Good interview by Coach Adelman after seeing his team get demolished in Game 2 by 43 points inside of an emotional PayCom Arena on Wednesday night.
No excuses, no blaming of the refs…no bullshit. He called his players out and he saw it pretty much like I saw the game.
The Nuggets led one time in this game and that was at 2-0. Not long after the Thunder were ahead 34-14 and for all practical intent this game was over because in my mind the Nuggets did not react quickly enough to the physicality applied by the Thunder. This is playoff basketball. This isn’t the time you shrink away from physicality. This is the time you turn it up.
The only Denver player who answered the physicality call was Russell Westbrook and I thought he by far was Denver’s best player last night…if there was one.
As players…you have to be smart enough to feel the tone the refs are setting early in the game and adjust to it. By the time Denver seemingly ‘somewhat’ adjusted to this physicality the Thunder had scored an NBA record 87 first half points in a playoff game to lead 87-56..
The previous record of 86 points in a half was set by Cleveland when they laid the wood down on Golden State in the 2017 NBA Finals.
It was Jokic’s worst game in his NBA career. He was limited to 17 points and had a career worst -36 rating.
I don’t sugarcoat things on this blog. Denver just basically got their asses kicked by a hungry-angry Thunder team which knows they gave away Game 1 on Monday night.
I also like the way Coach Adelman didn’t play the ‘1-1 series is tied we did what we set out to do’ nonsense. Denver got beat in every facet of the game.
Denver got outrebounded, they turned the ball over 21 times, they got bullied in the paint on both ends of the floor, and they gave up more fast break points. The only Nugget who engaged was 37 year-old Russell Westbrook, and MJ has to tell you—that is still one reason I love Russell.
This is not complex. The guys in that Denver locker room know it. They’re proud men. They know or will know by Friday morning after they’ve dissected the film how they have to address this on Friday night inside of what should be a raccous Ball Arena.
This is what NBA Playoff basketball and NHL hockey are all about. They adjust, you adjust, they adjust, you adjust.
After Game 1, Shai in his always gentle way challenged his team by saying, “We’re going to find out about ourselves in Game 2.”
I would imagine that train of thought has already been shared in the Nugget locker room by Jokic and maybe even perhaps Russell Westbrook.
Game threes in series tied at 1-1 are usually a pretty big deal. I would think the opening five minutes on Friday night should be revealing as to what type of game we’re going to see.
Mike J