2023 running NBA playoffs thread

[PCLoadLetter]

Jokic has been my favorite player for several seasons now, and while I'm more of an All-NBA fan than of any single team (thanks, Hornets, for nothing since some fun in the first iteration), I'm overjoyed at the Nuggets winning. Jokic is pure joy, but there's a grit to the team, too, that's admirable. Kudos to Michael Malone as well, and for that front office allowing the organization to see a vision all the way through.

Team-building is always going to be helped by having the best and most unselfish player in the world in one jersey, but it was still a well-constructed roster of players who seemed to each buy into a singular goal and process.

Agree with all of this. Jokic has been the most entertaining player to watch for a few years now. Nuggets were my go-to NBA League Pass team for most of this year.

 

[Batman]

Agreed, but Dallas also was playing the odds that they could luck into a top pick. If they were locked into the no. 10 pick, I don't think they tank.

Also, the No. 1 seed they would've had to go through was the Nuggets.

 

[qtlaw]

IMHO one of the reasons that the Nuggets won the championship is that a guy like Porter, Jr., a guy who loves the 3 pt. (even though he's 6'10"), saw his shot wasn't falling (at all the whole series) and started rebounding and cutting to the hoop and playing some D. That selflessness had a huge impact. It wasn't all about the Joker and Murray. I give Porter Jr., Gordon and the other "Jokic-ettes" huge credit for a true team championship.

 

[Cosmo]

Porter's first quarter 3-point blitz against the Suns in game 5 was the kill shot in that series. Phoenix was done after that.

 

[BTExpress]

Is Porter still unvaccinated? Against, like, anything?

"I've never been vaccinated in my life. I've never had any shots or anything like that.''

 

[Della9250]

From this morning's Pulse e-blast (The Athletic):

Nikola Jokić enters the pantheon

Let the record show the Nuggets' title-clinching win last night was a rock fight of a game. But for an entire fanbase, an entire city — it doesn't matter. History will forget the details, as it should.

What history won't forget: one of the most impressive title runs in recent NBA history. Nikola Jokić was already historically good, but averaging 30.2 points, 14 rebounds and 7.2 assists in the Finals makes you a legend. The same goes for Jamal Murray, who had just 14 points last night but will be remembered for being a borderline superstar in this series.

Denver went 16-4 en route to its first title. Only the 2017 Warriors (16-1) lost fewer games. Jokić & co. went through Kevin Durant, LeBron James and Jimmy Butler. The two-time MVP is the first NBA player to ever lead the playoffs in points, rebounds and assists, as ESPN pointed out last night. Not Jordan, LeBron, Magic or Kareem. Jokić. Mark Puleo has a deeper look at where Jokić fits alongside the greats.

And who's to say this isn't the start of a dynasty? Consider:

• This core, when healthy, has been one of the NBA's best. They blitzed the bubble back in 2020 and made a Western Conference finals appearance. In early 2021, Murray tore his ACL and missed an entire year and a half. The year he returned? Ring.
  
  
• Look at the West. Memphis has to deal with whatever punishment is coming Ja Morant's way. Who knows what the Warriors look like with Bob Myers gone? Phoenix has a new coach and tough roster decisions. LeBron is a year older, and the Lakers must work deftly this offseason to maintain a contending roster.
  
  
• Jokić is just 28. Murray is 26. There's a massive title window available, as John Hollinger noted this week. Denver is already the favorite to repeat.

Back to last night, which will mar what has been an incredible postseason for Butler. The Heat were one quarter away from losing in the Play-In, but made the NBA Finals. Butler largely dragged them here.

Yet it was Butler who managed just eight points through three quarters, and who — with 27.1 seconds left and the Heat down 1 — threw one of the worst passes you'll see, straight to Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. On the next possession, he chucked a desperation 3-point attempt off the backboard. It was a sad end to a gutsy season.

No postseason rest for us, though. The NBA Draft is in 11 days.

- - - - -

Nuggets win ONE title after a history of mediocrity, suckitude, and flashes of excellence ... and now DYNASTY!

I take bigger umbrage with this sentence from a Ringer piece: If Monday night was the last game he ever played, Jokic would still go down as one of the 20 greatest players to ever pick up a ball.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

I take bigger umbrage with this sentence from a Ringer piece: If Monday night was the last game he ever played, Jokic would still go down as one of the 20 greatest players to ever pick up a ball.

It's a matter of perspective. For two healthy years, Bill Walton might've been the greatest player ever. He was IMO the greatest college player ever. But those years were all he had, so he's not on the top 20. Jokic has had three years of being the best player in the league, supplanting LeBron. That IMO is a fair case to make for being in the top 20. Back-to-back MVPs followed by a title year. It's not a weak case.

 

[Hermes]

Is there another two-time MVP with a title we wouldn't consider a top-20 player all-time?

 

[Regan MacNeil]

Was gonna say Steve Nash until I saw title.

 

[Spartan Squad]

Is there another two-time MVP with a title we wouldn't consider a top-20 player all-time?

Bob Pettit?

 

[BTExpress]

Is Moses Malone top 20 all time?

 

[Songbird]

Devean George.