ESPN react to Nikola Jokic’s 17th triple-double of the season as Nuggets beat Trail Blazers 127-112

ESPN react to Nikola Jokic’s 17th triple-double of the season as Nuggets beat Trail Blazers 127-112

I’ve always wondered what those conversations are all about when you see mpj with Aon and Jeremy Grant do you think he’s saying man you you guys are terrible you couldn’t come what do you think is taking place there are so bad we can only speculate that was some of the coaching hugging

And few comments what a what a resounding win though from beginning to end I know the Nuggets were down five early but they they gave him the hammer at the end of the first quarter never let up yeah they didn’t and you know you people to go with them with with

Jamal being out and there there comes mpj and Colin gispie with huge huge huge games yeah um you know the the question is is without Jamal uh who steps up and especially in the case of Michael Porter Jr um it it’s very gratifying to see him

Have a game like this in the absence of Jamal Murray uh because I know that’s something that we’re all waiting for and we all um know he is capable of in these last two games he has been flat out on fire five three-pointers um tonight in a very Diversified offensive performance

For him again uh and and the Nuggets needed it well uh Michael Porters Jr doing most of the scoring a season high 34 points he’s with our Scott report Vic Hans and Dempsey here another triple double for Joker we’ll get into that in a moment Michael Porter Jr doing most of

The heavy lifting on the score sheet but this is what you expect when you’re missing Jamaal Murray who’s that next person to pick it up tonight it was npj yeah it really was he you know he came out he hit uh three right off the bat

And and he just had it going he got his legs underneath them them I really liked his game and overall just the passing offensively 38 assists for the Nuggets guarantee you’ll h Michael Malone talking about that in his postgame yeah yeah looked like Nuggets basketball

Didn’t it it it really did and um look for mpj and we we’ll talk about him more in a second the his last two games have been um fantastic but this was not a game that they started the way they wanted to start early in the early

Moments and you get a quick timeout from coach Michael Malone um you regroup a little bit and then you put the brand of basketball that you really want to put on the court and once they started doing that uh Portland really was helpless to stop that over the course of the night

And and the Nuggets were very consistent uh in getting this Victory future is in your hands presented by ball Arena and we’re going to start with Michael Porter JRR he had 22 at halftime finished with 34 5 threes 12 rebounds and I thought on a couple occasions guys he really locked

Down defensively he locked down DeAndre Aiden Le in that game yeah got got one got switched up on him but his movement you know just good I mean it just you know he just seemed to be moving and cutting and slashing and finding open and and Aaron Gordon had seven assists

On that because he realized this guy’s hot let’s get him the ball yeah I think so the last two games for Michael Porter this would be 46 points 23 rebounds for him and a bunch of three-point makes um you know he looks really fresh you know

I think is uh one of the things that I noticed kind of with a bounce in his step um playing with great IQ as well and um reading the situations all the right way and when you do that paired with a guy like nicolea yic uh he’s

Going to find you with the ball and then all you got to do is make the shots and he made them all well speaking of Nicole yic he missed a few shots tonight so he didn’t have the perfect triple double but you know what he had a triple double

In 29 minutes 17 seconds as opposed to last night 18 minutes 44 seconds this is how good he is now now we’re keeping track of how long it takes think about that for a second and he’s averaging it at about what is that about 25ish minutes something like that I don’t know

The guy just un and again he just had some really sweet moves offensively that um I feel bad for deand Dron Jeremy Grant everybody I mean I mean look at that dish but look at Aon here Aon doesn’t even know what to do who do you

Go with where do you where do you start get a three haven’t seen him hit a three in a while yeah you know and Jeremy Grant obviously overmatched here a lot and um some late double teaming and you know converging upon them which obviously just opens up other players um

Attacking offensive glass just everything that we know um Nicole yic to be on a nightly basis on the basketball court is what he put out there tonight and um Portland was really there was no it didn’t seem like there was a plan really well their plan what what I saw

Was plan was they were playing him straight up and then they were double him on the dribble in the paint and he just carved him up I mean once’s see players figure out where the double teams coming from and then he just carved them up uh we’re going to get

Into Colin Gillespie momentarily but first we know what they’re looking like they’re looking like Josh Hart and Jaylen Brunson and nowz defen chinzo and now Colin Gillespie and like they are major players and I just think that for Colin Gillespie good for him but I completely expect this out of him

Because I think he’s this kind of player well you know he’s he’s I talked to Fran fill about him going he was a nons scholarship player when he first went to Villanova was he really yeah he’s a billy kid he worked worked worked they made him Sky you know Big E play the

Year I mean he’s the uh the underdog all the time too short too slow whatever but he just knows how to play the game and he he was a factor for the you heard Michael Porter Jr after the game he smart player knows what to do on the

Court I love that move he made when he did that slip screen and he got the pass from Joker for the lamp that was my favorite Joker plotted him on that one all right Nuggets win let’s hear from the head coach from tonight’s coach’s comments presented by Advent health

You had a lot of stars obviously Michael with the new season Joker with another triple double but what did it mean for this team for call him to play the way he did Off the Bench I’ll give you a funny story about that so after the game

You know obviously Michael had a great night Joker had a great night thought Pope’s defense and just you know I wasn’t even sure if he was going to play tonight for him to you know fight through that hand injury and play the way he did and then U the guys gave

Colin the game ball you know for his performance 18 points four assists no turnovers and uh he looked very comfortable very confident out there and upon seeing that some of the guys gave Colin the game ball and the col said what the hell you do I just had a triple

Double that’s my game ball so uh yeah a lot of guys stepped up and played well we’ve been very good in the second night of back-to-backs this year and you know we got contributions from a lot of guys tonight which is H which is what you need why do you think

That is why do you think you guys have played so well on second night of back Tob backs um I’m not really sure I there not something something that that’s black and white that I could pinpoint it’s this I think um I think tonight it was understanding that okay we handled

Our business last night against Washington didn’t have to play guys um really heavy minutes and then the time of the year you know I think you know we talked about going into the break having lost three in a row which is not what we

Wanted but you have to own it and uh you know we talked about coming out of the break and hitting the ground running and playing at a high level and obviously Nicole a back toback triple doubles but you know Michaels 34 and 12 and a lot of

Other guys um playing well but I think it’s more of a understanding of what time it is what have you seen from from Michael Porter in terms of taking advantage of some opportunities to get good looks inside the Ark in the last couple of games well yeah I mean he the

Good thing was he was 5 of 10 from three tonight last night he was two of seven um he’s rebounding that’s back toback nights where he’s been all over the glass I think 11 last night 12 tonight um but he’s also shown that he can put

The ball ball on the floor and uh if if Michael fully commits to passing and cutting I think he get so many more easy baskets because the guy that he’s passing to is arguably one of the greatest passers in the history of this game and Michael is such a big Target

And they play on the high side so they’re trying to make him a two-point scorer and he’s shown that he can do that just as efficiently so uh this was a night where Michael played at a high level throughout the whole course of the game does he sort of understand those

You know the the need for him to score a little bit more on on certain nights when someone like Jamal is is going to be out for you guys yeah I mean we we want Michael to be Michael no matter who’s out there you know I mean we know

That he’s efficient uh he can shoot the ball with the best of them and um you got to take what the game gives you you I mean I think it’s important I think we have a lot of guys that don’t come out and try to force the issue they take

What the defense gives them and um that’s how weight room over there our guys are getting after it yeah so um but yeah I I mean Michael’s was reading the game and and reading the defense and it was great to have without Jamal you know

You have three guys get you know 34 29 and then Colin Off the Bench gives you 18 you you just talked about Michael moving without the ball passing cut there was an interesting timeout ear in the game and Aaron Gordon was out and he was talking to the guys and he was

Talking about move move they’re over playay and cut is that the key to your offense just just movement without the ball yeah I mean we are a ball movement and player uh player movement team and we we get ourselves into trouble when you turn it over so you know 13

Turnovers but I think nine of those were in the first half so second half much better job of not beating ourselves which was great to see but if you move the ball you know the defense is going to break down if you give yourself up I mean there’s so many ways to be

Unselfish in this game and people always think being unselfish is just with the ball and the pass if nicoa pops and I slot cut behind it I’m opening up something for somebody creating a paint three behind that so um and when you have a quarterback like you know Jamal

Murray and Nicole yogic who’s just going to find you it’s just just how we play and it’s for me the right way to play you talked about talking to the guys about hitting the ground running post allar what can you say about I mean you go up against two teams that on paper

You should beat but kind of the approach your guys have had so far how impressed have you been with the way they’ve come back yeah well on the season I I think you know in this league you have to win the game just supposed to win on paper

And I think overall we’ve done an outstanding job of beating the teams out of below 500 and that has to continue now with 25 games to go U but then more importantly to your point Katie understanding like I thought kavus callwell Pope in the huddles tonight was

Great even late in the game when I put in you know Jaylen and Julian and Justin and Jay and braxon he’s in the Huddle saying hey play the right way build good habits you know we’re building for a championship and so I think you know when you have veterans like Casey CP uh

Vocalizing that and making sure everybody understands that um we have to start our um kind of playoff push now you know and not that we’re not going to go 25 and know the rest of the way but just the approach and the proper mindset and

I’ve seen that in two games now we know we go to San Francisco and it’s going to be a hell of a challenge uh playing them for the fourth time this year and uh I think our guys will be up for that challenge as well coming off of the

Solid game yesterday what did you see from Zeke tonight yeah I mean just uh you know rebounding he’s a great offensive rebounder and I love when he rebounds in traffic takes his time gathers goes up strong and dunks it you know that that’s always just so much fun

To watch I thought he had some very good defensive possessions tonight fighting e in the post got a steel working to front him in the lane um you know three or four from the field he’s uh you know Zeke is getting an opportunity and to his credit he’s taken advantage of it

How much are conversations with him about sort of you using his size the right way and sort of understanding his presence inside on after those kinds of rebounds yeah I I think it’s just something that you know we’ve worked with him on and give Zeke all the credit

In the world because he’s understood okay these opportunities I know that maybe I’m not going to get a lot of play calls for me but when I get an offensive rebound Moses Malone said it years ago every time my teammate shoots the ball I think it’s a pass to me that’s Zeke’s

Mindset when somebody shoots the ball he’s crashing the glass he’s getting us offensive rebounds and he’s going up with the he First Blood double kill your team has destroyed a tower you have defeated an enemy an enemy has been defeated an ally has been defeated enemy double kill you have defeated an enemy

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ESPN react to Nikola Jokic’s 17th triple-double of the season as Nuggets beat Trail Blazers 127-112