Just a great NBA Playoff game to watch last night as the gritty Denver Nuggets found a way to win Game 3 in Denver and in essence keep the home court advantage they gained in Game 1 in Oklahoma City.
Coach Mark, as at the end of Game 1, was not stellar in his moves during the final 5:30 of this game as the Nuggets routed the Thunder 13-2 during the game’s final minutes.
Two moves glaringly stood out to me as far Coach Mark moves down the stretch ..
1 Why did he go away from JDub’s coal-hot hand late in the game?
2 Why did the Thunder go small bringing in Caruso in the OT and remove Holmgren from the floor? Why in the world would you at that juncture of the game open up the paint to Jokic when he was 0-11 shooting from the outside entering the OT?
Why would you open up the rim to Jokic when he couldn’t hit anything else on one of the worst shooting nights of his career? It makes no sense whatsoever. I doubt the puppydog OKC sports media will take him to task for any of this…but this isn’t the OKC puppydog sports media—this is okcthunderground.com where it’s told like it is.
But I have to give the Nuggets credit…they fought hard the entire night playing uphill and never surrendered. Michael Porter Jr. was my No.1 Star of the Game. He completely sucked it up with his injured shoulder and from my view was the difference in the game.
Jamal was my No. 2 Star with his dogged 27 point performance on a night when Jokic was brutal the first 48 minutes of play with 10 turnovers to go along with the bad shooting night.
Aaron was my No. 3 star for the way this guy’s big game and big moment gravitas has been one of the big stories so far in the Western Conference Playoffs. Aaron cooly hit the shot which sent this game to overtime. Enough said.
Christian Braun deserves a word for his dogged defense on Shai. Shai has now had two tough shooting nights so far this series with C-Braun guarding him.
And Peyton Watson gets a ‘graph from MJ as well. Peyton was excellent in this game as the 7th man in the rotation with some much needed scoring, defense, and rebounding.
Russell was solid, but not the factor he’d been in both Game 1 and Game 2. But you know what…Coach David Adelman will take solid from Russell every game if that’s way the game shakes out and what Coach Adelman needs to fill in the gaps.
So here’s my ultimate take heading into Sunday’s piviotal Game 4 in Denver….Denver with a win in Game 4 can ensure itself they will have OKC back in Denver for Game 6 for a Thunder elimination game if they win on Sunday. I cannot imagine anyone inside the Denver locker room wants to play an elimination game of their own in OKC where the officials will allow them to play their college bump and grind game of Forty Minutes of Hell.
Biggest game of the season for both teams tomorrow afternoon inside of Ball Arena.
Mike J