[QUOTE=Dnic;17314391]Exactly why they didn't win last year against the Lakers, Murray plays no defense and is too small, goes on hot and cold streaks and is definitely a ball hog. [B]How you don't see that Murray is a ball hog/hero ball player leads me to believe you don't watch much Nuggets games, when Murray went down they played much better team ball and kept winning the only reason they are currently in a slump is many of their starters are injured. [/B]Maybe last year against the "no heart" Clippers Murray came up big but after that.....nope, streaky player and definitely won't be the same when he comes back and that's even if the Nuggets don't replace him in the rotation and eventually trade him.[/QUOTE]

Both these statements are backward and in between. I've watched the nuggets for upwards of 10 years. I don't watch every game, but I watch a ton.

Again; I'll go back to what I keep stating.
The Nuggets will do better this season, by *winning the conference finals*, then last year where they lost in the conference finals.

Murray averaged 16.5 shots this season and MPJ has shot 13.5 per game. Jokic with 18.

Murray is the PG, the facilitator, the guy who relieves the pressure from others being double teamed. No one else on the Nuggets has the ability to create their own shot off the dribble besides Monte/Barton and both of them don't compare to Murray in shot quality created.

[QUOTE=tennelson55;17314327]I know right? Like last year the exceed my expectations when they beat the Clippers; I was stunned.
Losing Murray was like losing the Jelly in a PBJ sandwich. He's legit an entire component of the team. Jokic is the peanut butter and the rest of the team is the bread. It's always unfortunate to see players go down due to injury, but this season there's been major injuries to majority of teams for significant periods of time.
76ers - Simmons/Embiid
Nets - everyone
Celtics - Brown
Heat - Butler
Raptors - Siakim
Lakers - Lebron/AD
Nuggets - Murray
Mavs - Porzingod/Donic
Jazz - Mitchel
Portland - Nursif
Warriors - Klay

Sucks to see, but such is the NBA season[/QUOTE]

Note that one of the reasons the Suns have done so well is that they're one of the few teams to have stayed healthy.

Conversely, the fact that the Bucks have not run away with the East despite the fact that their two biggest rivals have both had key players miss significant time is a bit of a red flag as far as their playoff prospects are concerned.

Not sure if you can put that 2020 series loss on Murray.

Jokic still had the highest USG rate, while Jamal shot better in the series (TS%) so its not like Murray was hogging the ball and shooting horribly.


the Lakers last year was locked in to win the Disney Covid Tournament. there was no one stopping Lebron and Davis.

most importantly though is the role players stepped up- especially Dwight who was so instrumental against the Nuggets big men. they closed both games in Denver when it finally clicked on Vogel's head that Howard was a huge net positive.


it was a 4-1 series, the nuggets didnt had any chance.

[QUOTE=tennelson55;17314439]Both these statements are backward and in between. I've watched the nuggets for upwards of 10 years. I don't watch every game, but I watch a ton.

Again; I'll go back to what I keep stating.
The Nuggets will do better this season, by *winning the conference finals*, then last year where they lost in the conference finals.

Murray averaged 16.5 shots this season and MPJ has shot 13.5 per game. Jokic with 18.

Murray is the PG, the facilitator, the guy who relieves the pressure from others being double teamed. No one else on the Nuggets has the ability to create their own shot off the dribble besides Monte/Barton and both of them don't compare to Murray in shot quality created.[/QUOTE]

Murray a facilitator is borderline laughable, the only guy he facilitates for is himself 80% of the time it seems he is either passing the ball to Jokic cause he wants it back or shooting and many terrible shots as well. He averages 3.8 assists for his NBA career lol that is terrible for a "facilitator".

Lakers kinda blew it letting go D. Howard.

[QUOTE=Dame;17314498]Not sure if you can put that 2020 series loss on Murray.

Jokic still had the highest USG rate, while Jamal shot better in the series (TS%) so its not like Murray was hogging the ball and shooting horribly.


the Lakers last year was locked in to win the Disney Covid Tournament. there was no one stopping Lebron and Davis.

most importantly though is the role players stepped up- especially Dwight who was so instrumental against the Nuggets big men. they closed both games in Denver [B]when it finally clicked on Vogel's head that Howard was a huge net positive.[/B]


it was a 4-1 series, the nuggets didnt had any chance.[/QUOTE]

I'm sure Vogel knew they were going to get the friendly whistles, but I don't think even he could've predicted the refs were literally going to let Dwight throw around Nuggets with 2 hands and clothesline Jokic [while calling fouls on Denver for both].

There's a reason we haven't heard much from Dwight this season aside from the occasional 'pretty good game'. While in the bubble he was the difference between them breezing through the WCF vs. likely having to put up a huge fight.

Damn. I was really ahead of my time arguing the Nuggets were no worse for the wear without Murray a month ago.

You guys are late to the argument/party :p

It's a good thing we have stats to measure playmaking!!!! That way we can confirm that Murray is indeed a good facilitator, contrary to popular belief :cry:

Not only is he a [I]good[/I] facilitator, he's statistically elite.

[img]https://i.imgur.com/f5WQKrH.png[/img]

I’m skeptical of Denver without Murray. It’s really hard to correlate regular season basketball to the playoffs. Mainly because the level of competition is consistently much better. Murray isn’t missed much right now but when it’s a best-of-7 against an evenly matched opponent the lack of scoring will be acutely obvious. Gotta be able to get a bucket to stop the bleeding and Murray’s that guy for them.

[QUOTE=mfw13;17314486]Note that one of the reasons the Suns have done so well is that they're one of the few teams to have stayed healthy.

Conversely, the fact that the Bucks have not run away with the East despite the fact that their two biggest rivals have both had key players miss significant time is a bit of a red flag as far as their playoff prospects are concerned.[/QUOTE]

Both great points!

Also, to the others in this thread. I don't think the Lakers have it this year, regardless who is back.

[QUOTE=jcardstore;17314777]It's a good thing we have stats to measure playmaking!!!! That way we can confirm that Murray is indeed a good facilitator, contrary to popular belief :cry:

Not only is he a [I]good[/I] facilitator, he's statistically elite.

[img]https://i.imgur.com/f5WQKrH.png[/img][/QUOTE]

So if what you are saying is true then he must be a top 5 guard right... top 10...?? Please find me someone who will attest to this lol

[QUOTE=Dnic;17314953]So if what you are saying is true then he must be a top 5 guard right... top 10...?? Please find me someone who will attest to this lol[/QUOTE]

Nope, not at all. Simply pointing out that he is in fact a good facilitator

[QUOTE=jcardstore;17315009]Nope, not at all. Simply pointing out that he is in fact a good facilitator[/QUOTE]

So what you are really saying is he is a top 5 facilitator...... top 10.....nope not even the best facilitator on his own team :coffee:

[QUOTE=Dnic;17314517]Murray a facilitator is borderline laughable, the only guy he facilitates for is himself 80% of the time it seems he is either passing the ball to Jokic cause he wants it back or shooting and many terrible shots as well. [B]He averages 3.8 assists for his NBA career lol that is terrible for a "facilitator"[/B].[/QUOTE]

Ok. I've had numerous people here agree with me.

If you want, dm me and we can setup something based on what you think the nuggets can get done on this post season. They won't do squat.

I know the off-season is weeks away but I wonder how Alex Caruso's free agency will go, he's such a weird player. He's one of the best defenders in the league. According to a few metrics the best POA defender in the league but he's not great offensively. One of our Athletic writers when asked about him said that he'd likely get a team's full mid-level exception.

[QUOTE=brothertona;17315755]I know the off-season is weeks away but I wonder how Alex Caruso's free agency will go, he's such a weird player. He's one of the best defenders in the league. According to a few metrics the best POA defender in the league but he's not great offensively. One of our Athletic writers when asked about him said that he'd likely get a team's full mid-level exception.[/QUOTE]

brothertona, are you working in The Athletic?
Love the No Dunks (The Starters) podcast/Youtube channel! :D

I wanna see Mpj play like this in the playoffs

[QUOTE=al3xmac10;17316022]brothertona, are you working in The Athletic?
Love the No Dunks (The Starters) podcast/Youtube channel! :D[/QUOTE]


One of our Hawks writers, I don't work for the Athletic, I just meant one of our team writers. I should have been more clear.


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I think Nets are going to pretty much wrap up the 2 seed after tomorrow night. Spurs shot lights out vs MKE which probably means they will shoot stone cold vs Nets tomorrow night and lose. After that Nets won't drop a game to a bad Bulls or Cavs team and MKE beating Miami is also no given.

[QUOTE=packman80;17316603]I think Nets are going to pretty much wrap up the 2 seed after tomorrow night. Spurs shot lights out vs MKE which probably means they will shoot stone cold vs Nets tomorrow night and lose. After that Nets won't drop a game to a bad Bulls or Cavs team and MKE beating Miami is also no given.[/QUOTE]


Really hope Milwaukee beats Miami and Lakers beat the Knicks


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Lets go knicks !

So many Western seed combinations w/ just five days left in the season. Love it.

Chris Paul showing Curry what a real MVP looks like.

[QUOTE=k13;17316779]Chris Paul showing Curry what a real MVP looks like.[/QUOTE]

looking forward to ending of that, i want lakers/dallas play in.

Dubs babyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy