Two games into the second round of the NBA Playoffs and the defending champs are in T-R-O-U-B-L-E. League MVP Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets trail the surprising and surging Minnesota Timberwolves two game to none with both losses having been lopsided and happening in Denver. The series shifts to the Twin Cities for Games three and four later this week on Friday and Sunday.
Friday, May 10, 2024
Game 3
Denver Nuggets (+160) @ Minnesota Timberwolves (-192)
Spread: Timberwolves -4.5 | O/U: 204.5
The boys of Bet the EDGE took a hard look at the series on today’s episode.
Drew Dinsick (@whale_capper) is happy he is holding Timberwolves tickets.
“I kind of think it’s over. I think the reaction that the market has had after these two games is fair…This is not hyperbole. I honestly don’t know how they solve their biggest problem, which is that Jamal Murray is far from 100% physically fit.”
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Jay Croucher points to the Murray injury as a factor but believes there are two bigger factors working against the champs.
“I think that Anthony Edwards might be the single worst player in the league for Jokic to go against defensively in terms of just Ant’s ability…his athleticism, his combination of quickness, size and strength, I think is the worst possible matchup for Jokic and his kind of lack of mobility around the rim. Teams have not really done this that much in the past. They are not bringing Jokic into the action. They want him at the rim. They don’t want Jokic in space. They want him there at the rim and Ant to beat him.”
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He continued with a deeper dive into the MVP’s play the last two games.
“I just think that the other defining characteristic of Jokic is that he is in constant control. The game operates on his own clock. He is never sped up. Even if he is like falling out of bounds it feels like he has an extra half second to make the perfect decision. This series he’s not. He’s super sped up at the moment. It feels like he doesn’t have a read on the floor of what is happening. I think he’s kind of lost faith.”
Dinsick agrees that Jokic is playing like he believes the end is near and it is inevitable.
“It’s tough for me to not look at the way he’s performing and say it has less to do with the matchups and what the Timberwolves are doing and more to do with just the ‘Man, I don’t know how much longer I can carry everything’ and if Murray is as singularly incapable as he seems to be, then let’s just get this over with. There’s a whiff of that.”
The whiff will become a stench if Jokic and the Nuggets do not play harder and better Friday in Minneapolis.