World’s Finest: Nikola Jokic’s MVP Showcase In Win Over Cavs

World’s Finest: Nikola Jokic’s MVP Showcase In Win Over Cavs

The Nuggets bounc back in a big way versus the Cavs behind Nicole yog’s absolutely astonishing MVP performance we’ll break it down talk about the shooting returning plus I got a question for Adam mahrez about a predicament with pton Watson in the playoffs all that and more on World’s Finest here on lock on

Nuggets you are locked on nuggets your daily Denver Nuggets podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day welcome to locked on nuggets your daily de nuggets podcast part of the locked on network your team every day thanks for joining us and making this

Part of your day appreciate you guys being with us Monday through Friday being in every dayer checking us out here whether you’re on Apple podcast or Spotify or joining us on youtube.com lockon nuggets for the live show we really appreciate you guys being with us make sure to hit us with those

Five star reviews on Apple podcast and with uh some likes and subscribes over on YouTube GL to have you with us lots of folks here with us in the chat on a Sunday night uh Lively events going on at your home I have children crying outside my door for a moment so

Hopefully everything’s okay happy Easter Easter to them um my because I’ve been in all these home games my wife has been with the kids like all week and she’s like you must take take the children I’m like yes I will do it I promise we’re almost through this this home stretch uh

On today’s show we’ll break down the Nuggets win over the Cavaliers dominant fashion 13101 we’ll talk about Nicole y’s game which left me uh breathless quite honestly uh we’ll talk about uh the shooting returning and what that means we’ll talk about a good performance from just about everybody

And we’ll look at what happened in the western conference tonight and uh final segment I got question for Adam mahrez about Payton Watson and the playoffs hit that all and more on today’s show hope you guys had yourselves a great Easter if you celebrate uh Adam marz let’s

Start right here um I said this there have been so many that I not able to hold in my brain a ranking of the best Nicole yic games there’s just been too many right and you have to separate in my opinion out the playoff ones from the regular season ones like today’s

Performance does not hold a candle to the 30o triple double that he had in game three of the NBA Finals because the stakes are just entirely different however what I will say is that it is one of the games that I will remember that I will recall that I will talk

About because this game with the nuggets on a two game losing streak at home looking completely out of gas once again without their starting point guard and Jamal Murray this game was one from tip to buzzer by Nico joic other guys played great Nico joic put together at a symphony an absolute

Just Mass Masterpiece of a basketball game today versus the Cavaliers I agree you got to have to go a little give me another minute Matt here so I’ve got egregious crying going on right outside my door so just give me a second that’s okay uh so the reason

I’ll kind of say this and this is something that we’ve talked about on the show before um yogic had 26 points he’s had more points he will have more points that that isn’t going to register historically he had 26 points he had 18 rebounds he had 16 assists if a few

Things had gone his way this was going to be a 202020 game I was seriously looking for it Justin holiday smoked a layup and missed an open three-pointer that’s like just two like I I’m going I am sure that there are enough assists that he missed in this game that would

Have been easy for him to have gotten the 20 assists and like two rebounds would have been very easy for him to have gotten this this could have been a 202020 game from Nicole yogic um he only shot 11 of 18 from the field right that’s good that’s good that’s really

Good that’s 6 1% but it’s not like one of the games where he’s had where he’s shot like he’s only missed two shots he hit one of two from three he had one steal the Box isn’t going to show this but this is the point is that really the

Amazing thing about a player that has so often set records has done things that Wilt Chamberlain hasn’t been done since Wilt that has broken every Advanced metric out there that is the analytic analy’s dream player in terms of how what he produces and the impact

That he has on games all of that does not really fairly capture the impact he has on a game that you will get by watching him every night because I have seen him have better lines and not control the game the way that he did today and it wasn’t just the control

Today because we talk about that all the time and it’s honestly that’s his Baseline now we used to be like wow yic is able to control the game that’s what he does every night but from the very tip off of this game he engaged and Malone talked about this how into the

Game he was in the Huddle on the court calling out stuff I haven’t looked at the at the numbers but I’m going to bet his deflections number was pretty high tonight and the reason I say that is because he was active and engaged on every single possession he was a step

Ahead of the defense he battled Jared Allen met him at the rim and blocked him he came right back down and they scored on him again and every time he missed he guys on rebound and put it back up there was such an overwhelming dominance and

In the third quarter a Cavs team that was clearly hitting altitude legs in the second half started just throwing stuff at the wall trying to guard this man they threw everything at him doubles triples here you’re running a dho Down Low inverted pick and roll okay we’re

Going to try and put two on ball on a center easy dunk there was so many sequences where the Cavs were desperately trying to do everything possible to stop him and you could not there is not another player in the league and there are very few players in

NBA history that I will ever see have seen or can see dominated game like he did from tip to buzzer today this really was I mean you can’t call it an all-timer because the game didn’t mean enough the stakes weren’t as high it wasn’t close to all this to that but as

Far as non alltimers go it was an all-timer it was he was so dominant in this game and your point like Jared Allen and Evan Moy they’re pretty good defensively wouldn’t you say yes they are that’s that’s a pretty that’s a pretty good defensive front court and the Cavs are a pretty good

Defensive team and they battled I felt like once again I feel so bad for players Jared Allen did everything he could like all I ask of guys is like try and make him work and Jared Allen did everything possible and it didn’t matter yeah um and Jared Allen like the last

Play was the funniest one to me we yoke first of all he came back in the fourth quarter which I was a little Malone has this weird thing going on this tibs like thing where he always brings his guys back in the fourth quarter 20 points but

He goes back in and he had one post up on Jared Allen where they did not send help where he just like dribbled him under the rim and shot the laziest layup and it’s like Jared Allen’s a top seven defensive Center in the NBA like of all

The players that should be hardest to do he’s he’s in the top 10 for guys that should be hardest do and yok made it looks ridiculous I mean I don’t know what to make of this Matt joic is so hard we play body language doctor we always try to play a psyche because

Let’s be honest it’s fun it’s fun to do like it’s fun to psychoanalyze your favorite players or artists or whatever um so like sue me if I enjoy doing it but why was he so passive against fad Young and against um you know Rudy goar somebody we know he can have his way

With he didn’t have the same urgency tonight he came out and looked like he wanted to just set a tone and dominate or whatever and it was completely different and the Nuggets did as collectively did not seem to have energy in those previous two games but I

Honestly think a lot of that is yok’s aggressiveness and taking over calms everybody else calms everybody and while Denver did shoot red hot tonight I don’t think it’s totally a coincidence when you see your big fella dominating the way he did in this game everybody just settles in a little bit

More yeah and regie Jackson talked a lot about that postgame about what he does and like the impact that he has on other players when he’s locked in like that and he mentioned something that Aaron Gordon said which is like you feel like you want to live up to him like you

Wanna you want to meet him there you want to help him out you want to do those things for him um I I honestly think a lot of this gets into the fact that once you cross game 40 in the NBA I genuin I genuinely believe this I think

A lot of it is like effort is something that you’re constantly trying to find and you don’t always have it like this was one of the things like I really kind of pushed back on this on Saturday show the idea because I know dine was kind of like he

Compared it to last year I’m like no no no last year they just were just like no we’re not we are making the decision not to try I genuinely think in the wolves and Suns games like they wanted to try uh I could told Rob Mahoney the ringer

Who’s in town for a feature I told him that in those two games um the spirit was willing the body was unable that was what March is over but the biggest moments in college basketball tip off of the month of April but be a part of the action on

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With us here on a Monday if you’re listening Sunday night if you’re joining us on YouTube uh so I do want to kind of mention this so the lead’s like I think it was it was 20 at the8 minute Mark and they gave up this big run yeah I think

20 and Big R this big run hold on hold on a big run no no not a big run um five it was like a five r five run a big one yeah so so it’s it’s I honestly thought it was gonna get to 30 and then it was

Back down to 20 and it’s the eight minute Mark right and here’s here’s I think is the way to think about it and how to view it if he comes back in he’s playing until the final two minutes because if he’s going to play he’s going to play

For a number of reasons some of which are probably Financial to be perfectly honest with us and so the decision then is like do you bring him back at all and the problem is if you wait like let’s say it’s like well you could probably like they’re not going to catch up it’s

20 like see if they can get it if you get to the five minute Mark yoke has now been sitting for 20 minutes like the sitting is worse for them this is what the players say the sitting is worse for them than like playing more minutes they

Don’t want to sit this long time time and then come back in so there’s almost like a binary that has to be selected at that 8 Minute Mark whenever he has to take time out to be like am I going to do this or not and if it’s under 25 he’s

Gonna do it because an 80 run makes it 12 and now it’s like I got to bring back yoke who’s cold into a game and that’s always been like a pretty consistent concern so I actually think that that’s maybe the way to look at it is like in

Every game of the eight minute Mark at that fourth quarter there’s got to be a binary Choice they’re up 30 and he’s not coming back in they’re up 20 or 25 or less than 25 and he’s coming back in I here’s my kick I’m on Matt and you’re

Going to hate it but I the longer I’ve done this the more I believe it I just don’t buy load management and I don’t buy resting guy like oh he played 30 minutes don’t bring him back in so he gets to 36 I especially for yoke but I

Just don’t buy it anymore I do think yeah anytime you go out there you’re you’re risking injury or or or something but to me I look at it and I go I don’t think yoke is meaningfully more tired because of that last stint than he would

Been he not played it I don’t think it actually makes any difference at all to him so you might as well just roll him out there if you feel like the lead is slipping I agree I mean I’ve tried to kind of talk about this that the players

Will all tell you that the pregame prep is so much more of it like if you go through the process of playing you do you want to go in and get treatment and do everything and stretching everything that these guys do like if you come to a

Game come early I don’t know when doors open come early as soon as doors open and go see what what yoke does just on his pregame warm-up and then watch him during layup line and then watch him during Anthem and like how much he has

To get his body ready to play yeah if you’re gonna do all that you want to play play yeah you might as well play yeah can I tell you though Matt here’s my theory that I put been putting on dmvr but I’m curious your your thoughts

I don’t want to just reiterate it the Nuggets downshifted by resting guys against Portland and Memphis Yeah and then did not have a good they had a great rhythm going into that stretch and then have not had a good Rhythm since it and my honest belief is I think this is an Untold

Casualty of load management the team was tired Denver was doing what they thought was best but rhythm is so important in the NBA and it’s so fickle especially for a team that is not ISO heavy like Denver as a team they play as a team you disrupt that Rhythm just a little bit

And I think sometimes it goes away and then you have to rebuild it and I honestly think that describes the last four games for the Nuggets where that that were uninspiring until tonight it’s an interesting it’s an interesting take and it’s definitely possible I don’t agree and the reason I don’t agree is

Based off of I don’t think that they were in great rhythm they were starting to kind of like they gave they went from a 39-point lead to a 15-point lead versus Utah they were down double digits versus Toronto to me they were just trying to keep the winning going like

Teams do that when they’re on a winning streak they’re just like let’s just keep it going we’re gonna get the one seed and then I think they really did hit a wall where it was like I me they looked gassed on both Wednesday and Friday like

They just looked like they did not have it and it didn’t look like a rhythm issue to me it very much looked like when yoke went full court and then missed the layup that was a moment where I was like he just and he just looked

Like it like God I’m so tired like just exhausted and it’s not that like well then why was he rested today I wish I could tell you like I wish I could explain to you why so why guys will do this but this is the what the end of the

Season looks like for a lot of teams and so I tried to like reiterate that on Saturday night’s show as like how random March basketball can be is that like you can look completely gassed like uh West Goldberg who you do locked on NBA with on Fridays you

Everyone um Wes tweeted today the heat were playing the Wizards he’s on locked on heat and he was like how did this team lose to these guys right like the heat lost to the Wizards and then like you see when they give like a modim of

Effort and it’s like oh this they’re not even in the same class right and the wolves are different and the and the suns are different and those are top opponents but that also kind of shows you like how good this is honestly like a thing with Denver like they have to be

Gassed without their starting point guard for you to be able for for great teams to be able to get a win on them in that building um and the Cavs did not play like a great team today and so they were not able to get a win um who else

Who else really impressed you today from the Nuggets well kcp I thought was like A++ he’s a little less interesting to talk about I think than some of the other guys because kcp I just always trust so yeah him him having a great shooting night was nice to see but he’s

Always good to me it was Christian Brown who’s had a lot of good lately did have a couple bad ones as everyone on the team had a couple bad ones against Phoenix in Minnesota but I thought he was really strong tonight guarding Donan Mitchell with some tough defensive

Assignments and also just looking more confident you know back to being confident on offense so I thought he was great uh kcp by the way with four deflections yok only had two I was surprised at that felt like he had way more but he only had four logged in it

Kcp or two kcp had four logged uh I thought mpj was was really good there was a couple of sequences in the first uh second quarter where I really didn’t like some of the shots he was getting to but then he kind of settled in and made

Better ones six boards is good for him as well AG uh grabbed eight boards as well to go along with eight points um Reggie Jackson hit shots like yeah I’m not gonna sit here I’m not gonna sit here and like act like Reggie played like I defended him on Saturday night

I’m not gonna say he and act like Reggie played awesome because he made five of five from three um but like he did he did the job that was called upon for him uh like the Justin holiday minutes again he was only three of seven but I

Actually like the I still continue to like the Justin holiday especially with the starters when called upon Christian had some really good sequences this was a very good bounce back performance from Christian um thought he was really good in this one um the Cavs were I’ll say this the Cavs

I looked at this they’re 20th in defense since Allstar um which is not to say that they’re not a good defensive team I just think that they’re they’re struggling with a lot of things right now and it does kind of show you I think one of the differences um and I’m going

To argue about this with swipa later in the week about the no point guard lineups like yeah no the no point guard lineups can work when you don’t have a ball Hawk on the other side Cavs never got into them never got into them Minnesota was like if you try and

Dribble the ball we are going to jump upon you and Cavaliers they have the guys to do that right and the Cavaliers are much more of a positional defense where they’re like we want to drive you into Mobile and Allen and have them kind

Of protect the rim or play two on I I said the same thing tonight on the dmvr show I I to me I Christian Brown impresses me I like the minutes if you can steal them and there will be playoff series where I think you can steal those

Types of lineups no point guard if if you choose to if you need to and I don’t even know if Denver would choose to if they had the choice but if you wanted to you could go to him but I’m with you to me that’s a one that works one game and

Then you go to the tape and it’s like oh we need to pressure this guy full court and see what he’s got and it probably will not work um there was a Sidewinder pass that yok through to the corner that a lot of basketball officios fanad that

I talked to thought that they was better than the behind the back that behind the back pass was disgusting like it was disgusting what were your thoughts on those two pass the behind the back one is is beautiful it’s a work of art but I actually don’t

Think those passes are that hard I’m surprised more guys don’t do them I throw this pass all the time what I’m working out of the post I love a behind the back to a cutter but I nonetheless it’s the prettiest so it looks pretty yoke had a run in the second third and

Fourth quarter because his first quarter was really good too but second third and fourth quarter where I just felt like there was a highlight or a laughably easy a play that he made look laughably easy every 90 seconds it was just a highlight reel of watching it play where

You were just like my God he is dominating yeah he was I mean he was incredible I will say this about the behind the back pass um the have you seen the top the top angle on it okay what get it when you get a chance I

Think altitude had it uh there’s a angle of it from the top it’s not the pass atom it’s the angle it’s the angle she puts on it because it’s not the normal one where he just like slips it behind his back it’s like I don’t even know how to put this

It’s like he threw like a perpendicular pass from himself sideways it’s not just like a it’s not a curve it’s like a straight back and the English that he takes on it is insane because it was so perfect like anyone else if they tried to throw that angle of pass it’s going

Out of bounds like it really if you can chase down the top angle on it I’m trying to find it here um but I will say the other one the tap pass like we we’ve seen y do that one a lot he had nice tap pass in this one that was when I

Literally like like he hit that to Christian Brown and I put in my notes like oh the nuggets are not losing like that was like that those like this is game um on the other side I have a question to ask Adam marz about Payton Watson as well as we’ll go over the

Latest in the Western Conference battle for the number one C we’ll do that when we return here on locked on nuggets I want to tell you about the Amazon Fire TV Fire TV is your destination for sports from live games to Highlights to in-depth analysis Fire tv offers amazing viewing experiences

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Of your day bubbles buzzer beater always is making comments about my aderin and I crack up every time um all right so I have a question for you because this is getting to be a little bit of a thing there is a discussion going on in the Nuggets media room about this question

Today Payton Watson played 19 minutes and and 55 seconds he had nine points three rebounds two assists shot four or five from the field had an absolutely fantastic dunk off of a slip from from yoke he had two of those yeah it was a really nice dunk

Do you think pton Watson is going to be all right I guess this is a question how much do you think pton Watson is gonna be in the playoff rotation I think that it is his to play a lot or not a little I think he’s just going to have a really

Short leash I think the hope is that he plays a lot Payton to me because he makes such a positive impact like he has he elevates Denver ceiling even at this level that he is at right now he elevates their ceiling a lot but he lowers their floor a lot and the thing

That’s concerning about it for me is I don’t feel pton Watson always has the necessary focus and intensity in the exact areas that the Nuggets need from him and that’s the only like even today he had that dunk and he kind of did a twirl and looked at the crowd and flexed

And I kept thinking like get back man like I know you want to feed the crowd but just you got to know your role and in a playoffs you can’t do that at all that’s just got to be he’s got to be a head down type of guy so for me we’re

Probably too late in the season for even if he played the way I I kind of hop for him to the rest of the way I still would wonder about it so I think the way it’s going to go is a lot like Christian Brown last year where he’s going to get

An opportunity Christian Brown didn’t ruin his opportunity very much I think there was one Series where it was like okay this might not be for you and he got pulled was a Lakers series but every other series he didn’t really do anything to get him pulled from the from

It I think it’s gonna be the same with Payton roll him out there in game one if he plays well he gets game two plays well game three but I think the moment he plays poorly in very specific ways mistakes def getting beat on defense or what have you or somebody not guarding

Him I think the moment he doesn’t overcome those things is when all of a sudden now it’s like I don’t know if you’re going to play you might catch a dnp it’s it’s always surprising to me just because it’s it just this is really crazy because I am just kind of like but

Pyton played really great for five months and then he played not awesome for like a month and then like Christian was pretty bad for four months and it’s been pretty good for like two and it’s just like yeah that’s how it goes that’s just how it goes um I actually think

You’re right I think that uh this is I think you’ve got the exact right way to look at it which is Payton’s the incumbent in every series Y and he gets an opportunity to play and then if it shows like this is not your matchup or

You know you made too many mistakes it’s more yeah do you have the requisite focus and attention to detail because the playoffs those little mistakes they hurt you in the regular season but every team has them in the playoffs it’s like what team can have closest to zero of

Those because everyone hurts so bad yeah and honestly I think a lot of it um because like David’s like he disagrees with the idea of the pton do a play with the intensity it’s not intensity it’s Focus yeah yeah yeah it’s it really I I think the biggest thing here is NBA Pro

Veteran intensity or focus is consistency and that’s why coaches are always harping on it is you want to be able to trust them possession by possession you can’t have like watch watch March Madness and see how often those kids just get out of control and you can tell and like the coaches can

Tell and they’re trying to get them through it to the next time out like you can’t do that in the playoffs because you will get eaten alive and so you have to you have to play within yourself and you have to play Within you have to play

Within yourself and the game plan and both of those things are so vital if you were playing outside of the game plan in the playoff series it’s gonna go it’s gonna fall apart and your teammates are gonna be extremely frustrated and like that’s a lot of it right yeah and and

Hustle and intensity like Payton make spectacular plays and often those come out of in incredible effort right chase down blocks like different things like that but their intensity often is most important in plays you never notice yeah like he shut off a driving lane because he rotated outside the paint to the

Other side and a guy took one dribble and then said never mind let’s pull it back out that doesn’t result in a highlight play but it’s those types of plays that in the playoffs just matter so much and again I’m not trying to rag on the guy I’m just saying I think

That’s going to be Michael Malone’s MO is he’s going to look at it and be and say you make one mistake depends on when it happens you’ll stay in you make two mistakes and you’re out like we can’t afford mistakes in a playoff series yeah like hurricane says I wonder if it’s

More it’s not your night and it’s not your Series so the problem with this is if they move away from you and they put in Justin holiday and they win that game because of that consistency Justin holiday is get in your spot the next game or you’re coming out sooner right

The next game like the Le it gets shorter as it goes along and that’s how those rotations happen but but I even think like it’s just a matter of mistakes and the thing is that Justin holiday is not cannot make as much of a positive impact as pton Watson

Defensively but he’s not going to make mistakes he just he’s going to have a very low mistake threshold and those things just matter so much in a postseason and by the way in a postseason here’s how it works this is why playoffs are so great game number

One you go out there with your own strategies you have to be like keyed into to those details like all these little subtleties of what’s going on you have to be keyed in but then game two there’s an adjustment and you make your adjustment and you have to remember all

The things about game one and game two and then you get to game three and it’s like okay now you need to remember everything from game one everything from game two and now a new wrinkle that we apply in game three and I think that happens three to four times a series and

Then games five six and seven usually it’s like all the cards are on the table but we’re mixing up how they come but that’s hard to do like right now in a regular season you don’t have that level of complexity and there’s still mistakes so that’s why I say in the playoffs it’s

As you go into it it’s going to be like hey man are you ready to execute all these complex subtle differences throughout the course of a game when we have you on and it’s a big challenge he can do it but Malone is going to make

Him prove it if he’s going to play elsewhere in the Western Conference on Sunday night the Minnesota Timberwolves took a tough loss to Chicago Bulls so they Dro back into a tie with the Denver Nuggets in the loss column the Oklahoma City Thunder looked like they were going

To be doing the same but they were able to pull out a late win versus the New York Knicks behind a shay gillers Alexander buzzer beater that was quite honestly amazing that was an freaking amazing shot the Thunder the thunder man like I don’t buy them in the playoffs

But they just keep winning they’re so tough man like they’re so tough one of the the big things with them that has been really hard like from a betting perspective you got to understand like their numbers are like 18 to one for for a potential one seed and it’s crazy and

It’s because of all the reasons that you’d suspect too small too inexperienced right um my only thing is that the inexperienced side the size thing I think is legitimately a problem but the inexperience thing I just keep being like you want to know one of the other reasons why inexperienced teams

That are this in experienc don’t win they’re also not this good like this team is better than all those other teams that were this inexperienced now they may go out in the first round like if they get the Lakers I’m picking the Lakers I’m just I’m picking the Lakers

Yeah they do have that’s the thing is they have a few teams that they don’t match up well with and they seem to be in the playoffs that’s why it’ll be really fascinating to see who they draw yeah it’s they are a phen and they are phenomenally phenomenally talented phenomenally well coached extremely

Mentally tough team because I’ve seen them in the spot so much where it’s like they get they were down double digits to the Knicks and we just like nope sticking with it nope you can’t just you can’t kick him off the ladder nck should have won that game though the Knicks had

So many good looks and chances down the stretch and they just like they did not convert enough of them even Jaylen Brunson did he missed three free throws in the last like two minutes and he didn’t get the call that everybody wanted they were all up he didn’t get

The M1 I feel like I was crazy because I thought that was a 5050 call everybody’s like that’s a obvious foul and I was like I don’t know man it’s like marginal contact me too kind of um but yeah so OKC stays a game up with tiebreaker over

Denver the Nuggets stay in third behind the well they’re actually in second because the nuggets are up by half game on the Wolves but uh it is still very much uh nuggets still up against it they’ve got the Spurs though on Tuesday who looked like they were gonna knock

Off the Warriors but then pull back Vel Kell and Johnson both banged up I think it’s pretty likely Denver’s going to get that win um the Clippers game I think is going to be tougher than people expect that Clippers team has played badly over the last month but they’re coming out of

It and they’re coming back home it’s just hard it’s a hard place to play and it’s a one-off road trip it’s it’s it’s tough I think Denver should win that if they care about the one seed but we’ll see uh I’m really amazed there’s a conversation like because the Mavericks

Won again versus the Rockets Luca was absolutely just in he was on he he had 29 in the first half he was ridiculous um he’s been playing great basketball but there’s this idea of like the Clippers got to watch out I’m like why would the Mavericks want the

Clippers like you’re if if you’re if if they have had nightmares against the Clippers like that they they have I mean they had two first round series and the Clippers basically went down 02 and one and then stormed back and stomped them and like the Mavs beat him as well

Though didn’t they no they haven’t beaten the Clippers in the playoffs really the Mavs only playoff wins with Luca are against the Utah Jazz that imploded thereafter and that was with Jaylen Brunson with LCA missing the first three games of the series and then versus the Phoenix Suns I’ll tell you

This I’m picking the Dallas Denver I mean as long as they’re not in the same bracket I’m picking those two teams at the top of the West I’m by Dallas I think they’re incredible and I don’t actually don’t think they’re incredible I think they’re incredibly constructed

To fit their star players and that makes and Luc is good enough that I think they’re a tough cover so I think Dallas and Denver those are my two favorite teams in the West in terms of who I expect to be standing it could be a really good good reain there where it’s

Like you could get if you’re the Mavericks and you get past the Clippers you might get either Minnesota or no Oklahoma City Oklahoma City or or the Lakers and you’d have home court that would be both of those series would be great I just I buy D I know you

Don’t like them as much but I no I buy them I I do I think they have a really good shot at making the the Conference Finals I I am always a little bit skeptical when everybody’s like this team and I’m always like it’s never that

Team it’s always some other team well it could be here here’s the thing about how I look at playoff teams after last year’s playoff run from the Nuggets where I really got to experience What mattered the most I just think you have to have the ability to be flexible on

The Fly and great go-to actions when it matters and I think Dallas has great go-to actions and I think they have like eight different pick and roll combinations they can throw out there for Luca and they all give you a different look so to me that’s something

That should be very versatile in a playoff series but we’ll see um I like a lot of their combinations the they were their fans were arguing with me about their defense tonight because I was like well you’re still 18 since Allstar break and they’re like yeah but if you just take this winning

Streak you can start to chop up the if you start to chop things too thin you’ll see exactly what you want it’s true um I still have questions I think a lot of it’s like you know a lot of their personnel like Daniel gafford’s Rim protection numbers have been absolutely

Phenomenal does that hold up I don’t know like there’s a lot of questions but look I think all the I think all the teams in the west except the nuggets have a lot of questions um and I think the nuggets have some question I mean this Jamal Murray thing oh yeah this

Jamal Murray thing I I’m not worried about it but but I do hope he plays on Tuesday because I think it would be difficult to come back at the late at the Clippers on the road and if you wait till after that Clippers road trip I did

We’re starting to get late in the season where it’s like okay what kind of shapes he in what kind of rhythms he in so my hope is that he’s healthy enough to play and get some good games under his belt before the playoffs um I’m actually not

Concerned about him needing to do it I think the Nuggets could literally not do much of anything before the playoffs and then come out in game one and stomp that’s my opinion so they did it last year so your op has a historical precedent uh all right thanks for joining us

Appreciate you guys being with us appreciate you guys joining the show uh Tuesday swipe will be with you to talk about no point guard lineups I’m sure and then uh Adam and I will recap the Spurs game on Tuesday night the last game of the home stand on Wednesday on

World’s Finest we have you set throughout the week last two weeks of the regular season April is here it’s playoff time baby thanks for joining us we’ll see you guys again next time on locked on nuggets yeah I’m not ready for this play

The Nuggets bounce back behind a phenomenal game from Nikola Jokic. World’s Finest breaks it down as Matt Moore describes why stats never do Nikola Jokic justice and this game shows why. The pair talk about KCP and Christian Braun’s contributions, whether Peyton Watson will see the playoff rotation, and update on the Western Conference standings. The Nuggets get back on track in this episode of Locked on Nuggets.

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