( ( ( ( ( nba bubble ball 2020 ) ) ) ) )

Nuggets have been a top 3 seed in the west for 2 straight years, have a very intriguing rookie. The future is bright!

i like the nugs roster but they cld stand to get a lil more athletic and physical imo

a 4-2 series loss w/ a 10+ point margin in the close out game... again the nuggets had a nice series but we don’t need to lie to ourselves about what the outcome of this series is and was always going to be

if you want to argue that they’re set up to be in the finals mix in the next era of the west whenever bron and kawhi cycle out i think that’s totally fair. i would take the mavs and feel pretty good about it but denver is in the discussion. they’re gonna need a good bit more to win back to back series against teams of the clippers and lakers level tho and nothing that has happened in this series makes me think otherwise

im more bullish on denver than dallas simply bc they have a core of players (jokic, murray, and mpj) as opposed to one phenom. i dont know how dallas creates that with the assets they have now. they dont typically draft/develop well and don't have a lot of guys with high trade value.

well the phenoms matter which is why denver can’t beat kawhi and lebron

well to be fair, luka just very famously did not beat the clippers either

sure but we’re talking 5 years down the road. i’m just talking about a ceiling that you have to hit and i still dunno if denver can get there.

history teaches us that the nature of hoops favors teams with a phenom

Nuggets just got 17 points in a row.

i agree with both of those things! but luka could have an anthony davis-in-NOLA problem (or tmac or mid00s kobe or whatever).

xp

like they dont have max cap room til 2023 assuming they max out luka in 2022. they could dump a bunch of contracts in 2021 tho, but theyve historically struck out on prize FAs.

dantoni is out of houston

rip mike dan tony

put some respect on michael daniel anthony's name

This feels like a competitive series to me!

v much so

nugs out hustling the clips bigtime here

The clippers have played every game the same way, there’s no extra gear that they shifted into when the nuggets made it close

― Matt Armstrong, Sunday, September 13, 2020 2:37 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeaah

not a great second half by the clippers

my god it would be hysterical if they lost this series

Guys I’d go so far as to say this Jokic fella is a phenom

van gundy calling the clips front runners over here the wheels are coming off game seven baby

xp im saying

The Clips need Steve Ballmer to give them one of his sure-fire motivational talks.

clippers apparently ALSO not excited by an LA/LA series

clippers failing to seal the deal on the conf semis again would be funny

Apparently the nuggets only have one guest in the bubble and it’s MPJ’s dad

paul george scoring a v quiet 33 points and a -23 in 39 minutes. kawhi plays 41 min and somehow only has a -1 on the game.

beginning to think the clippers curse is real

i think the competitiveness of this series is in the eyes of the beholder. the nuggets have shown well but at no point has the clippers spot in the west finals felt threatened to me.

― J0rdan S., Sunday, September 13, 2020 1:35 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

what do u have 2 say 4 urself friend

that this series is bordering on reflecting very poorly on the clippers!

I think it’s a sign that the nuggets are close to contending, personally

they don’t hand out trophies for winning second round series, even if the opponent is kawhi leonard

if the nuggets win this series my takeaway is that it's an enormous disaster for the clippers given what they gave up to put this team together. if the nuggets then lose 4-1 to the lakers i wouldn't judge them to be much closer to contention than before. i would certainly judge the clippers to be much further away tho.

i feel the nuggs actually matchup better with the lakers than the clips bc of their size, altho they dont have a "lebron stopper"

across their 13 playoff games in the bubble, the nuggets have a -36 scoring differential. like i said, the beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

beating the clippers in this series would be a great win for the franchise no doubt. my opinion is that it would reflect more poorly on the clippers overall but whatever. regardless, two insane 7 game series w/ a negative point differential (which they will have barring a 37 point game 7 win) makes for some memories but doesn't usually scream "contention," if my understanding of sports analytics is correct. but we shall see, that's why they play the games folks

as far as next year goes, the west will have lakers, clippers, warriors, nuggets, rockets, mavs, jazz, blazers, suns, grizz (i'm assuming okc drops off). could the nuggets make it to the west finals out of that group? it's conceivable. i also think it's conceivable they lose in the first round. so idk how closer i think they are to contention than i did 6 hours ago or before the bubble even began.

performance in the bubble may or may not be predictive of next season. it is a strange anomaly in many ways. but it is the best predictor we have to look at.

well we have no idea if that last part is true at all

lolclippers

if the nuggets win this series my takeaway is that it's an enormous disaster for the clippers given what they gave up to put this team together. if the nuggets then lose 4-1 to the lakers i wouldn't judge them to be much closer to contention than before. i would certainly judge the clippers to be much further away tho.

Guys, instead of butting heads about the current prospects of the Clippers, shouldn't we be figuring out how the Nuggets match up with the Celtics or Heat?

lol

it probably matters a little bit that of the clippers #3-#6 best guys, 3 of them haven't looked close to right in the bubble.

This has been a very evenly matched series between the best roster in the NBA and the denver nuggets.
― Matt Armstrong, Sunday, September 13, 2020 5:14 PM (one hour ago)

i think we can agree on this point as it's a 3-3 series but come away w/ different conclusions about what it means for the future

you: the nuggets might have the best roster in the nba

me: oh my god the clippers might have like the 6th best roster in the nba

What

it probably matters a little bit that of the clippers #3-#6 best guys, 3 of them haven't looked close to right in the bubble.

harrell was never going to be able to guard jokic but i would attribute the fact that he’s sucked in general to showing up late and being out of shape.