Nuggets prep for Game 7, Again!!

The Nuggets force a Game 7 against the Thunder with a resilient Game 6 victory at home. Julian Strawther emerges as an unexpected hero while Jamal Murray delivers a gutsy performance despite battling the flu.

• Nuggets have gone to Game 7 in 7 of their 16 playoff series in the Jokić-Murray era
• Jamal Murray plays through illness, finishing with 25 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists
• Julian Strawther provides critical spark in second half with timely scoring and energy
• Christian Braun contributes 23 points, 11 rebounds, and 5 assists as an unsung hero
• Nikola Jokić dominates with 29 points, 14 rebounds, and 8 assists
• Aaron Gordon appears to injure his hamstring late in the game, adding to Denver's injury concerns
• Despite injuries and fatigue, Nuggets show remarkable resilience against a deeper Thunder team

No matter what happens in Game 7, we should appreciate what this team has accomplished, taking the Clippers and now the Thunder to the limit despite the challenges they've faced.

Chapters

• 0:00 Nuggets Force Game Seven
• 2:03 Jamal Murray's Flu Game
• 4:21 First Half Struggles and Momentum
• 6:01 Julian Strother's Breakthrough Performance
• 9:52 Appreciating This Nuggets Team
• 14:27 Game Seven Predictions

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:05

all right, everyone, welcome back to fandom from afar. And oh man, we are recording the morning after game six with a amazing nuggets victory. And what, what can you say? I, uh, I think the old saying goes that there's only a few things that are certain in life Death, taxes and Game 7. For the Nuggets. They always play Game 7.

Speaker 1: 0:33

I saw a stat that the Nuggets have played 16 playoff series in the Jokic and Murray era and seven of those series now have gone to game seven, which is just, it's just wild. Uh, most teams maybe will have one or two during that span, yet the nuggets just find a way to keep pushing game sevens on the fans, and I kind of love it. So I was originally going to wait until either after the series or until after game seven to record, but A, that game last night was just so fun and B, my dad texted me saying that my prediction was correct so far. If you listened to my last episode, I did predict that the Thunder would win game five and then the nuggets would win game six, and so I gotta take the, the win, when, when, I can get it, because if you've been listening to this long enough, you know, uh, it's fair to say, a majority of my predictions are let's see how. Do the french say wrong, so I might as well take the win. Uh, if my prediction continues, the Nuggets will win in game seven. But we will talk about that later. Let's get right into game six. And what a interesting game with a lot of ups and downs it was.

Speaker 1: 2:03

I didn't know what to expect coming into game six, just because the Nuggets had blown fourth quarter leads in games four and five. And obviously that's been their strength not only this season but also in the last couple of playoff runs. They're just kind of that veteran team that will wear you down and out, execute you at the end team that will wear you down and out, execute you at the end. Yet in the last couple of games they either have not executed or my theory is that they're just so extremely exhausted that they just didn't have the legs to execute. And we won't get into the details of why. That is necessarily Calvin Booth's not giving us a mention that starters are extremely exhausted, but it happened and I didn't know what to expect. Were the Nuggets going to fight for their lives or have they just reached a breaking point where they are just too exhausted to really play up to their full potential.

Speaker 1: 3:02

Now, on top of that, news comes out right before the game that Jamal Murray has the flu or some sort of sickness and has really been either sick in bed or with the team doctors, uh, for the last 24 hours, and that was not not a great sign. Uh, unfortunately this is the second time Jamal's got sick this playoff. The DMVR guys made a joke that he does have a young daughter at home and if you have kids you know they find any sickness and bring it home and give it to the parents with love, of course. But Jamal is sick again and so he was questionable. There were reports that he might not Like, uh, there were reports that he might not even play, although he laughed those off after the game and said there was no chance that he wasn't even going to give it a shot. So, um, he, he is, uh, the type of player that loves to kind of battle through adversity, sometimes self-inflicted. Sometimes, in this case, he just has to, has to fight through it because everybody gets sick. But he did play. He didn't do his normal warmup routine or anything like that. He didn't look that bad at the beginning of the game. In fact he kind of came out on fire. I was maybe thinking, all right, let's get Jamal sick before every game, but you could kind of see it wore on him as the game went along and so he didn't stay on fire, but he played really well, especially considering the circumstances.

Speaker 1: 4:31

It was an uneven first half overall. The Nuggets starters played, I thought, really well. Seems like they've kind of figured out a little bit of what OKC is doing on defense and they're scoring a little bit better obviously better than the last home game when they scored seven or eight points in the first quarter. But we had a bit of a lead and then the bench, mainly Russ, came in and I think Russ was just kind of too excited, like too amped up. He loves the big moments, which is great, and he's not scared, but some of that gets turned into turnovers or bad shots, fouls. He had a rough stint and our lead disappeared pretty quickly. The starters came back in and we built up a lead again, but the Thunder fought back. It's two evenly matched teams. Both teams kind of have had their moments of ups and downs, and so the first half ended with a Lou Dort three. So the Thunder were up just slightly. But considering, considering all the factors, I was pretty happy with only being down three.

Speaker 1: 5:44

And in the second half the Nuggets needed something. They needed one guy to kind of step up and give the Nuggets that little edge that they obviously needed, and it turned out that guy was Julian Strother. He had what was obviously one of the biggest moments of his Nuggets career, hitting a couple threes. He had some layups inside as well. He was rebounding. He had a steal, I think. Julian Strother came to play and it just lit a fire in the crowd. It lit a fire in the Nuggets. Everyone was loving the Julian Strother game. It kind of helped us get that lead. The Nuggets were able to kind of hang on In the end.

Speaker 1: 6:35

It was very sloppy. They were kind of playing to just get the clock run down. The Thunder just kept stealing it and scoring quickly it. It was pretty ugly but Julian Strother gave us that lead and it's always a bit demoralizing for the other team when a role player catches fire out of nowhere and just kind of provides that spark. That was not expected. The Nuggets experienced that in just the last game when Lou Dort hit three threes right in a row and it impacted the Nuggets and just like Julian Strother impacted the Thunder and it was awesome like I loved seeing him interacting with the Nuggets bench and the crowd and everything like you're just so happy for these guys that he, uh he's been in the rotation. He's been out of the rotation Like he would get more playing time if his defense was stronger. He's, he's an offensive weapon, but even that he has his cold streaks and so it's just fun to see a young guy like that have a big moment and I'm sure he's going to remember that, uh, pretty pretty much forever. Like it was. It was a big moment in a big game and it was really fun to watch. Is the game going to be remembered as the Julian Strother game, the Jamal Murray flu game? I think the correct answer is yes. I think this should be remembered for both, because both guys stepped up huge and it's okay to remember it in both ways, because Nuggets needed every bit of what both those guys provided, and it wasn't just them. Like I said, julian had 15 points, jamal he started out on fire, but he did so many other things throughout the game as well. He finished with 25 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. So he was providing all sorts of value. I thought even his defense was a bit stronger than it had been in the past few games and, like I said, with the flu, that's pretty incredible.

Speaker 1: 8:38

Peyton Watson I think he's been playing well. It's pretty funny. He just cannot hit a layup or a dunk to save his life. Every game he seems to have one where he just totally blows it. But he makes up for it. On the defensive end he was rebounding and he had a huge block. That, I think, was a big momentum change because the thunder on a fast break and peyton just kind of timed it perfectly, blocked it and the nuggets ran down and scored a layup on their ends. That's a's a big four-point swing right there.

Speaker 1: 9:07

And then I think the unsung hero was Christian Brown 23 points, 11 rebounds, five assists. You don't think of Christian as an incredible scorer but he always seems to get 17, 20, 23 points. You don't think of him as a big-time rebounder but he proved it last night with 11 boards and he's been doing it throughout the playoffs that he can use his athleticism and his size to grab those rebounds. And it's a huge help when Jokic is having to just fight those two big guys inside, and so I thought Christian was fantastic. He he hit threes, which is what we really need from him, and so kind of unsung hero. He won't be remembered like the other guys I spoke about, but he was a huge factor in the game. And then, obviously, the big guy, jokic 29, 14 and eight just what for anyone else would be a highlight of their career to do that in an elimination game. Uh, it's pretty much what Jokic averages. He always comes through when we need him most and he may have had a couple of rough games earlier on in the series, but he is just such a good player and has done nothing to lose the title of best player in the world.

Speaker 1: 10:27

So, uh, we're going into game seven, and part of the reason why I wanted to record today was I just want to encourage all Nuggets fans. If you're listening to this, we have to appreciate what this team has done over the last couple of weeks. And just a quick side note, my numbers look like we've gained a few new listeners over these last couple of weeks. I've been having fun making these episodes and hopefully you've been having fun listening, so I appreciate y'all. If you have joined up here in the playoffs. Please tell a friend. And we'll keep making episodes and having fun talking about the Nuggets, but I wanted to encourage all Nuggets fans to appreciate the last few weeks.

Speaker 1: 11:09

The reason I say this before game seven is because it's going to be tough. Like, oklahoma city is a great team, they're playing at home and we are definitely beat up. One of the negatives that came out of game six is right at the very end, aaron Gordon seemed to strain his hamstring or do something. He was kind of grabbing at it and he even said that he had to get treatment after the game. So we're beat up. Michael Porter Jr can't lift his arm, ag with his calf and his hamstring, jamal with his flu. So it's an uphill battle and I still think we have a great chance to win.

Speaker 1: 11:47

But I wanted to take a step back and just appreciate this team right now, because this season was heading towards a disaster and the ownership made the big change right at the end of the season and this team has really come together. They've been incredibly fun to watch and I just think there's hope now for next season where, if they would have continued the path that they were on with Malone, with Booth, I don't think there would have been much hope for next year just because it was so obvious that the team was in a bad spot. But I have to say I love Adelman. I hope he gets the job. The starters have proved that they are elite level. We just need some bench guys to give them some rest.

Speaker 1: 12:41

And to take the Clippers, who in some people's eyes were the dark horse to win the championship and we beat them. And then to take the Oklahoma City Thunder, who many thought were the favorite to win the championship, and we are now taking them to a game seven with a chance to eliminate them on their home court. It's impressive. It's it's impressive what they have been able to do, big picture wise, being the underdog taking on a 68 win team. It's impressive what they've done, considering the injuries. It's impressive what they've done considering how Oklahoma City has 10 guys that they happily play and are high-level contributors, whereas the Nuggets maybe have six Most nights, it's five or even four and a half with Michael's arm, six most nights, it's five or even four and a half with michael's arm.

Speaker 1: 13:39

And so, no matter what happens in game seven, I just want to appreciate what this team has done and the hope that we have for next year and we have plenty of time to talk about the offseason, if it does happen to end on sunday after game seven. But just the fact that we're here and there's been so many memorable moments with AG's game winners the Jokic just masterclass that he's been putting on as far as the incredible numbers that he puts up even though he's double, triple teamed every single game, the Julian Strother game, the Jamal flu game there's been so many memorable moments that I think we would have missed out on if we did not make that change. And I just appreciate where we're at right now, no matter what happens on Sunday. But Sunday is going to happen and I do think we have a shot. I don't think we need a miracle to happen.

Speaker 1: 14:31

If we keep doing what we're doing and find that energy at the end of the game, I think we can pull it out Now. Okay, see is amazing at home, and when they get rolling they blow teams out. So that it's it. It could happen, but my official prediction is it will be a close game. The young thunder will crack under the pressure and Jokic Murray, ag one of our guys they're going to hit a big shot and we're going to advance to the next round. All right, have fun watching the game on Sunday. Everyone, thank you so much for listening.