another example of that. Now, the connection between this movie and MPJ well, let's just start with MPJ is from Seattle, but my connection it's going to be a bit of a stretch, so just hang in there with me. But my connection it's going to be a bit of a stretch, so just hang in there with me. If you don't know, sleepless in Seattle, tom Hanks is a businessman and part of what he's doing is developing a neighborhood and that involves closing down Meg Ryan's bookstore. Now he's technically doing a bad thing that obviously Meg Ryan does not want, but he shows glimpses of being a great guy and Meg Ryan falls in love with him eventually and I'm equating that to MPJ's injuries, which, part of Jokic's prime, is a big loss, but we saw glimpses. We saw glimpses of the player that he could be and the last couple of seasons he's really elevated, not only his basketball skills but just him being healthy. For the past couple of seasons we obviously won the first championship, but I think he's leveled up even more this year where he had three 30-point games in a row right before the All-Star break. And so we are getting to see kind of his true potential and we're falling in love. Mpj, he's our Tom Hanks.

Speaker 1: 3:53

Next up, pretty Woman Now I think everyone knows the story of Pretty Woman. Julia Roberts left out on the streets and falls in love with Richard Gere, so of course I'm going to compare him. Russell Westbrook. Russ went out to LA try and revitalize his career, but he was left out on the street as well. In this scenario, I'm picturing LeBron as the Jason Alexander character, where he just treats Russ with very little respect and is kind of looking out for himself. And let's keep it going. In this scenario, let's picture Jokic with Richard Gere's hair. Jokic shows Russ some love, he shows him respect and he's going to get Russ a ring. Now, if we win the championship this year and on ring ceremony night the first night of next season, jokic opens the box and kind of slams it shut as a joke to Russ, then this analogy will really come full circle.

Speaker 1: 4:56

Next up, bridget Jones' diary. Now, I have to be honest, this one was a little bit tough, but I think I found an angle. So I paired Bridget Jones' diary with Aaron Gordon. First I could totally see Aaron Gordon retiring and moving to London to become a blogger. But second, just like Bridget Jones was torn between two guys in the movie of who to Fall in Love With, I feel like that's AG right now, torn between the starters in the movie of who to fall in love with. I feel like that's AG right now, torn between the starters and the bench. When he came back from his injury he was playing really well with the bench and there was even talk of him saying to Coach Malone that hey, if this is working, I'm fine coming off the bench. But I feel like he's fallen back in love with the starters. The last couple of games before the All-Star break he's fallen back in love with the starters. The last couple games before the All-Star break he's been back in the starting lineup and obviously the starters with AG have been playing extremely well. So does that make the starters his Colin Firth Next up when Harry Met Sally?

Speaker 1: 6:02

Now I'm pairing this with Christian Brown and there's truthfully not much of a connection between Christian Brown and this movie, except for the fact that Christian Brown has become a machine on the fast break and with some of his finishes he obviously has a lot of really powerful dunks where he flexes to the crowd. But I don't think anything was better than his dunk over Rudy Gobert and I just feel like when he did that, I made sounds like Meg Ryan did in the diner. Wait, that got kind of weird. Moving on, let's do some quick hitters. I'm pairing my Big Fat Greek Wedding with Jalen Pickett, because I swear the dad from that movie must have sprayed some Windex on him and now all of a sudden he's a great basketball player again. I'm pairing the movie Hitch with Zeke Nagy. The only explanation for Zeke's recent play of him becoming really a 3 and D power forward that's given us great minutes all of a sudden is that he became friends with Will Smith and he all of a sudden has super confidence and can do anything. And last I'm going to do how to lose a guy in 10 days with Julian Strother. I feel like Julian's defense was so bad at the beginning of the year that it is possible that maybe he was writing a secret article called how to Lose a Game in 10 Ways. Thank you, I will hold for your applause, but now Julian is just playing so well, both sides really and he's becoming so lovable that even if he does release that article, we'll just laugh.

Speaker 1: 7:43

The last two I'm pairing 10 Things I Hate About you with Jamal Murray. Now, if you're not familiar with 10 Things I Hate About you, it's about two sisters. The younger one was quite popular and she wanted to go to prom, but the dad said that she could not go unless her older sister went as well. So the younger sister's boyfriend hires the bad boy of the school to pretend to date the older sister and take her to prom. Now, obviously some shenanigans happen and the older sister finds out what happened and there's a big emotional scene at the end of the movie where the older sister, julia Stiles, reads a poem in front of the entire class to Heath Ledger, who's the bad boy, and she lists off all the things that she hates that Heath Ledger did to her and in a twist ending to the poem, she says that she doesn't hate him. And I kind of feel like I want to write a poem like that about Jamal Murray.

Speaker 1: 8:50

I want to write a poem saying how I hate that he comes into every season out of shape, that he doesn't put in the effort, that he doesn't take accountability for his poor play at the beginning of the season. But then something happens In January and February each year he seems to get in shape, he seems to become quick again, he puts up huge numbers. He had 55 in the last game. He looks like Jamal again and he has me thinking that we could win the championship. So I don't hate Jamal, not even a little, not even at all.

Speaker 1: 9:30

And last up, I'm pairing the Princess Bride with Jokic. I bet you think I'm going to compare Jokic to Wesley, because if Jokic grew his hair out he'd have a beautiful blonde mane and he's the hero of the story. Nope, I bet you think I'm going to compare him to Princess Buttercup, because he probably has a horse named Princess Buttercup. No, well then it must be Andre the Giant, just his strength, his size. Nope, jokic is Inigo Montoya.

Speaker 1: 10:03

I think the T-Wolves beating him in the playoffs last year was similar to the six-fingered man killing Montoya's father. Because I swear, if you look closely during warm-ups you can see Jokic just muttering hello, my name is Nikola Jokic. You beat me last year, prepare to die, and I love it. He's dominating. He's dominating this whole season, having one of the best seasons ever. And I think recently he's discovered that if he does so well in the first three quarters he doesn't have to play the fourth, and I think he kind of likes that, that if he does so well in the first three quarters he doesn't have to play the fourth, and I think he kind of likes that. But Jokic is obviously leading the way the young guys are playing so well.

Speaker 1: 10:41

Like I mentioned Julian Strother, zeke Nagy, jalen Pickett, christian Brown has become just one of the top shooting guards in the league and then Jamal being Jamal again, they have what it takes to win the championship and I'm just so excited about the playoffs right now. We do have about, I think, 30 games left and I hope the nuggets can get that. That two or three seed, uh, just to kind of set ourselves up for a nice path to the, to the finals. But uh, I am loving the way that the nuggets are playing right now. I hope y'all had a fantastic valent Valentine's Day and are enjoying the All-Star break, and we will be back again in a few weeks. If you enjoyed these episodes at all, please tell a friend. It's the best way for little podcasts like this to grow. Thanks everyone.