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Post by blackhill on May 14, 2023 11:54:52 GMT -5
Lakers will not play Vando much, he hurt them pretty bad in the Warriors series despite his stellar defense and rebounding. In the last two games, he played 4 mins per game. It is just too easy to clog the lane when he is out there. Would be wonderful if he does start, giving Joker an easy assignment but I imagine they will have Schroder start.
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Post by TNF on May 14, 2023 11:56:13 GMT -5
Agree 100% GBG. We have to take the Lakers MORE seriously than EITHER the Pups or the Suns. The current Lakers are better than both the teams we've beaten, and although we beat both pretty handily, any kind of even slight mental let-down and we could have easily lost to either one of them.
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Post by GBG on May 14, 2023 12:12:51 GMT -5
Agree 100% GBG. We have to take the Lakers MORE seriously than EITHER the Pups or the Suns. The current Lakers are better than both the teams we've beaten, and although we beat both pretty handily, any kind of even slight mental let-down and we could have easily lost to either one of them. Exactly. I wrote upthread a fairly extensive analysis showing the Lakers are 18-5 since the February trade deadline when AD and LeBron each play for at least 28 minutes, and that we are 18-10 when Murray and Jokic each play for a minimum of 25 minutes. Nobody cared or responded to this finding. It tells me nobody is too worried about this series. Scooter scoffed at me earlier when I declared early in their series against Dubs that “Lakers are the best team in NBA right now”. No one believes it, but I strongly feel it’s true IF AD and LeBron are healthy. We are ripe for an upset at home. If we lose one of first two games, we are in trouble. Lakers haven’t lost at home since early March. |
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Post by famicommander on May 14, 2023 12:57:48 GMT -5
Vando is nothing to worry about offensively, but he is a pretty damned good defensive player, and one TC shouldn't have traded away. He is especially talented at rebounding, which is something Joker has dominated in our first two series. This is a legitimate concern. I also saw Vando making corner 3’s in the last series. He can be a shooting threat, though limited. People here are taking guys like Vando and Reaves way too likely. Hell, they can’t even spell his name right (it’s not “Reeves”). Generally, Nuggets fans are overconfident about this series and haven’t done their homework about the Lakers, including here at NT. This genuinely worries me, because if this attitude extends to the players and coaching staff, we are gonna get burned. Vanderbilt shot 5/23 from the field and 2/11 from 3 last series. |
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Post by rock on May 14, 2023 14:02:17 GMT -5
Agree 100% GBG. We have to take the Lakers MORE seriously than EITHER the Pups or the Suns. The current Lakers are better than both the teams we've beaten, and although we beat both pretty handily, any kind of even slight mental let-down and we could have easily lost to either one of them. Exactly. I wrote upthread a fairly extensive analysis showing the Lakers are 18-5 since the February trade deadline when AD and LeBron each play for at least 28 minutes, and that we are 18-10 when Murray and Jokic each play for a minimum of 25 minutes. Nobody cared or responded to this finding. It tells me nobody is too worried about this series. Scooter scoffed at me earlier when I declared early in their series against Dubs that “Lakers are the best team in NBA right now”. No one believes it, but I strongly feel it’s true IF AD and LeBron are healthy. We are ripe for an upset at home. If we lose one of first two games, we are in trouble. Lakers haven’t lost at home since early March. I’m absolutely terrified of the lakers. And refs |
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Post by inyourmind on May 14, 2023 14:05:01 GMT -5
I don't think any defender shuts Jokic down. Back in the day it wasn't him getting "shut down" by small defenders it was just him being passive and looking to play team basketball vs trying to score. He just laid an egg against P.J Tucker. Tucker guarding Jokic in the finals would be a dream matchup. Jokic is in the tier of talent where the only person who shuts him down is himself. Nobody can play perfect every game. Sometimes you miss the shots your supposed to make. In the past Jokic has probably been unselfish to a fault occasionally but how he's been the past two seasons and what he's showed in the playoffs I see no reason not to have confidence that he's going to do his thing for most of the series and L.A has no answer for that. Even against Minny people talked about Gobert/Towns duo bothering him(which for sure has truth to it) but he had 1 bad shooting game and he tore them up in every other area offensively during it.
IMO the defensive matchup for Jokic is more important for his offense than anybody a team decides to throw at him. Him having to use a ton of energy, getting frustrated when he's getting picked on etc. Which is why I preferred L.A to GS.
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Post by GBG on May 14, 2023 15:06:46 GMT -5
I also saw Vando making corner 3’s in the last series. He can be a shooting threat, though limited. People here are taking guys like Vando and Reaves way too likely. Hell, they can’t even spell his name right (it’s not “Reeves”). Generally, Nuggets fans are overconfident about this series and haven’t done their homework about the Lakers, including here at NT. This genuinely worries me, because if this attitude extends to the players and coaching staff, we are gonna get burned. Vanderbilt shot 5/23 from the field and 2/11 from 3 last series. Which is why I wrote “can be” and “limited”. He did shoot 60.4% this season on 2’s and 32.2% on 3’s. 54.8% overall. Can’t be completely ignored. |
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Post by scooter on May 14, 2023 16:05:16 GMT -5
Agree 100% GBG. We have to take the Lakers MORE seriously than EITHER the Pups or the Suns. The current Lakers are better than both the teams we've beaten, and although we beat both pretty handily, any kind of even slight mental let-down and we could have easily lost to either one of them. Actually I don’t think we need to take it seriously at all. In the department store of life, we are in the toy aisle. The Nuggets as a team seem to have a lot of motivation. |
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Post by famicommander on May 14, 2023 16:06:39 GMT -5
Vanderbilt shot 5/23 from the field and 2/11 from 3 last series. Which is why I wrote “can be” and “limited”. He did shoot 60.4% this season on 2’s and 32.2% on 3’s. 54.8% overall. Can’t be completely ignored. He literally fell out of the rotation at the end of the series because he was being ignored on offense. That's exactly what just played out on the court. |
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Post by duh88 on May 14, 2023 20:02:58 GMT -5
Someone on Twitter said that they should start Vando and put him on Murray - and I think that’s a great defensive plan - that’s the only way I see Vando getting mins.
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