A True MVP Battle ends in Heartbreak

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Yeah, I mean, for me is this simple.

That was one of the best back-ins for MVP games that I have seen in.

I mean, I don't know.

Like when I grew up, I used to watch Kobe and LeBron go at it.

I used to watch T-Mac and Kobe go at it in 03.

I used to watch LeBron go at it with curry, all kind of people.

SGA made a sidestep to the left three to put them up for.

Yokehits then comes down and hits a pin down three and Murray hits the free throw.

Then there's six and a half seconds left.

Mark Dagnall runs a sprint screen, which is like a ghost screen at SGA.

The shape perfectly reads it by not allowing for the double to have any chance to get there.

He then sprints to the right, sidestep right, game on the line, bucket, nothing but net

to end the game.

That was one of the best games that I have seen all season.

There's so much to get into.

There's so much to talk about, Nuggets fans.

I know you're frustrated, but y'all sometimes you just got acknowledged greatness.

Let's get to it.

You are locked on nuggets, your daily Denver Nuggets podcast, part of the locked on podcast

network, your team every day.

What's going y'all?

Welcome to the locked on Nuggets podcast.

I'm one of your host Swipe a join with Ryan Blackburn, Matt Moore, not here with us today,

but y'all we are getting ready to talk about one of the best games of the year.

I know, I know you can't say that about losses, but sometimes you just got to go be a fan

of basketball.

At some point, you got to put the note pad down.

At some point, you got to be able to step away from a game and say, that was exceptional

and that was phenomenal.

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Ryan, how are you feeling?

I'm feeling, you know, honestly, I'm feeling all right.

I think over the course of Friday to Monday, when Denver loses by 40 to a team at home and

in a pretty unfortunate situation.

And then you come back and you play a very competitive game against O.K.C.

And really poor moments, but also some really great moments in this game from Denver.

And ultimately, they go down because one of the best players in the world, if not the

best player in the world, made a tough ass shot two times in a row going, like you said,

going to his left, going to his right, step back, both times, like he was unbelievable

in this game.

And sometimes great players make great plays and this as the thumbnail that you put up

mentions a true clash of the Titans between two of the best players, like the two best

players in the NBA, it was very impressive to watch.

You just got to tip your cap to SGA.

You got to tip your cap to Yokeuch too because like they were both amazing.

They were truly both amazing in this game.

But one of those guys had the ball last and sometimes it's how the cookie crumbles.

Yeah, I mean, look, I think, you know, I think fans, what the what it is is, I think people

want to have like a victor and a loser because it's basketball and I think SGA won the game,

like the Thunder won the game.

But I do think at some level, y'all, y'all got to kind of like take a breath because even

if you disagree with like Yokeuch at the best in the world or SGA's the best in the world,

Nuggets fans or if the NBA, Twitter versus like, oh, you know, Yokeuch is, and here's

the thing that's like bothering me a little bit, but it's not even bothering me because

you're not limited every day at this point.

It's like people are really watching this game and saying, oh, Yokeuch was, you know,

got out played, he was bum, he was listening, and I'm just watching this game.

I'm like, bro, I don't know.

I just watched two demons go shot for a shot in the fourth and SGA got the last one.

He made it that, but it was legitimately a phenomenal game.

And there's no sugarcoating the loss.

They lost, but at some point I'm asking you, if a do goes for 35, 15 assists, zero turnovers,

that's something like Steve National abroad and S game, like, that just don't happen.

Plus a 75% true shooting has never happened.

Yeah.

So at some point, if you're just like watching this game and you're like, oh, shucks,

they lost.

It's like, well, you know who's also been on the other side of this a lot?

Everybody has played against Yokeuch.

So Nuggets fans should be real familiar with this because Yokeuch has done this multiple

times.

So that's all I'm saying.

Like, I just ride.

For me, it's just like painting this as a great moment.

They've lost to them with they lost to the to the Cleveland Cavalier.

They shouldn't have lost.

They lost to Detroit.

They should a lot.

They lost to the Clippers.

They shouldn't have lost.

I can say those are bad losses today, which is just like, yeah, phenomenal.

I don't know.

You could go even further than that.

This team has a whole heck of a lot of bad losses.

The world is game in a matinee situation.

The Chicago bulls earlier in the season, the Dallas Mavericks three separate times.

Like, there's there are plenty of times where you could point to this team and say, okay,

well, yeah, you probably shouldn't have lost that one.

You take it in a micro view, though, and you're like, okay, it is what it is.

These games happen, but those games have happened enough.

And now you're also losing the tough games against the tough teams when you've got the

superstar performance on the other side.

Yep.

That was just lost too many games.

Like, at this point, I think that's where fans are feeling.

And one of the things when you watch a great player like SGA, when you watch him be absolutely

unstoppable.

It's just like it feels inevitable and it feels like you are completely out of control

of your own destiny in that case where Denver didn't have control their own destiny in

this one because SGA had the final shot and was unstoppable throughout it.

And it felt like Denver, like they made some amazing plays to get back into it late,

but they were down seven at one point, they were down eight at one point, like they had

to have some heroic plays.

They had to have a four point play.

They had to have a flagrant foul in order to get back into this game.

And so it did feel like SGA and the Thunder had separated and ultimately, like Denver did

the thing that they do, which has almost come back, but not quite enough.

And I think fans are very much feeling the hopelessness of that.

And that sucks.

You know, but bro, I just think, man, today's just not for, I don't know, man.

Maybe it's just been, there's so many games this year, I can point to them just like,

man, they shouldn't have lost that.

Man, they shouldn't have done that.

Man, David Adam and blah, blah, blah.

You know what?

I thought David Adam had been sucked in the first half, bro.

That beyond his balance, you know, those six minutes were horrible.

The Nugget scored six points when Yoke is at the first six minutes of the quarter.

The Nugget scored 14 when he got back, but David responded in a second half.

He didn't play him.

And then he put Aaron Gordon in with Spencer Jones in with tomorrow Murray to try to like

and start at the fourth quarter, too.

Like you guys know how much they wanted this game.

And that's the other aspect of it, though, is that they desperately wanted this one.

You don't play Yoke at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

You don't bring Aaron Gordon back in at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

And that you don't make some of these rotations that, like you don't cut it down to eight

when you've got so many healthy guys.

Like you just, like in this situation, it's very clear that they wanted to go out for this one.

And they just did not win it, but they did a lot of good things.

I do agree with you that there are a lot of good things that they did.

And I can point to a variety of performances.

I thought Murray for the most part was pretty good in this game.

I thought that Tim Hardaway was fantastic spacing the floor.

I thought that Aaron Gordon's first quarter was absolutely unbelievable.

And obviously Yoke, it's throughout was truly amazing.

By the way, for off the stats, Yoke just recorded his three hundred and twenty third game

with 20 points, 10 rebounds and five assists tonight versus OKC passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

for the most 20, 10 and five performances in the NBA in the last 65 years.

So this is what I'm telling you, bro.

Yeah, I mean, how can you actually be?

I mean, I understand being mad about the loss, but good, gracious.

Like when, run, let me ask you this.

What's the last time Yoke is with that hot in a fourth quarter and lost the game?

I mean, I'd have to think about it.

But like, he's where it happens.

I think even against the Warriors, like in the loss that he had,

like, there have been some really impressive performances where like,

they just haven't closed it out.

They just haven't like done things that they're supposed to do,

especially on the defensive end.

And I think that that is frustrating to a lot of people.

I'm not like nobody's trying to like, I understand what you're trying to do

in terms of making this about like, hey, this is like,

this is a pretty historic performance from SGA.

This is a pretty historic game from Yoke,

and people should be appreciating that.

And one of the teams had to lose.

But one of the teams also had three of their five starters out.

And Alex Kruso outs and like, that was, it was very clear.

I never put on the other side of that so much this year.

And I think I hear you, but like that, that's, that's basketball.

Like, I think it is you, but okay, he's a really good team.

Like, I want people to realize that.

Of course, they're the best thing to do.

So came back today and was hoping we can have some moments today.

Like, case and sucked.

He was a minus 27 in this game.

J will had a 30 and 10 game damn near.

And he made seven threes, seven.

So like, it's going, that stuff happens.

And so trust me right, I'm frustrated about the loss.

But I'm also just kind of like, I'm trying to center myself right.

Do I think this team is actually going to end up in the plan

because they're not going to figure it out at some point?

I thought about this.

I literally have thought about this.

Yeah.

No, I don't think so.

I think they're in a rut.

I think that stuff happens.

I think the schedule is difficult.

But they're also just trying to figure out how to play together as well.

Like, it's it's multiple things for me that are happening all at once.

But go ahead, go ahead.

I don't, I don't disagree with you on any of that for what it's worth.

Like, I think that's a, it's perfectly salient point

and something that dogged fans need to get through their heads.

I don't think they're falling to the plan either.

Could they?

Sure.

Like, if they go o and three in the next three games,

they can be playing automatically there.

But like, the rest of the schedule opens up so much at that point.

They're like, Denver's going to string together some wins.

They're going to, they're going to figure some things out.

It's more likely that they finish at three than they do at seven, I think.

But what I think nuggets fans are still struggling with

is that even when the Thunder were down so many guys,

like, obviously, they still have like players upon players that they can call upon

and and be pretty happy with their performances.

But the thing that nuggets fans are thinking is like, okay, Denver played pretty well.

They played pretty well in this game.

They had a lot of pretty good performances.

They played pretty well the last time they faced OKC.

And they're still o and three against this team,

despite the fact that they played pretty well.

And like, how much better, like realistically,

can the nuggets get than what they showed today?

Like, I'm better than they get.

Like, is it a lot?

Is it a little?

No, I think they can.

But I think at some point, we got to also, they also are on a,

today they made their shots.

The last time they played OKC, they played good defense.

And OKC didn't make their shots.

It's like, some of this is also like the ball swung the right way

and they also made their shots today.

And the last time they played OKC, if Yokeh has a normal game,

they win that game.

I don't think there are moments where they could have won.

There are moments where Murray could have won.

I just think there's so many different like factors to this run.

What's about that more on the other side?

And I think there's more important stuff that we need to get to.

There's more stuff about this game.

I definitely want to talk about the things that went wrong.

The things they need to do better and all that.

Absolutely for sure.

I want to know what nuggets fans to, to be able to get out all their anger

and all that stuff.

We'll talk about all that more here on the other side here and locked on nuggets.

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What's going on, y'all?

We are back here for the second segment here of Locked on Nugget Shoutout to you all.

Thank you all so much for joining us and being a part of this great Locked on Divernugget's

family.

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Yeah, make sure you tap in.

Y'all know what time it is.

This is why, but why does why does sound so good?

You know what?

At the end of the day, Ryan, I just love basketball.

At the end of the day, even below being a fan, like I love basketball and when great

basketball is played, like I just get happy.

I don't tell you.

Let's talk about some of the not so great things.

Yeah.

It's my element here.

What were some of your least favorite things or reasons why Denver lost this game off

top of your head?

I mean, first and foremost, I think you have to start with the Jonas Valentinus minutes.

That to me sets Denver up in a really negative way.

Like actually, we'll even go back before that because yes, Jonas was a minus eight in

this game on top of the previous matchups that he's, he just hasn't had a lot of success

lately for Denver.

It's clear that the nuggets rotation is fading Jonas Valentinus at this point.

But the rotation that Denver had after Aaron Gordon left the floor where Tim Hardaway Jr.

comes in and Jamal Murray, Christian Brown, Cam Johnson and Nicole Yoke is joining him.

Denver gave up their entirely that they had built up all like immediately in this game.

And I just don't understand there are so many points where Denver can be good where they

can be like in good positions to succeed.

But the moment Aaron Gordon left the floor, things just went halfway to hell and I have

no idea why it went that way.

Now, part of it is because they just don't lock in as much defensively, I guess.

Tim Hardaway immediately came in and made some threes.

It's not like the offense wasn't going well, but then you just make a couple extra mistakes.

You don't grab that offensive rebound and the opposing team gets a fast break on you.

And suddenly it's a 7-0 run, a 9-0 run, a 10-0 run and you're calling a time out immediately

after that.

So Denver just lets too many of these things happen in these situations immediately after

a sub happens.

I just don't get what's going on with it.

Yeah.

So that's been the story, man.

They for some reason win the starter minutes versus OKC, even when they're all everybody

fully healthy.

They didn't play off too.

But as soon as they start picking away at the roster, like, and you start putting subs

in, it's like they lose their identity.

And today it happened again as well, like, you know, the nuggets were up 12 at one point

and they were like rolling.

And it felt like game one heat versus nuggets all over again, where two, whether it's SGA,

whether it was Casey, whether it was Dore A, throw into Aaron Gordon and go eat, sir.

That's exactly how they should have done it.

And the way that they started this game was truly awesome and shout out again to Aaron

Gordon.

Back from the hamstring injury and he looked fantastic, specifically in that first quarter,

but really did help throughout the game as well.

And just did a lot of things.

It was like, he faded into the background in this game in part due to the injury, I

would guess.

But mostly it's because of the game plan switch and, and Yoke, it's getting more involved

in Tim Hardaway Jr.

Going off.

Yeah.

I mean, look, you know, there definitely is a part of this where, you know, I think that

the nuggets are, they're struggling that when Yoke has gone to the bench lately.

That second unit, they don't have now, right now, in this moment, Adam,

and doesn't have somebody he fully trust that can actually deliver and do that job.

Because again, minus eight in the Jonas minutes in six minutes.

And it was a minus 15 last time I played O.K.C.

No, Yoke, actually, I just want to look at Yoke, it was a plus 15 last time.

It was like a minus 15 in the first half or something like that, which is, it was,

it was ridiculous.

So, but do you have, what do you think about Adam and with that?

Because for me, when I say play big versus O.K.C.

I'm not talking about the Jonas.

What I actually mean is like, you have a lot of wing, even if you don't think like

Zek is the most competent offensive player.

But what you do need versus Shay, players that can load up, players that can stay in front,

and players that can weak, that can rotate back side.

For me, it's just a matter of, I think you've got to play those kind of guys in this series.

Now, if the nuggets were to win on, got somebody in Cursed Boucher or whatever,

then maybe they could have played them, but, I mean, but again, like,

yeah, I don't know, like, I don't know what Chris Boucher would have done in this.

Exactly. I'm not saying Chris would have.

It's tough, but I do agree with you.

Hypothetically, let's say Peyton Watson is back.

I think you just sub in Peyton Watson for Jonas Valentinus in those minutes and you're

cooking. Like, you're doing pretty well in those, in those minutes.

And even, like, you could even go bigger than that.

You could take Bruce Brown off the floor in some of those cases.

And you go like Jamal, THJ, Pihuah, Aaron Gordon, Spencer Jones.

I feel pretty good about that lineup.

I feel as bad as good as you can.

Yes, you've got a couple of targets there for AJ Mitchell to go at.

But like, you also have the spacing that you need in that case for, like, hey,

you've got, you could play five out with Aaron Gordon operating in the middle.

You could play a variety of ways on the offensive end and just pick and choose your matchups.

But defensively, you can switch everything or you can just run sort of a shell coverage

and try to keep everybody out of the paint as much as possible.

But then collapse on the glass and then do what you can.

But yeah, Jonas, he's clearly just not the answer in this matchup.

We knew that going in though.

It's just like, this has now become pretty resonant in terms of what

what people can expect from this particular matchup.

Like, Jonas just isn't going to be able to do anything in the small minutes.

And like, maybe not even in the big minutes either.

We're going to have to see.

But like, the theory behind the practice there is when when Chet Hongren and Isaiah Hartin

Steiner out there, Jonas Fowl and Jonas can help pick up some fals on those guys.

But like, I don't know if that's enough.

I just don't.

Yeah, man.

You know, it is what it is.

Like, I do think that there are some things they're going to have to adjust.

No, come next time to play OKC.

But really, they're probably not going to.

I do think my real thing is that they're going to have to find an identity over these next 18

or whatever games to where when they see OKC again in the Western Conference finals.

They're ready for that matchup and they're ready for what's going to come with it.

Now, again, it's going to be really difficult to beat OKC if SGA is playing like this.

But again, this was like an all-time great regular season game.

You know, so like, that stuff is going to happen.

But again, they've shown, like I said, last time they played SGA,

it was 12 to 29.

He was 1 to 6 and the 4th.

So like, that's what I'm saying.

Like, they've shown moments where they can do it.

But it's just the consistency of the defensive intensity you need.

They don't have that.

Let's like, can I can I ask you about Christian?

Yeah.

How well do you think he actually defended SGA versus SGA making tough shots tonight?

Because I don't think he did it that great of a job personally.

There were a couple of times where he absolutely contested pretty well.

Yeah.

I think the the foul that they challenged, I actually think it was it was a good

challenge in that moment to try to to get that.

And I thought that Christian got a clean the the refs didn't see it that way.

But I thought that there were times where he contested pretty well.

And there were times where SGA just generated a million miles of space between the two of

them in those situations.

But that's SGA super power.

Yeah.

I think some of this is they were they were head they were doubling and trapping.

So I think Christian was a bit slower today than he normally would be on his clothes

outs or on his slides because he was expecting help.

So that did affect him.

I think on a couple of low bodies.

But I do think Christian got his hand up.

But when SGA made off the backboard, Christian was right there.

Yeah, that was sick.

You know what I mean, like Christian was also there on the clothes out.

And the Christian block just shot again.

Like yeah, there's not many guards in the league that are blocking SGA jump shots.

He's done it twice now.

And he did it again in his game.

But also SGA was also just kind of on a heater.

So when you're playing guards, you kind of got to deal with this variant.

You could SGA to play off.

We showed last year.

He shot sub 40% in the Memphis series.

Then he played versus Denver has some bad games and has some really good game versus

Timberlake shot well then in the finals versus Andrew Nimhart.

He didn't shoot well for like a lot of the series.

So I think some of this is like you do have to have defenders on the floor

that are specifically designed for the matchup.

But I will say Christian has also been one of the best SGA defenders

that we've had in the league.

So I don't want to like completely write them off.

Yeah, like it would be nice if Denver had Pihuah to mix in there.

It would be nice if Denver like you have a fully healthy air in Gordon

and maybe you change up that match up a little bit.

But yeah, I don't know.

I don't know what Denver has in these cases.

I think everything's going to have some strengths and weaknesses

and obviously Shays one of those guys that there's not a lot of Shays Stoppers out there.

Like that's just that's the thing is that you have to stop him with a team defense

and that's why Denver's rotating doubles.

It's why Jalen Williams hitting seven threes and Jared McCain hitting some big shots.

Like that's a big deal for them.

And like they're always going to have guys that can do that.

So you pick your poison with them and Denver is just going to have to be as much

better on the margins as they possibly can be.

Yeah, we'll talk about more on the other side here at Lockdown.

There's some more stuff to get into and I want to hear some more Ryan thoughts.

We'll be here very soon.

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We'll be back for the final segment here at Locked On Nuggets.

We're back for the final segment of Locked On Nuggets.

Shout out to you all.

Thank you all so much for being here with us every single day.

Thank you so much for Ryan Blackburn and his due diligence.

That's the numbers guy.

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Also shout out to Matt Moore who reads instead.

He's more than almost anybody you will ever meet

in the NBA circles.

So make sure you're always showing him love.

Y'all, this is Locked On Nuggets.

I know we've been talking too much positivity about SGA.

But I don't know if to tell you, brother.

When Kobe goes off, Kobe goes off, man.

Ryan, Kobe, Kobe, you never be so efficient.

No, please.

I've seen Kobe have some game versus Denver brother.

Yeah, man.

I just think, bro, do you feel like it's too late

for Denver to find itself?

It's too late in the season, too many injuries, too much time has passed.

Matt and I talked about this a little bit last night.

I don't know like he seems to think that Denver,

like because I asked him, hey, do they need to prove

that they can play at a higher level defensively?

And he's like, no, like that ship is sale.

That ship is, it's not there anymore.

They are not in elite defensive teams.

They're not even a good defensive team.

The only thing that they need to prove

is that they can be a top one offensive team

and then a not bottom 10 defensive team.

And at that point, then you have a chance

against any team in the NBA.

I don't know.

I don't know what the thing is for Denver here.

But I do think they need some sort of identity.

They need some sort of jumping off points

for the rest of this stretch where

it just feels like they get down into these moments

and they're just, they are climbing uphill

as like so much.

They are digging and digging and just trying

to do everything that they can to get out of this.

But they can't get there.

And I don't know why, but like it certainly feels like

they just cannot put together all of the pieces.

And so to me, that's the identity

that they have to reforge.

Can you put together the pieces a little bit more

against some great teams?

Like it doesn't have to be against OKC.

Like that ship is sailed to.

But it could be against Houston.

It could be against San Antonio.

It could be against the Lakers on Saturday.

Like there's plenty of opportunities left.

The question is whether Denver's going to be able to do it.

Look, man, and you know, I don't mean to be

the I told you so guy Ryan Blackburn.

No, yeah.

But Nett and Achilles Lodz and Chris Dunn

thing that I've been screaming about for years.

This is what I'm talking about.

It's just you got to have those players on the roster.

I'd love them too.

I'm not trying to say it.

Yeah, they're doing well.

I hear you, but I think some of this is also just like.

They had enough moments of passable

defense today.

The problem is it's just that like you can't sustain it enough.

Like the fact that you can't sustain good defense

consistently.

Now again, I want to be fair in the nuggets.

They did versus OKC the last time they played.

They did play good defense.

And they almost won.

Yokech would just still admit.

So some of this is also like,

I think that Denver man, they have to rethink

how they're approaching personnel stuff.

Cam Johnson, by the way,

I said this on the criticism of him on the timeline.

One reason I don't like playing with super intellectual people,

right?

No matter if that's right, one reason I don't like working

with super intellectual people in general

is not because it's like being smart is a bad thing.

I'm intelligent.

I love numbers.

I love to read.

You love to read.

You're intelligent.

But there's something about Ryan.

When you're Uber intellectual and you overthink everything

and that to the point where it affects your confidence,

that's Cam Johnson.

Cam had a DA show with Yokech's state brother.

He got off the screen wide open.

He first looked at Yokech before realizing there's nobody standing in front of him

on a mid range.

It's like, oh shit.

And he just blinked it.

And what I'm saying is Cam,

you can just tell the difference with Porter.

Porter wasn't as intellectual as a player.

He just, you know, that's not in the same way.

Porter was just, but Porter was just

I'm firing.

Now he would miss a lot.

And his defense was worse than Cam's.

But like, I think at some level, man, like

the nuggets need

and Jamal Murray, by the way,

then have the greatest game in the world.

You know, he was what,

eight of 23 today?

Was that what it was?

SGA was, you're asking about SGA.

No, brother.

We're trying not paying attention to the show.

I was reading that.

Jamal Murray was nine of 23.

He was nine of 23 today.

He had some really good moments today.

He had some really good moments.

But again, you know,

there were some times where you could have got more out of

he had fishing the first half.

Sure.

But in general, y'all, like, I think my whole thing is

the nuggets, they have enough talent to do some special things.

The problem is, is that I really don't know if they're going to have the time

to be able to take care of that and take care of business enough

to get some of these victories they're going to need

and to get involved when four rounds.

Yeah, like, finding a way to blend it all together

is the most difficult aspect of this.

And now you're going to, like Peyton Watson is going to come back

at some point either this week or next week.

And he's going to be reintroduced to this.

And you're going to have to figure out, okay, how does this work?

Now, what is the, what are the mechanisms here?

Who do we go to in the clutch moments?

Who's the, who are the initiators in the second unit?

Who are the guys that are also going to, like,

it's a very fair question to try to figure out.

It's like, that's the thing that people don't fully appreciate

when you're, like, getting back healthy people is that,

yeah, you've been grinding for one way

and just trying to survive for as long as possible.

And it's paralysis by analysis in some ways.

And then, like, this is a cam Johnson thing too.

Like, when you've got too many good options,

you don't make a good job.

You don't make a good play.

And so that's, that's going to be an interesting one for Denver, I think.

How do they work back in Peyton Watson?

How do they work back in everybody?

And then how does the team sort of react to that?

But I do think that they are out of time in some ways.

Like, how much can they really accomplish

over the course of these final 15 games or so

before really shutting it down and getting ready for the playoffs?

I think it's a fair question.

Do you think that they are going to,

like, is there something that you want to see

that you think that they can show that you're actively looking for?

Yeah, absolutely.

That aggression they had to start the year all.

They were tone setters, the first 15 games of the year.

They don't do that.

That's not their, that's not their MO.

They're a team that's searching still.

I will say brother.

And this to me is important because this is about like,

this is about their ceiling and this is about, hey,

do they have a guy that is able to get to it consistently?

I don't know if you know this, including tonight,

okay.

Yochich in his last five games,

it's averting 31 points of game on 70.4 true shooting.

That's pretty good.

So what's happening is, Yochich is that touch that we're looking for

is kind of moving itself back into, oh,

there's that guy that's best player in the world.

There's the guy that's all time great offensive engine.

So if you're telling me that he goes into the playoffs like this

and they can just get their guys around him to be like,

hey, you know what we need to do on defense?

Don't give any air.

Do not give any air.

You need to be suffocating.

And Jamal, what I do expect from Jamal

is something that's been noticeable even today.

The person that gets blown by the most right now is Maul.

Yeah, it's not Yochich, it's Jamal.

But some of that's because of his legs.

So I get it in his ankle like today.

I'm not even, it's not even a criticism as much as it is.

When we get to April, that has to be fixed.

Yochich, when the thing he does every year,

bad room protection and regular season,

good room protection in the playoffs,

that you, Yochich, you've got to get to that,

you've got to turn that engine on.

I think it's the same thing with the team.

I think everybody has to turn their engine light on.

Whether you get the rockets in the first round,

the Lakers in the first round,

the Wolves in the first round,

or you get the spurs in the first round.

If you stay at like, say, six to seven,

whatever else it is, be ready.

Yeah, everybody just got to be ready to go.

I'm with you there.

I think it's a good point at the salient point.

And it's one thing that like,

that's all that they can really accomplish.

There's, there's not something extra that they have to do

that they're going to have to try to learn on the fly.

Kind of last, like last year in a lot of ways,

where they're learning a little bit,

a little bit about themselves as they go

through the end of this regular season

as they go into the playoffs as they try to figure out,

okay, what is our solution going to be tonight?

What is our solution?

What is our, our thought process?

How are we going to approach this game?

What are the major counters?

Things of that nature?

The good thing about the injuries

is that they've worked on a lot of things.

Is that they've done a lot of different things.

They put a lot of different stuff on tape for themselves

so they can go back and look at some different things

that they liked.

Look at some things that they didn't

and then try to iron out an actual playoff rotation

that makes sense and is really positive for them.

But I'm not willing to give up the rope on it yet.

I just, I'm not willing to do that.

I'm, there's less slack than there was before.

I'll say that.

There's a, there, they're definitely putting a little bit

of stress on to Nuggets fans.

But I've seen an account, by the way,

that says whenever these teams play each other,

just knows always a dog fight.

I guess who it is.

Denver, okay, see the spurs and the wolves.

Oh, you mean basically three,

the three teams and the same damn division

every time they play each other.

It's an absolute war.

You know what I'm kind of tired of?

I'm tired of them playing each other.

That's what I'm tired of.

They, why are, why are they all in the same spot?

And then you got the spurs coming up like,

it's just, they're all in the same area.

All of them can't wait until they send Minnesota East.

Can't wait until they send Aethody Edwards

to the Eastern kind of thing about it.

You got it.

You know, Kitch, Murray, Gordon, obviously,

Peyton Wasson, let me put my goad in there.

SGA, chat, dub, heart, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

And then you got Aethody Edwards and Rudy Gobert.

And then on the other end, it's like Victor Wimbenjama

and Dylan Harper and Castle and five.

Brother, when these teams,

the spurs and nuggets haven't even played Yokech Wimbe yet.

And you know this.

Every time Yokech and Wimbe see each other, it is a war.

They, they care.

They go off.

They like, it's, it is the current guard

versus the, the young kid on the block

who is ready to take over.

And like the interview that Yokech did

where he said that, like, it can't,

I'm so excited to be retiring a few years

before Wimbe takes over the NBA.

That is true.

Like that, that will eventually happen.

But it's, like, it is an oh,

and kind of an old to what these teams are

and what these players are,

how difficult this process is Denver, I think,

has a long way to go.

They're still, they're still figuring

some stuff out.

But I'm still not willing to give up on it yet, man.

I'm just not, I'm not going to.

So also to brother, those threes that Yokech hit, man,

those were like for me, like, he's still in there.

You know what I mean?

No, not still in there, like, yeah, like, bro,

the quarter three, number one, movement corner three.

And then he ran a pin down three for Yokech.

He says, just swash.

And then this year, bro, I'm telling you,

if they went in with the overtime, bro,

I think Yokech might have got for 50.

Like it was, or 45.

It was on the way and I like, we're about to get some more.

But then, you know, S.H.A. just did the thing

and the thing took over and all that stuff, bro.

What's a, what's a better,

what's a better individual performance?

So you had Yokech wolves, SGA Yokech today.

And then Anthony Edwards had that performance,

44 points in that game as well.

Which is like, how would you rank all those performances

you've seen this year?

I think that Yokech game is still the top of the top

on Christmas.

I think that's the best game that the NBA has seen

played this year from an individual standpoint.

But I would, I mean, this SGA game is ridiculous.

You have to make it.

The numbers, the efficiency, the lack of mistakes.

And like, he had some great defensive plays as well.

So like, he had the whole package going today.

And Denver, Denver's got to find a way to disrupt them

at least a little bit.

They got to be more physical with them.

They have to try to do so without fouling,

although that's a dangerous game itself.

SGA only had four free throws today.

Didn't matter.

By the way, Dan Hyatt, tonight Denver was up 16 at one point lost.

It's the fifth lost this year.

Denver leading by 16 or more in a game.

Most such losses in any season in the Yokech era.

So they had the, the Spurs game, they were up 17.

The Warriors game, they were up maybe 16 at one point.

They were up against the Lakers without Yokech at home.

That was an ugly one.

They were.

And there's, there's a couple with the Clippers one,

they were up, probably Clippers.

Probably Clippers have to think about the other.

They're like, yeah, I mean, they've given up these leads.

If they relax, they allow other teams to go on Tenno runs.

It's, it's just, they've allowed teams to just bury them

in some of these situations and that has to stop.

That's, that is the thing I think that is the most inexcusable.

You can't allow another team to bury you

with a 15 to two run.

Can you tell me, what is your grade for David Adelman,

let's say, since All Star Break?

C minus D plus, like, it's, it's hard to go much higher

than that.

The team has played better defensively,

but they're also not getting great defensive results

from the number standpoint, like teams are still

making shots against them.

And the offense is where they were shining.

And they just haven't been able to coalesce things together.

So I think, I think you have to give,

you can't give any higher than a C minus, I think.

Yeah, that small, that small ball thing is, is definitely

turning Thai Lewis bro.

That's definitely turning Thai Lewis.

It'll look better when Peyton Watson's at the fore.

Actually, we've seen so many times.

That's going to do it, y'all.

That's Ryan Blackburn.

I'm Swap, but y'all know what time it is.

Make sure your likes share it, subscribe on the YouTube side.

Make sure you give it to five star of you on Apple iTunes.

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What a great game.

We'll be seeing you on the other side.

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