Fandom from Afar
Join me as I discuss my journey as a Colorado sports fan living in Florida and my interviews with sports fans that are forced to enjoy their favorite teams from a distance.
Fandom from Afar
Nuggets Fight Back!
The Nuggets-Clippers playoff series has delivered incredible drama with four unique games showcasing championship-level resilience. Aaron Gordon's historic game-winning buzzer-beating dunk saved Game 4 and tied the series 2-2, becoming the first playoff buzzer-beating dunk in NBA history.
• Game 1 featured Westbrook's redemption with crucial three-pointers against his former team
• Despite Kawhi Leonard's dominance in Game 2, MPJ contributed 15 points and 15 rebounds before a late turnover and shoulder injury
• Clippers dominated Game 3 with hot three-point shooting, winning by 34 points
• Denver built a 22-point lead in Game 4 before exhaustion allowed LA back in, setting up Gordon's miracle finish
• Jokić is averaging approximately 28 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assists despite facing constant double teams
• The entire team is battling through injuries - MPJ playing through what should be a 4-5 week absence
• A confrontation between Harden and Christian Brown united the Nuggets, similar to the 2020 playoff comeback
• Denver's thin bench and late-night start times (10-10:30 PM ET) create additional challenges
• The series winner will face a well-rested Oklahoma City team that swept Memphis
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all right, everyone welcome back to fandom from afar. The playoffs are here, and luckily, the nuggets series has been quite exciting, with lots of interesting stuff. We can't say the same for some of those other series. A lot of them have been blowouts, even sweeps, but uh, the nuggets and clippers are definitely in a battle, and it's kind of what we expected, and it's been extremely fun to watch.
Speaker 1:I will say, though, the point of this is kind of discussing how to be a fan from far away, and the toughest part of it is these late start times for cheering on a West Coast team on a East Coast schedule. Some of these games are not getting started till 10, 1030 at night and last until one in the morning, and it is tough waking up for work the next day, but it is fun. I wouldn't change it. So I don't normally do a game by game breakdown, but I just feel like every game has been so interesting in its own way that I'm going to kind of go over each game and some of the key moments or, I think, maybe key points from the game, and then talk about things more in a big picture way, after going through each game, just because it's been fascinating how the series has played out and obviously it's tied two to two right now, so it's been extremely close. But I think in almost every game one thing could have changed and it could have changed who won that game, and so it's been fascinating. I think it's going to be one of the best series that we've seen in a long time and hopefully the Nug nuggets can come out on top.
Speaker 1:So let's just start with game one. Uh, game one. We were coming off the regular season when obviously we we had the big change of firing malone and booth right before the season ended. We we finished on a strong note and we were feeling good about how the nuggets were playing and and maybe what they could accomplish. Now, game one game one Harden and Zubats kind of came out on fire. The Nuggets defense looked absolutely terrible for about the first quarter, quarter and a half and I think they kind of figured some stuff out. Jokic and Aaron Gordon, they were kind of carrying the Nuggets, keeping us in it.
Speaker 1:The Clippers had 20 turnovers, which I think was part the Nuggets defense, but a lot of it was just kind of sloppy play. The Clippers have some guys that are amazing players but not necessarily great playmakers and some of their passes were just going right to Christian Brown and he'd get a fast break, layup, or going into the crowd, going right to Christian Brown and he'd get a fast break, layup or going into the crowd. And so the Clippers did have 20 turnovers, which I think is a big reason why they couldn't hold that lead at the beginning and the Nuggets kind of fought back and eventually Westbrook hit two huge three-pointers. I was so happy to see him have that moment. He obviously used to play for the Clippers and obviously a big flaw in his game is his outside shooting, and so for him to have that moment against his old team at home so the crowd could really cheer him on, I thought was just absolutely awesome. Unfortunately, mpj was kind of a no-show, so the game was close but the N the nuggets did battle it out at the end and, uh, there was, there was little turnovers again for the clippers at the end jamal tipping off of kawhi leonard's hip for, um, an out-of-bounds play. Uh, westbrook had some great defensive moments, rebounding, just a lot of little things that thegets did to kind of eke out the victory. And they got it and they were up 1-0. So at that point I'm thinking oh man, the Nuggets. They made the change at the right time. It's happening. We're a team again.
Speaker 1:Game two came along and Kawhi Leonard said let's slow down a bit, he was unstoppable. Let's slow down a bit, he was unstoppable. It was kind of amazing to watch. Kawhi Leonard's always been one of the top players in the league. The only thing that's really slowed him down is injuries. He's had, I think, full seasons where he's missed, or seasons where he only plays a couple games and then misses. And obviously he had the same thing this year. But I think this year was almost planned, where he only played in about 35 games for the Clippers, but a lot of them were towards the end of the regular season. So I almost feel like they gave him the first half of the season off and allowed him to kind of ramp up during the season and be healthy for the playoffs.
Speaker 1:And in game two you could see why he he's a machine. He just gets to wherever he wants to go, rises up and hits those mid range jump shots and they're just, they're perfect Every time. They just hit the back of the rim and drop straight through and it's. You hate to see it when it's against your team, but it's. It's also very impressive at the same time. Uh, yokich and murray they, they were the ones carrying the team this this time uh, keeping us in there.
Speaker 1:But I do have to give a shout out to mpj. After just being an absolute nothing in the first game, he showed up and got 15 points, 15 rebounds, in this game too, but in true MPJ fashion. At the end of the game he had just one major mistake. He got one of his rebounds and it looked like he was about to kind of outlet to one of his teammates to try and start a fast break. But then had a second thought and just kind of fumbled the ball and the Clippers got it. Had a second thought and just kind of fumbled the ball and the Clippers got it. And not only did they get it and hit a three pointer, but Michael Porter injured his shoulder on that play, so it was kind of just adding injury to insult. Basically, it was such a weird. It was it's MPJ in a nutshell really like he makes a great rebound but then has a mental lapse and it goes the exact wrong way possible. It seems like Mike can never have these plays where he fumbles it and then one of his teammates happens to pick it up and it doesn't mean anything. It always seems like when he has one of these plays it just turns out worst-case scenario. And then the injury on top of it was just uh, doubly depressing, and so that that three was a huge shot. Christian brown did have a, uh, a three-pointer with just a few seconds left. That just missed terribly. Unfortunately, christian was the no-show in game two and the Clippers took the victory. So now the series was tied one to one.
Speaker 1:So going out to LA, it could go either way. You could see the Nuggets doing what the Clippers did when they were in Denver and stealing the game. But the Clippers just absolutely dominated game three. The Nuggets actually got off to a good start. The Nuggets were kind of firing on all cylinders. They looked good but could never really pull away, and the Clippers were just hitting three-pointer after three-pointer after three-pointer. It didn't matter who it was, how open they were, they were on fire. And once the Nuggets starters started to sit down and take a break, the bench came in and then the Clippers just continued to really just do whatever they want. And unfortunately, mpj he was trying to fight through the injury, but his shoulder was obviously bothering him, so he couldn't do much. And then Russell Westbrook got hurt, so the Nuggets he couldn't do much, and then Russell Westbrook got hurt, so the Nuggets, who were already extremely thin, couldn't do anything. And ugly, ugly loss. They got blown out by 34, I believe it was, and so they were down 2-1 in the series and it did not look good.
Speaker 1:Obviously, everybody likes to make big picture proclamations after every single game, and so everyone was saying the nuggets are done uh, as if the way they played in game three was going to be the way they played in game four, and maybe for some teams that's how it would be. But the nuggets are, if anything, they are mentally tough jokic, mur, murray, aaron Gordon, mpj, like Christian Brown, just the guys who actually play. They have the championship experience and they've been through battles before and it was really cool to see them come out and fight in game four and they obviously did not give up and they got off to a strong start again. When the Nuggets are playing a team game like they pass to Jokic, but then they're cutting, they're moving, they're, they're everyone's involved they're really a strong team. Now, obviously, the struggle comes when the starters have to go out, because not everybody is a machine like Jokic and can just play the whole game.
Speaker 1:And again in game four the bench struggled again. We brought in V, okay, and can. Char we bought brought in, uh, jalen pickett. We brought in um, just just a few of the guys. We weren't really playing that many people from the bench, but it just really struggled because we're asking jamal murray to step up and carry that bench unit so yokich can get just a few minutes of rest. But unfortunately Jamal has not shown up yet. Like I mentioned, he played decent in games two and three, but for someone who's supposed to be your second best player, it's not enough. And he has just struggled so far. It doesn't even look like he's hurt, he's just struggling because he's getting open shots and they're shots that Jamal Murray normally makes. But he's just cold right now and it's really hurting the Nuggets. But Jokic is awesome.
Speaker 1:The Nuggets built up a 22-point lead and it was looking great. But to get that lead Adelman had to play the starters pretty much the entire second half. As I mentioned, the bench just was absolute garbage. So I don't blame him, but the starters looked exhausted and they started to play more with the clock rather than keep playing that style. That got them the winning, or sorry, the 22 point lead. And so the Clippers just kept chipping away, hitting three-pointers, chipping away and very quickly that 22-point lead was almost gone and it was eventually totally gone to the point where the Nuggets needed one of the craziest endings in playoff history, let alone basketball history, to finally get the win. And if you didn't see it and you're listening to this podcast, well, first I love you, thank you for that, but most of you have probably seen it, and it was wild.
Speaker 1:The Nuggets had the last possession. Jokic waited till the last second to kind of chuck up a wild three-pointer and it was a bad miss. I thought, since Jokic just kind of does this, that it was going to go in, of course. But at the last second Aaron Gordon grabs the ball from midair and dunks it right at the buzzer. And watching it live, I had no idea if that was in time or not. With the sound being delayed a little bit on TV, I just assumed that it was just a little bit too late. And just watching the Nuggets reactions, aaron Gordon was excited. He thought for sure he got it. Jokic was acting as if all right.
Speaker 1:We got to go sit down and get ready for overtime and it took the referees a long time to review the play and literally break it down frame by frame, because it was so close of when it left AG's hand and when the red light came on for the buzzer, and it was determined that he got it off just in time for the win, and ESPN said that it was the first dunk game-winning buzzer beater in playoff history. Because of all those factors, I believe it. It was so cool to witness and I'm just so happy that the Nuggets were on the right side of it. It was pretty funny watching the Clippers crowd just in stunned disbelief because, of course, how do you lose like that? That never happens, but it happened for the nuggets and I loved every second of it. So nuggets Clippers tied two to two after game four and so really now it's a best of three, two evenly matched teams, uh, who can win two games first? And I love that the Nuggets have home court advantage for that, because if the series has shown us anything, it is probably going to go to game seven and home court could mean quite a bit.
Speaker 1:So what are some of my big takeaways from these four games. Each one was so different and it's been incredible to watch. My first takeaway is just that Jokic is the best player in the world. He started out the series not putting up like crazy numbers, but still pretty much getting triple doubles every game. And that's with the Clippers double and triple teaming him on almost every possession, and Jokic can handle those double and triple teams. It just looked like in games one and two his teammates were kind of surprised or taken aback of what to do, and so that's why Jokic was having all those turnovers.
Speaker 1:And it seems like the team, and especially Jokic, being the supercomputer that he is, is kind of figuring it out. In game four especially, jokic just had a sense of when the double team was coming. He'd be backing down Zubac and even without looking, he kind of knew the double team was coming. He knew where it was coming from and he was able to find his teammates and they were getting easy baskets out of it. And this is Nuggets basketball. Jokic figures it out. No matter what defense you're running, he's always going to know where the open guy is and if the teammates are ready he will find them. And so that's my big takeaway right now is that Jokic is figuring things out. This has kind of been a habit for him throughout, really, his playoff career. I remember when a couple of years ago, when we would be going against the Utah Jazz and he was struggling against Rudy Gobert and it just took a couple of games but he really figured him out. Just more recently, against the Lakers with their so-called Rui adjustment, against the Lakers with their so-called Rui adjustment, when they would put a smaller guy on Jokic and have a bigger guy kind of roaming right behind him, he figured it out. Same thing with the Timberwolves they were doing a better version of that Rui adjustment and having two bigs on the floor so one could guard Jokic and one would be right there floating behind him. But he always finds a way and it really seems like he's figuring something out in this series as well. So that's encouraging.
Speaker 1:I will say the Clippers have two superstars and an incredibly deep team overall. Now their superstars have been inconsistent. James Harden was amazing in game one and he's had moments in the other games, but not putting a full series together. Kawhi Leonard, like I said, was one of the most incredible performances I've ever seen in game two, but he'll have a good quarter or perhaps a good half and then kind of disappear for a while. Zubach he seems like he starts off every game going four for four and just on fire, and then for some reason the Clippers don't go to him. And then Norman Powell I talked before the series started. He always seems to play so well against the Nuggets and I think in game four he had 22, 25 points and he was the X factor and it just wasn't quite enough. And so Another encouraging aspect of this is, while the Clippers do have some top-level talent, it seems like it is not as consistent as Jokic has been.
Speaker 1:And Jokic has given us that kind of foundation to build off of, while all of our other guys have been inconsistent. Jokic has been there. He's been putting up the triple-doubles, I think after Game 4, he's now averaging something like 28 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists or something like that. It's just ridiculous. We kind of get spoiled with thinking what his numbers are, as evidenced by the MVP race, but he is there every single game, even in the blowout. He was not the reason why we're being blown out. Well, you can say his defense has been struggling because he's exhausted. But I will say, if the other guys can show up, I'm feeling confident.
Speaker 1:Speaking of, let's talk about Jamal Murray. Oh, jamal, we have the idea of playoff Jamal in our head because he did it in the past years. Last year he hit a couple big shots against the Lakers, but really struggled against the Timberwolves. This year he's really not I don't want to say struggling. He's cold shooting, he's getting good shots, he's getting some assists, he's not playing bad, but but, man, would I like to see a little bit more out of our our second best player, and so I I really hope he can find something. I hope he's figuring it out, just like yokich, and if he can just step it up just a little bit, it would be great. So I don't have to have a heart attack every game. If we can just win by maybe like seven or eight points, that would be fun. So I can't wait to see what Jamal does in these last three games, just because I still have faith that when the lights get the brightest and the pressure gets the highest, that he loves it and he steps up.
Speaker 1:Like I said, the Clippers are deep and the Nuggets are exhausted, so that's the biggest thing I'm worried about. The Clippers can play almost 10 guys and feel pretty good about it, while the Nuggets especially with Westbrook's injury, mpj's injury we really don't have anyone we can trust past our starters and I think that's going to play a big role in these last three games. The Nuggets need to find something that can work to give the starters a little bit of a break. Peyton Watson comes in and plays some pretty good defense, but he cannot make a basket right now to save his life. Jalen Pickett he's solid, but he's a second-year player. He's never been in the playoffs like this. You can tell he's a little bit intimidated by the moment. Maybe he's very hesitant to shoot and he's not passing to guys unless they're absolutely wide open. He's a true point guard. He should be passing guys open. He should be kind of probing that defense and looking for someone uh to make a play, but he's. He's not quite playing great right now. Deandre Jordan like we love him to death, but the playoffs are too fast for him. He's even when he's in there. Zubac is getting rebounds over him and and it's just not working. So we need someone on the bench to step up and it's. If not, it could get ugly now.
Speaker 1:Not only do the nuggets not have a bench but they are extremely beat up. Yokich has a elbow issue. He has two sleeves on right now just to try and, I guess, help with the pain a little bit and I think it's impacting him most on the free throw line. He's really struggling at the free throw line right now. Ag has his calf. He's told multiple reporters that he can barely even jump right now, which makes that ending to the game four even more kind of miraculous. Just the fact that he found a little bit of energy to get up there and actually dunk it was awesome.
Speaker 1:Mpj, with his shoulder, I have to shout out MPJ Just the fact that he is even out there right now is pretty incredible. He has told the reporters and I think the Nuggets have kind of confirmed, that his shoulder injury right now would normally be a four to five week injury. Confirmed that his shoulder injury right now would normally be a four to five week injury. But since the Nuggets don't have anyone else, then he is out there giving it a go and in game four he played huge.
Speaker 1:Game three he struggled. I think he was just kind of getting used to having an immense amount of pain in his shoulder and his neck and his back. But game four, whatever he did, worked because he was out there fighting and he made some huge shots and I have a whole new level of respect for him. Pj, what he's doing right now for the team is pretty incredible. And then Westbrook is out right now with an ankle. I have not heard if he's going to be able to come back for game five, but if he can, that would be a huge help. But at the same time, if he's limited and can't provide even what jaylen pickett can provide, then maybe it's best right now for him just to to rest, in case we need him for game six or game seven. So sadly, there there is no help coming. These, these starters who are incredibly beat up, uh, they, they have to fight through it and I give them all the credit in the world for fighting through it. It's crazy that this is only round one and this is what they're dealing with.
Speaker 1:Speaking of fighting, there was a nice little skirmish in game four and I think it kind of helped the nuggets. So right before the half, I think it kind of helped the nuggets, so right before the half, with very common practice, uh, christian Brown just took a foul um on James Harden, just kind of hit his arm and and it happens pretty much in every single game and it just the strategy behind it is, you let them burn some clock, you foul them if you have a foul to give, so that they just have a lesser clock to run a play and score a rep for the half. So Christian fouled James Harden. For some reason, james Harden thought that it was unnecessary or he just I don't know what his strategy was really he tried to get in Christian's face for no reason and I loved it because Christian just laughed at him. He just sat there and smirked and says what are you doing? And almost instantly Jokic was there, ag was there, the whole team had Christian's back and they were not about to let James Harden get in his face for no reason at all. So first, I loved Christian's reaction. Second, I loved that the team was there, they had his back and it was pretty. I think it just kind of showed like this team still wants to fight together Not literally fight, but in this case it was. But it reminds me of the bubble back in 2020.
Speaker 1:A very similar thing happened when we were playing the Clippers in that playoff series. We were down 3-1, and one of the Morris brothers kind of got in Paul Millsap's face for really an unusual play. Nothing really happened, but he just decided that he wanted to be the tough guy at that time and Paul Millsap, same thing, did not back down and the whole team has said that that moment kind of sparked something in them and obviously they made a historic comeback and beat the Clippers. And then the Clippers made all their excuses about how they didn't really want to be there anyway and they were okay with blowing the three-on lead and all that good stuff. But really what happened is the nuggets they, they were the tougher team, they were, they were there for it and Paul Millsap kind of sparked that. So if this Christian Brown moment is something similar like I know we were only down two to one in this case but we did come back to win the game and I'm hoping it's a moment we can kind of look back on and be like, yes, the moments that kind of changed that series is when Christian Brown was there to fight and he was not scared. So I love this team. They are beat up, they are exhausted, but they are not giving up.
Speaker 1:So I'll do a few predictions before game five. On Tuesday it's in Denver, so they have two days off on Tuesday, which obviously is huge for the Nuggets, because I really do think they need all the rest they can get right now. And my prediction that it will be a close game course because, besides, games are really game three was the only game that was not close and down to the wire, and so I think this will follow suit and be just an incredible game. And my big prediction is that jamal will finally show up. He's going to have over 30 points. He is going to have a murray flurry at some point and get the Nuggets some sort of cushion so that we're not fighting an extremely close game all the way. And of course, jokic will dominate and the Nuggets will be up three to two. We will then head back to LA for game six. It'll be a close game again, but the Clippers will show their true colors. James Harden will struggle, because that's a play playoff. James Harden does. Kawhi will maybe get slightly injured, nothing major, but uh, he might have to go back to the locker room and and maybe his knee is just a little little iffy. Norman Powell and Nicholas Batum. Well, they will combine for 60 points because apparently they never miss, and that's just what happens, and the Clippers will get the win and the series will be tied three to three.
Speaker 1:So game seven back in Denver. I can't imagine how loud ball arena will be. It will be a rock fight. The referees will try and control the game, but it will be intense. But of course nikola jokic lives for those moments and he will pull it out. I don't know what kind of amazing shot he will have, but it will be historic and the nuggets will win one of the most entertaining, entertaining series in recent history. Now, if this prediction does come true, of course I'll be extremely happy because the Nuggets have advanced to the next round. The sad part is, no matter what team wins this series, because it has been such a hard-fought battle, I don't know how much they're going to have left for Oklahoma City, who is just sitting at home chilling, waiting for this series to finish, because they had an easy sweep against Memphis. So that will be an issue that future Brian will have to talk about. But for now, go Nuggets. Thanks everyone.
