Miami stole game 2 in Denver, as the series shifts to Miami with Jimmy Butler & crew looking to continue their journey to complete the world's greatest upset.




*skatin' the rings of saturn*


..and miles to go before i sleep...

(said knowing full well a GOATed Jimmy game or two is lurking somewhere nearby like Michael Myers)

Will reiterate that it took an epic bed-shitting by our role players *and* Miami playing perfectly in the 4th *and* Miami hitting ~50% from 3 for them to barely win via a close miss from Jamal. So, like, let's not have THAT happen again.

.

...I'm from the era when A.I. was the answer, now they think ai is the answer - Marlon Craft

-The Knicks’ coaching search still includes a lone frontrunner, Kurt Rambis, whose qualifications for the position include a strong relationship with Jackson and a willingness to take the job.

i originally had miami in 7. but a lot will be revealed about the nuggets mental makeup if they go down in a series for the 1st time in this playoffs. we will see tonight how they respond to losing their first home game and home court advantage. i might have to adjust my predication down a game or two.

people are framing these games with such a pro-nuggets driver seat slant like they framed the early games in the nuggets/lakers series in terms of what the lakers did to lose or not.

like people are acting like the heat hitting 3s and having a big 4th quarter are some aberration. when theyve been the best 3 point shooting team in the playoffs and easily the best 4th quarter team in the playoffs...especially when it comes to winning games after being down 10+.

miami is breaking vegas/analytics with what theyve been doing during this run. its historical in its own right but its not being covered that way.

like theyve played 20 playoff games i believe...and 6 of those they have shot 50% or above from 3. and denver is giving a up a lot of open 3s.

if anything...the real aberration was them missing so many 3s in game 1.

and nobody is factoring in that jimmy hasnt really gotten it going yet and caleb martin has been a nonfactor in denver. i dont expect that to continue. and thats bad news for denver if miami adds more scoring because that defense aint going anywhere.

>if anything...the real aberration was them missing so many 3s
>in game 1.
>
>and nobody is factoring in that jimmy hasnt really gotten it
>going yet and caleb martin has been a nonfactor in denver. i
>dont expect that to continue. and thats bad news for denver
>if miami adds more scoring because that defense aint going
>anywhere.

Miami should be up 2-0 if they shot up to their standard, and role players usually play better at home.

it wasnt even just that the heat shot bad in game 1. their *best* shooters all uncharacteristically bad at the same time. strus and robinson combined went 1-15 or something like that from 3.

thats not gonna happen again.

- Your players are going to play great for the rest of the series
- Our players, however, are not

*thumbs up*

i just said i dont expect those heat players to play as extraordinarily bad as they did in game 1.

theres a big difference in the usual heat sharp shooters bricking wide open 3s...and murray and mpj having trouble scoring because of the heat defensive adjustments limiting their good shot opportunities (like jimmy guarding murray and the heat running a matchup zone to stick to mpj and force him into contested 3s while still preserving the zone principles everywhere else on the floor).

i mean...look at what that heat defense is doing to denver to this series compared to their previous rounds (even including the game 1 'blowout').

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fx5u0CzXgAIIaxX?format=jpg&name=large

that defense is gonna be there the whole series. might even be better at home. might even get better as the series progresses and the physical/mental pressure starts grinding guys down.

if key miami players just start playing better than that horrific game 1 start...that combined with the defense puts them in a lot better position.

And doing so off of a two game sample size.

I get it. Not even mad. Y'all stole homecourt. Keep the hot takes coming.

https://twitter.com/ESPNStatsInfo/status/1666429803900141570

they won the 4th quarter in both games at the toughest home court in the playoffs.

if these games are anywhere near close going into the 4th (which is prolly gonna be more likely as the series goes on)...miami prolly has the advantage.

Talk your shit. I'm sure MPJ and Jamal are gonna put up a combined 23 pts again. Definitely something to count on.

>and nobody is factoring in that jimmy hasnt really gotten it going yet

Literally reply 1.

where the pressure has players like mpj and kcp reverting back to bad habits and the team in general is starting to get away from their identity.

plus...what are the nuggets gonna do about all of the open 3s they are giving up to the best 3 point shooting team in the playoffs? is this team even capable of any defensive adjustments or personal changes that would address that? thats a pretty glaring hole in an area that could easily decide a series.

when its all said and done...it could look like denver really only won the 1 game everybody expected them to win (home game in altitude with mad rest vs a team coming in off a grueling 7 game series). and they might come up short in the other games where they really had to compete.

I tell ya, I'm not convinced.

the Nuggets have faced any real adversity.

let's see if they have the fortitude to respond.

cuz the Nuggets have always felt like a good time team to me, ever since Jokic got there, meaning they look great when shit is rolling, but seem to shrink when the going gets tough.

>cuz the Nuggets have always felt like a good time team to me,
>ever since Jokic got there, meaning they look great when shit
>is rolling, but seem to shrink when the going gets tough.

Back to back 3-1 comebacks? Those *were* pretty good times, I admit.

ol' bullshit ass season.

but fine, if you wanna use that to make a point, have at it. i'm not gonna argue about it.

but if you want to put a feather in your cap with a playoff run that...*checks notes* included wins over the Jazz and choking ass Clippers in front of no fans on a neutral floor?

ok. no sweat off my back.

they still have to prove it.

^^^ who wrote that demonstrably false statement? Was it me?

they still have to prove it.

they won a couple series over teams that blew it in a weird ass playoff year. congrats.

they haven't done anything worth clucking over yet.

This year had the exact same final 4 as that weird ass playoff year, btw. What a wild coincidence.

i don't care if you think i'm wrong.

See you next reply

>ol' bullshit ass season.

agreed. huge asterisks for that whole season

-------------------
I wanna go to where the martyrs went
the brown figures on the walls of my apart-a-ment...

Regardless of how you feel about all that, to say we haven’t handled adversity in the Jokic era is to ignore or forget about that entirely. That’s one of the more memorable runs in recent memory along those exact lines.

And now we can add tonight to the conversation as well!

-The Knicks’ coaching search still includes a lone frontrunner, Kurt Rambis, whose qualifications for the position include a strong relationship with Jackson and a willingness to take the job.

<---https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DL9AVTQ

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

out hear brickin bunnies.