Dude got 20 points WITHOUT the threes. What the hell got into him and will we see that the whole season? If so give them the chip already if Jokic has his usual games instead of a real clunker last night. Which spoke to our great defense but still.
>>>VJ Edgecombe on the next steps after his record-setting (34 point, 7 rebound, 3 assist) NBA debut: "I played one NBA game. That don't determine who I am as a player. So just continue to build and continue to grow."<<<
I have enjoyed being part of the DNHQ community for a few years now but I fear this post might get me booted out. If so, I want to say a fond farewell to all here and thanks for the donuts. BUT my point is: Upon further review, I pretty much think Kuminga fouled Jokic in the last second of regulation. I slowed it down. Jokic puts up a shot, misses, the rebound comes to him but Kuminga comes flying over to tip it out to the sideline so as to send the game to OT. But also: he lowkey body slams Jokic, knocks him over and lands on him. Jokic might have stumbled, but he is not a guy who is that easy to knock over. Loose ball foul? That's what the Nuggets wanted the call to be and I can't say I blame them.
No foul. JK got to the ball first, incidental body-to-body contact as both went to reach for the board. And Jokic had no chance to grab the board after anyway.
I'm still writing the APS report detailing the elder abuse committed by Jokic on Horford's drive to the basket in the first half, not to mention the blatant playacting by Aaron Gordon when pretending that his inability to dribble the ball with this left hand was caused by a Kuminga foul, all of which resulted in something awful and unjust like a technical, or an unearned possession ending in a made three, or the melting of the polar ice caps. While Googling it to see exactly what awful thing was unfairly visited upon us, it has come to my attention that in fact the Joker has visited all sorts of unspeakable crimes on humanity going as far back as the 1960's, so I have no empathy for him now. Kuminga should have performed a citizen's arrest.
I believe your contract here includes a team option, the last time Sleepy tried to trade you a few years ago he found no takers, and you're still good enough to hold your roster spot. So unless your trade value has increased significantly since then, I think you're staying.
Jokic falls over pretty easily when he wants to (remember when Steph “shoved” him from the 3pt line to flip over backwards across the baseline?), and they generally let a lot go in a rebounding scrum… especially at the end of games. Kuminga has as much right to the ball, and Jokic can jump higher if he wants to compete for a rebound.
While it might be a foul, Jokic was grabbing our guys a lot and getting away with the sneaky karate chops too. One notably on Al in the 2nd half. It all evens out.
Jokic got fouled several times toward the end of the game, and they didn't call it.
I think we actually got a pretty friendly whistle last night, despite the holding on Steph.
Funnily enough, I went over to Denver Stiffs to see what they thought of the game, and they thought that Jokic didn't get a very good whistle. All fanbases have the same complaints. :)
Steph got pushed in the back multiple times after shots, and it only got called the one time before he shot the ball (the circus shot that went in off the glass). It's not legal to push guys in the back in mid-air after they shoot as they shoot a layup but Chris Braun did it multiple times. DIllon Brooks did this several times in the Houston series.
So yeah, it's not just the holding off-ball, it's also Steph getting fouled on-ball after shots. This also has a nice (for the opponent) effect that it makes him go down to the ground and delays him running back on D so there's an additional real impact here.
I also at first thought that JK or maybe Draymond fouled Jokic in overtime, the play that many were calling a JK block on Jokic. It's in the E1P and Eric I think correctly calls what it was: a last second idea by Jokic to pass to a cutting Gordon, which Draymond got a piece of. Not a foul. But also not a block.
Steph noted and Steve confirmed the closing lineup hadn't played together at all (even in practice!). Suggested by Terry Stotts and Chris DeMarco, with the focus on putting out the best defensive lineup with size, and hoping Steph and Jimmy could manufacture enough scoring.
The question was raised "who is the shooting guard" and Steve smiled and said take your pick between Jimmy and JK. But I think that's missing the obvious point -- no, not that this is positionless basketball -- rather that Steph Curry played point guard AND shooting guard. Nobody else in history can do that like he can and it affords absolutely monstrous flexibility when he can morph seamlessly between being on ball and dictating the action to off-ball taking advantage of screens multiple times in the same play. Of course, the playmaking of Draymond, Butler, Horford and yes a little bit of JK is another component of that flexibility as you need someone to set up your shooting guard and Steph Curry, while godlike, can't *literally" be in two places at one time.
It's not quite 6 on 5... but it feels a little like it at times.
Thinking about this playing both PG and SG... nobody does what Steph does because of his long-distance shooting. But Jerry West could seamlessly switch between the 1 and 2, and the Logo was a great shooter both from the field and the charity stripe. He also led the league in assists once and was right there other times. Of course he played before the 3-pt era. And he had the same killer instinct and absolute refusal to lose that Steph has.
The key aspect of that closing lineup is their defense and in particular the switching abilities, especially of the forwards JB, DG, AH, and JK. They all can play tough against size. That allows Steph to also move and switch and take some chances for ball steals or tip and intercept passes as he did last night. The offense will come, easier in transition after stops and others will contribute some with Steph's confidence and greatness.
I heard this in Kerr's presser and I really didn't get it. I think the specific words "shooting guard" were brought up by a reporter. But Kerr himself apparently asked his coaches "where are we going to get offense from?" until persuaded it was worth it.
But time out. Presumably the lineup was going to otherwise not include Horford or Kuminga, because Steph Draymond and Jimmy play no matter what. So if you take out Kuminga or Horford, you probably put in Podz or Hield. Right?
But is that *really* all that much more of a pro-offense swap? I get that Hield spaces the floor more and Podz helps the offense run with passing -- but do you get really lose offense overall with Horford or Kuminga? They score about as much as the smaller guys do. Al stretches the floor, Kuminga slashes, we all know what they do; and they pass and set picks so on.
Seems like maybe this should be our starting lineup, now that you mention it.
eventually the choice will involve Moody, and then Moody's spacing and shooting might outweigh JK's rebounding and slashing (Moody's probably the superior defender).
But, I loved that lineup last night, and hope it keeps working. I'd rather not open with it though. Like the death lineup of old, this would (possibly) be a great lineup to be the closing hammer for halves.
For sure it's matchup dependent also, and it is a good idea to protect old guys from too much wear and tear. Except that Horford was in there hitting threes in overtime and so were Steph and Jimmy and Draymond was all over the place, so yay old guys
At 20:27, Nate Duncan mentions how he was talking to a Warrior coach and they emphasized that after Houston put Sengun on Moody in the playoffs, the team has been working on screening technique with the Warrior guards. Notes that Richard had a few plays as the screener and fared well, for instance:
"When scandals erupt, blame usually falls on the individual – the rogue player. But the broader ecosystem is performing exactly as it was designed: to drive engagement by slicing the game into ever finer pieces of speculation. Each slice creates a new opening for exploitation.
. . .Real reform would begin by eliminating bets on areas such as how many minutes a player appears in a game. It would establish an independent integrity clearinghouse with subpoena-ready data and authority to issue binding alerts. It would fund genuine harm-reduction programs for fans and expand security and mental-health protections for players who absorb the rage of bettors online. Advertising should be capped, especially during youth programming, and in-game betting prompts should disappear from broadcasts. But that’s asking a lot of a corporation that only takes moral stands when it helps its virtue-signaling performance art."
Michael Franzese, former high level mafia guy now with a YouTube channel -- which is its own interesting thing -- broke down the alleged gambling scandal last night. It's long but interesting. He advises all the major leagues and colleges on gambling and organized crime. His basic points are that this will continue happening because athletes are competitive, they get into some competitive gambling, then into big trouble because they run into debt and owe the mob, and then fixing happens as a way to pay off debt. I have no idea how true this is, I'm reporting what he said. It's a long video here:
Didn’t read this yet, but the counter argument is that people have always bet on sports on and only legal sites are actively watching for and reporting irregular betting, like what happened here.
The legal sites are legal because the organized crime behind them has leverage and influence. A shiny new storefront and corporate partners motivated by greed and appearances only helps. Schoolteachers in Iowa weren't being goaded at every commercial break into making prop bets with their phones before. The counter argument does not stand up to the most basic scrutiny.
It’s all good. I am just saddened that, along with many entities, the NBA has taken such a blatant turn to greed that actively damages humans. The love of money appears to indeed be, y’know, the rudest bald eagle.
The counter to the "people have and always will bet on sports" is that in the current day, it is much much much easier for folks to pick up the habit in a casual way, on account of easy access to betting apps and the absolute bombardment of advertising by the gambling companies.
When you turn gambling into what feels like just another gaming app on folks' cell phones, the whole vibe changes imo. So my assumption is there are likely far more people getting swept up into some level of gambling addiction, debt and all the fallout effects than there otherwise would be without these legalized betting apps and all the ad revenue that sports leagues and media are thirsty for.
yes, he addresses that, mostly by suggesting the reform paragraph and arguing that the model of legalized gambling currently used by the NBA, the micro bets, etc, is a disaster.
It's a hard thing to do, and probably impossible to "do it right"... and if it wasn't legalized, there are just way too many ways for people to gamble illegally.
I don't know how much power the NBA has to crack down on online gambling, though I bet (ha) it's a fair bit above zero
the government should really shut down online gambling entirely though, and that's absolutely within their power (though it might require some changes at the Supreme Court… all the more reason!)
Last night's game was, for Stephen Curry (regular season games):
- 33rd in Game Score
- 14th in WIn Probability Added (WPA)
- 17th in my GS/WPA blended metric
Per Real Sports:
- He now has 63 games in which he has scored 40 or more points on 70% or higher true shooting, 12 more than Michael Jordan and James Harden who are tied in 2nd place
- He is two games behind only MJ (44) with 42 40+ point games after turning 30
- He is the oldest point guard in NBA history to score 40+ points in a game
Aaron Gordon postgame talking about his night - apparently the team offered him the game ball and he declined. Said he didn’t want to take that L home.
"Jokić had 21-13-10 but it was hard-earned. He has said Green plays him better defensively than anyone, and now the Warriors have Horford, another clever defender, and Jimmy Butler III to provide a presence on the help side."
I think a big factor in last night's game was that Jokic looked out of shape. The Warriors test that more than other teams with how small and spread out they play, but it still should be acknowledged imo. Jokic was settling for a lot of threes despite not making them, and you can see him actually give up on that last layup Curry scored. Going for kick balls and hand strips as a substitute for getting into defensive position, and ultimately not posting up the small Warriors as much as you'd expect, only had 4-5 shots around the restricted area.
They play again in two weeks in Denver, hopefully Jokic is still out of shape and the Warriors can get in prime position to get the tiebreaker.
I just want to take a moment to note that, if memory serves, this has literally NEVER been said about Steph. Dude is always ready to go on day 1. Yet another reason we're so lucky.
I don't think Jokic looked out of shape, but he certainly didn't look in peak shape. Despite the much ballyhooed acquisition of Valanciunas, he played a game-high 41 minutes and as you note the Warriors run him more than most other teams.
Jokic will definitely play better, but I think this must be 99.9% of peak Aaron Gordon, we're unlikely to see anything like that again from him. I think the big wildcard was Cam Johnson who was (charitably) underwhelming and not an upgrade over MPJ in this game, but I expect him to get comfortable there and be a solid sixth many for them.
New thread is up
Injury report is out; Al Horford is Out (old) as expected, JK is Probable with right ankle inflammation. No other Warriors on the report.
Chauncy Billups is Out ... yeah... too soon?
Link: https://ak-static.cms.nba.com/referee/injury/Injury-Report_2025-10-24_04PM.pdf
(Technically Horford is "left toe - injury management")
Aaron Gordon is only 30 years old. For how long he's been in the league I thought he was 34/35 coming into the season.
Dude got 20 points WITHOUT the threes. What the hell got into him and will we see that the whole season? If so give them the chip already if Jokic has his usual games instead of a real clunker last night. Which spoke to our great defense but still.
> will we see that the whole season?
50 PPG on 1.058 TS? I’d say probably not, but never say never?
Same draft class (2014) as Jokic, Wiggins and Embiid.
>>>VJ Edgecombe on the next steps after his record-setting (34 point, 7 rebound, 3 assist) NBA debut: "I played one NBA game. That don't determine who I am as a player. So just continue to build and continue to grow."<<<
http://bsky.app/profile/derekbodner.bsky.social/post/3m3xf5hmc4s2p
I have enjoyed being part of the DNHQ community for a few years now but I fear this post might get me booted out. If so, I want to say a fond farewell to all here and thanks for the donuts. BUT my point is: Upon further review, I pretty much think Kuminga fouled Jokic in the last second of regulation. I slowed it down. Jokic puts up a shot, misses, the rebound comes to him but Kuminga comes flying over to tip it out to the sideline so as to send the game to OT. But also: he lowkey body slams Jokic, knocks him over and lands on him. Jokic might have stumbled, but he is not a guy who is that easy to knock over. Loose ball foul? That's what the Nuggets wanted the call to be and I can't say I blame them.
Anyway, I'll take my lumps now. Am I kicked out?
dont care, since the refs did not call it - if they did, I would have been real pissed at - the refs! So you get to stay!
No foul. JK got to the ball first, incidental body-to-body contact as both went to reach for the board. And Jokic had no chance to grab the board after anyway.
I'm still writing the APS report detailing the elder abuse committed by Jokic on Horford's drive to the basket in the first half, not to mention the blatant playacting by Aaron Gordon when pretending that his inability to dribble the ball with this left hand was caused by a Kuminga foul, all of which resulted in something awful and unjust like a technical, or an unearned possession ending in a made three, or the melting of the polar ice caps. While Googling it to see exactly what awful thing was unfairly visited upon us, it has come to my attention that in fact the Joker has visited all sorts of unspeakable crimes on humanity going as far back as the 1960's, so I have no empathy for him now. Kuminga should have performed a citizen's arrest.
But yeah, you're totally out, Asher.
I believe your contract here includes a team option, the last time Sleepy tried to trade you a few years ago he found no takers, and you're still good enough to hold your roster spot. So unless your trade value has increased significantly since then, I think you're staying.
If anything, my trade value is plummeting by the post
Jokic falls over pretty easily when he wants to (remember when Steph “shoved” him from the 3pt line to flip over backwards across the baseline?), and they generally let a lot go in a rebounding scrum… especially at the end of games. Kuminga has as much right to the ball, and Jokic can jump higher if he wants to compete for a rebound.
https://www.nba.com/stats/events?CFID=&CFPARAMS=&ContextMeasure=FGA&EndPeriod=0&EndRange=31800&GameID=0022500006&PlayerID=203999&RangeType=0&Season=2025-26&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&StartPeriod=0&StartRange=0&TeamID=1610612743&flag=3&sct=plot§ion=game
Yeah... no way there's a foul there. JK (and Jimmy) just beat Jokic and his credit card hops to the ball.
I think you pasted the wrong link.
Also, FWIW (probably not a lot!), L2M agrees:
> Kuminga (GSW) bats the rebound away and the ensuing contact with Jokic (DEN) while the ball is loose is incidental.
https://official.nba.com/l2m/L2MReport.html?gameId=0022500006
I tried!
Fouls happen all the time and don't get called. Next.
While it might be a foul, Jokic was grabbing our guys a lot and getting away with the sneaky karate chops too. One notably on Al in the 2nd half. It all evens out.
YES! THAT'S THE ONE! GET THIS MAN KICKED OUT OF THE ALL-VALLEY CHAMPIONSHIP!!
He definitely fouled him. I definitely would have been livid if they called it.
🔨
Gonna miss you, Asher.
Jokic got fouled several times toward the end of the game, and they didn't call it.
I think we actually got a pretty friendly whistle last night, despite the holding on Steph.
Funnily enough, I went over to Denver Stiffs to see what they thought of the game, and they thought that Jokic didn't get a very good whistle. All fanbases have the same complaints. :)
> despite the holding on Steph.
Steph got pushed in the back multiple times after shots, and it only got called the one time before he shot the ball (the circus shot that went in off the glass). It's not legal to push guys in the back in mid-air after they shoot as they shoot a layup but Chris Braun did it multiple times. DIllon Brooks did this several times in the Houston series.
So yeah, it's not just the holding off-ball, it's also Steph getting fouled on-ball after shots. This also has a nice (for the opponent) effect that it makes him go down to the ground and delays him running back on D so there's an additional real impact here.
I also at first thought that JK or maybe Draymond fouled Jokic in overtime, the play that many were calling a JK block on Jokic. It's in the E1P and Eric I think correctly calls what it was: a last second idea by Jokic to pass to a cutting Gordon, which Draymond got a piece of. Not a foul. But also not a block.
The box score agrees, since JK didn't record any blocks.
Steph noted and Steve confirmed the closing lineup hadn't played together at all (even in practice!). Suggested by Terry Stotts and Chris DeMarco, with the focus on putting out the best defensive lineup with size, and hoping Steph and Jimmy could manufacture enough scoring.
The question was raised "who is the shooting guard" and Steve smiled and said take your pick between Jimmy and JK. But I think that's missing the obvious point -- no, not that this is positionless basketball -- rather that Steph Curry played point guard AND shooting guard. Nobody else in history can do that like he can and it affords absolutely monstrous flexibility when he can morph seamlessly between being on ball and dictating the action to off-ball taking advantage of screens multiple times in the same play. Of course, the playmaking of Draymond, Butler, Horford and yes a little bit of JK is another component of that flexibility as you need someone to set up your shooting guard and Steph Curry, while godlike, can't *literally" be in two places at one time.
It's not quite 6 on 5... but it feels a little like it at times.
Thinking about this playing both PG and SG... nobody does what Steph does because of his long-distance shooting. But Jerry West could seamlessly switch between the 1 and 2, and the Logo was a great shooter both from the field and the charity stripe. He also led the league in assists once and was right there other times. Of course he played before the 3-pt era. And he had the same killer instinct and absolute refusal to lose that Steph has.
Love this analysis.
The key aspect of that closing lineup is their defense and in particular the switching abilities, especially of the forwards JB, DG, AH, and JK. They all can play tough against size. That allows Steph to also move and switch and take some chances for ball steals or tip and intercept passes as he did last night. The offense will come, easier in transition after stops and others will contribute some with Steph's confidence and greatness.
I heard this in Kerr's presser and I really didn't get it. I think the specific words "shooting guard" were brought up by a reporter. But Kerr himself apparently asked his coaches "where are we going to get offense from?" until persuaded it was worth it.
But time out. Presumably the lineup was going to otherwise not include Horford or Kuminga, because Steph Draymond and Jimmy play no matter what. So if you take out Kuminga or Horford, you probably put in Podz or Hield. Right?
But is that *really* all that much more of a pro-offense swap? I get that Hield spaces the floor more and Podz helps the offense run with passing -- but do you get really lose offense overall with Horford or Kuminga? They score about as much as the smaller guys do. Al stretches the floor, Kuminga slashes, we all know what they do; and they pass and set picks so on.
Seems like maybe this should be our starting lineup, now that you mention it.
I'm not sure Moody for example would've had enough speed with the ball to get that breakaway layup in ot
eventually the choice will involve Moody, and then Moody's spacing and shooting might outweigh JK's rebounding and slashing (Moody's probably the superior defender).
But, I loved that lineup last night, and hope it keeps working. I'd rather not open with it though. Like the death lineup of old, this would (possibly) be a great lineup to be the closing hammer for halves.
For sure it's matchup dependent also, and it is a good idea to protect old guys from too much wear and tear. Except that Horford was in there hitting threes in overtime and so were Steph and Jimmy and Draymond was all over the place, so yay old guys
https://youtu.be/ciDgKzHJ20k?t=1226
At 20:27, Nate Duncan mentions how he was talking to a Warrior coach and they emphasized that after Houston put Sengun on Moody in the playoffs, the team has been working on screening technique with the Warrior guards. Notes that Richard had a few plays as the screener and fared well, for instance:
https://www.nba.com/stats/events?CFID=&CFPARAMS=&GameEventID=590&GameID=0022500006&Season=2025-26&flag=1&title=Kuminga%201%27%20Reverse%20Dunk%20(12%20PTS)%20(Richard%203%20AST)
OT: "The NBA jumped into bed with gambling. Now the league is getting its due"https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/oct/24/the-nba-jumped-into-bed-with-gambling-now-the-league-is-getting-its-due
"When scandals erupt, blame usually falls on the individual – the rogue player. But the broader ecosystem is performing exactly as it was designed: to drive engagement by slicing the game into ever finer pieces of speculation. Each slice creates a new opening for exploitation.
. . .Real reform would begin by eliminating bets on areas such as how many minutes a player appears in a game. It would establish an independent integrity clearinghouse with subpoena-ready data and authority to issue binding alerts. It would fund genuine harm-reduction programs for fans and expand security and mental-health protections for players who absorb the rage of bettors online. Advertising should be capped, especially during youth programming, and in-game betting prompts should disappear from broadcasts. But that’s asking a lot of a corporation that only takes moral stands when it helps its virtue-signaling performance art."
Michael Franzese, former high level mafia guy now with a YouTube channel -- which is its own interesting thing -- broke down the alleged gambling scandal last night. It's long but interesting. He advises all the major leagues and colleges on gambling and organized crime. His basic points are that this will continue happening because athletes are competitive, they get into some competitive gambling, then into big trouble because they run into debt and owe the mob, and then fixing happens as a way to pay off debt. I have no idea how true this is, I'm reporting what he said. It's a long video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6k5lLnue7hA&t=1019s
Didn’t read this yet, but the counter argument is that people have always bet on sports on and only legal sites are actively watching for and reporting irregular betting, like what happened here.
The legal sites are legal because the organized crime behind them has leverage and influence. A shiny new storefront and corporate partners motivated by greed and appearances only helps. Schoolteachers in Iowa weren't being goaded at every commercial break into making prop bets with their phones before. The counter argument does not stand up to the most basic scrutiny.
Ok, I’m not a gambler at all and know nothing about it. I’ve only have been reading and listening to reporting and commentary.
It’s all good. I am just saddened that, along with many entities, the NBA has taken such a blatant turn to greed that actively damages humans. The love of money appears to indeed be, y’know, the rudest bald eagle.
The counter to the "people have and always will bet on sports" is that in the current day, it is much much much easier for folks to pick up the habit in a casual way, on account of easy access to betting apps and the absolute bombardment of advertising by the gambling companies.
When you turn gambling into what feels like just another gaming app on folks' cell phones, the whole vibe changes imo. So my assumption is there are likely far more people getting swept up into some level of gambling addiction, debt and all the fallout effects than there otherwise would be without these legalized betting apps and all the ad revenue that sports leagues and media are thirsty for.
yes, he addresses that, mostly by suggesting the reform paragraph and arguing that the model of legalized gambling currently used by the NBA, the micro bets, etc, is a disaster.
It's a hard thing to do, and probably impossible to "do it right"... and if it wasn't legalized, there are just way too many ways for people to gamble illegally.
as long as the stock market exists so will legalized gambling. But I think all these micro bets, on phones, could be reigned in. .. .
I don't know how much power the NBA has to crack down on online gambling, though I bet (ha) it's a fair bit above zero
the government should really shut down online gambling entirely though, and that's absolutely within their power (though it might require some changes at the Supreme Court… all the more reason!)
Last night's game was, for Stephen Curry (regular season games):
- 33rd in Game Score
- 14th in WIn Probability Added (WPA)
- 17th in my GS/WPA blended metric
Per Real Sports:
- He now has 63 games in which he has scored 40 or more points on 70% or higher true shooting, 12 more than Michael Jordan and James Harden who are tied in 2nd place
- He is two games behind only MJ (44) with 42 40+ point games after turning 30
- He is the oldest point guard in NBA history to score 40+ points in a game
"moo hahahaha"
-Renowned analyst, Eric Apricot
“moo hahahaha” is the laughs I hear at the Cowmedy Show.
milked that joke for all it was worth didn't you?
That was udderly awful.
Is that usually held at Shoreline, or the Cow Palace, or ...?
They're in Jersey
EA: If the whole NBA commentator thing doesn't work out, you've got a future doing evil laugh voiceovers.
r/nba
•
6h ago
MrBuckBuck
emoji:por-3: Trail Blazers
Aaron Gordon postgame talking about his night - apparently the team offered him the game ball and he declined. Said he didn’t want to take that L home.
Some thoughts:
1. Gordon may have had a better Gamescore , but it was while being more of 3rd or 4th priority to the opposing defense, unlike our guy.
2. Speaking of Gordon, he looked shell-shocked and like he knew it was over when it technically wasn’t (Narrator voice: It was, in fact, over.)
3. Beating elite teams at home and inferior teams on the road is definitely TCB and I hope it continues.
4. Just imagine if Jordan Poole had given half the shit Willy Rich gives on defense.
"Jokić had 21-13-10 but it was hard-earned. He has said Green plays him better defensively than anyone, and now the Warriors have Horford, another clever defender, and Jimmy Butler III to provide a presence on the help side."
From link (thanks Abaddon): https://www.nba.com/news/4-takeaways-nuggets-warriors-oct-23
I think a big factor in last night's game was that Jokic looked out of shape. The Warriors test that more than other teams with how small and spread out they play, but it still should be acknowledged imo. Jokic was settling for a lot of threes despite not making them, and you can see him actually give up on that last layup Curry scored. Going for kick balls and hand strips as a substitute for getting into defensive position, and ultimately not posting up the small Warriors as much as you'd expect, only had 4-5 shots around the restricted area.
They play again in two weeks in Denver, hopefully Jokic is still out of shape and the Warriors can get in prime position to get the tiebreaker.
He has always looked in shape to me.
That shape, specifically, is Triangle.
I just want to take a moment to note that, if memory serves, this has literally NEVER been said about Steph. Dude is always ready to go on day 1. Yet another reason we're so lucky.
I don't think Jokic looked out of shape, but he certainly didn't look in peak shape. Despite the much ballyhooed acquisition of Valanciunas, he played a game-high 41 minutes and as you note the Warriors run him more than most other teams.
Jokic will definitely play better, but I think this must be 99.9% of peak Aaron Gordon, we're unlikely to see anything like that again from him. I think the big wildcard was Cam Johnson who was (charitably) underwhelming and not an upgrade over MPJ in this game, but I expect him to get comfortable there and be a solid sixth many for them.
Joker is still Joker of course but he was definitely fatter than usual last night, saw a lot of Denver fans comment on that during and after the game
He’ll wear down even quicker in altitude.
Agreed. midseason Jokic from last year was in much better shape.
yeah, which is a mark on him and thanks for the help Joker because a win is a win is a win. . .
“Please baby! Please don’t go!!”🤣🤣