big honey and the nuggets

I got a wonderful happy birthday at shootaround this morning 🥹🥰 this team rocks pic.twitter.com/TLKEdMF3iM

— Katy Winge (@katywinge) November 15, 2023

just monitoring the vibe-o-meter, still 10.0/10

Nuggets without Jamal = the Sluggets

— D-Line (Denver Man) ((Eric Wedum)) (@DLineCo) November 20, 2023

they really miss his size/shooting/playmaking, him being out just throws the rotation into total disarray, malone should start one of the bench PGs and let reggie run the second unit, he’s the only one who can playmake consistently outside the starters

jokic is about to foul out thank you kanye very cool

what did kanye do

ha I was doing a the 1975 reference

i dont know anything about that

Last night's game was embarrassing. Did Gordon make a single FG?

Chalk it up to fatigue and missing Murray, I guess.

it’s been an extremely frustrating last couple weeks. feels a lot like the jamal/MPJ-less 2021/2022 seasons where jokic just had to do everything, which to his eternal credit he’s been doing. he’s a miracle. I’m not sure what stat this is specifically referring to but the gist is spot-on: jokic has been incredible, head and shoulders the best player in the league, and the rest of the roster has been trash:

Nikola Jokić has an NBA-leading 6.5 wins over replacement player.

Every other Denver Nugget has combined for 1.1.

— Andy Bailey (@AndrewDBailey) November 25, 2023

the thing about the nuggets is that they’re so interconnected that losing a guy like murray is more harmful to their bottom line than you’d think: it throws their rotations completely out of whack and the lack of playmaking, particularly when jokic sits, is glaring. their secondary guys have been very bad recently because everyone is forced into a role that is just that much more demanding than what they’re ideally suited for.

on the bright side:

Nuggets through 16 games:

10-6
9th best offense
10th best defense
9th best NetRtg
-8.6 NetRtg with Nikola Jokic off the floor

Nuggets through 16 games last season:

10-6
7th best offense
26th best defense
16th best NetRtg
-14.5 NetRtg with Nikola Jokic off the floor

— Harrison Wind (@HarrisonWind) November 25, 2023

in the end the truth for essentially any team is that losing one of your top 2 guys means you’re just not a serious contender. murray will be back soon and the pecking order will be restored, and the way they looked prior to his injury is reassuring that this is still a championship caliber team at full strength. but the vicissitudes of injury luck are just a cruel reality of the NBA

the one guy I’m keeping my eye on is aaron gordon. he’s had a disastrous past few weeks, his shot has completely abandoned him, and is basically afraid to get fouled at this point. again, his natural role is one with a little less offensive responsibility…but the way his shot has completely abandoned him this year is extremely concerning and has serious implications for the team’s ceiling

gotta say though the hilarious thing about nikola is that he’s breaking the scales on basically all the advanced stats and yet is in the middle of a shooting slump

he should do well tonight vs sa who are in fact trying to break the record for most dysfunctional start for a world class rookie

Free big man clinic courtesy of Nikola Jokić. Take notes. pic.twitter.com/DwurKW6shV

— DNVR Nuggets (@DNVR_Nuggets) November 26, 2023

I wish my job could be to let jokic get as many buckets on me as he wants

interesting matchup tonight vs the clippers, who they completely own, without jokic murray and AG. incidentally the nuggets are running the ‘20bench unit clippers offense with reggie jackson-deandre jordan lobs

trade jokic and jamal, the DAJ/reggie give and go is unstoppable

Just in: Jamal Murray has been upgraded to questionable for tomorrow vs. the Rockets. There’s a good chance he makes his return to the lineup.

— Harrison Wind (@HarrisonWind) November 28, 2023

Nikola Jokic draws up the play in real time.

Bucket. pic.twitter.com/y1cI61tUkH

— Harrison Wind (@HarrisonWind) November 29, 2023

coach jok

ha thats great

that is good. what stellar defense by #54. i have zero clue who any of those spurs are on the floor

Nuggets star Jamal Murray (hamstring) will make his return vs. the Rockets tonight, sources tell ESPN. Murray has missed nearly a month with the injury. Defending champs are 6-5 without Murray, but won six of seven to start season with him.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 30, 2023

murray back baby. jokic should play but AG is out again though according to the DNVR beat guys

Henry Kissinger

Wrong thread, lol

and this is how I heard the news

You're welcome

great news in any thread

lmao thanking you moodles

damn that’s sort of ominous. anyway the nuggets look great with jamal back

they need him hes good

what no one needs tho is henry kissinger

jokic has 8 assists in 9 minutes. kissinger was holding him back

figured as much

jokic has 15 asts no turnovers

from what I can tell a team has turned it over two or fewer times in a game only 10x in history, nuggets have a chance to join them with 3 mins to play

immediate 2 turnovers in garbage time smh

nuggets with jokic and jamal (the jays as I call them) = good

The Suns put up a 131 ORTG and are down 7 at home.
The Nuggets put up a 145.8 ORTG and are only up 7.

Whichever way you want to phrase it. https://t.co/eVwcZ4eqv6 pic.twitter.com/cEkKwkW9lZ

— Adam Mares (@Adam_Mares) December 2, 2023

filing away “teams with a 148 offensive rating in a half they made zero free throws” for later research…

145*

jokic had 36-13-14-2-1 in a tough loss on a road back to back last night

now leads the nba in points, rebounds, and assists

leading points, rebounds, and assists is nuts, one guy shouldn't be able to do them all at once

yeah thats crazy he should chill out

i wonder sometimes now for how long jokic will have to play at this level and how many chips the nugs need to win b4 we start talking about him as a top 10 all-timer

people are already starting to talk about it tho obvs were not close to actually being there, youd like to see his peak extend into his mid thirties for top ten consideration so another five six years, if he declined a lil earlier at like 31 or 32 i think youd still have an argument but he prob wouldnt reach consensus

and then i think one ring is fine but if he got more itd be better

if he another couple rings on similarly dominant playoff runs it would supercharge the process

he already has 2 mvps could def get another, id say his chances of ending up as a widely acknowledged top ten guy are really good, injuries aside hes clearly on the trajectory

his floor is prob moses malone who had three mvps and a ring level

the list of guys since the merger with at least 2 regular season MVPs and at least one finals MVP:

kareem
michael jordan
wilt
lebron
moses malone
bird
magic
duncan
curry
giannis
jokic

that’s 11 guys, you can certainly make the argument for some others to be ahead of him (kobe, hakeem, shaq, russell), then — but assuming another 5 years of elite production I think he’s going to have a great argument. winning another title will obviously help

that’s since they started doing finals MVP btw not the merger

the amount of realized talent required to lead the modern nba in points, rebounds and assists is beyond my ability to understand

the denver nuggets starters are back together…and it’s awesome baby

How the fuck are they suddenly down by 4

the way I heard it the ball don't lie