Flexibility In The Time Of Wolves: Game 3 Pre-Analysis
Thoughts as the series shifts to Minnesota
I thought — not believed — that the Nuggets had grown out of their worst habit.
Denver always has one screw-around game, a game where they should absolutely win, with chances or an environment in their favor, and yet they just faceplant anyway.1
Game 2 vs the Wolves in 2024 will always be the archetype of this for me. Minnesota was without Rudy Gobert2. Denver was at home, down 0-1. This is the spot where the home team comes back and obliterates the opponent to get back to even, heading to the opponent’s place. Sure, you lost homecourt, but every road team just wants the split.
Instead, the Nuggets got absolutely ran by Naz Reid and the Wolves to go down 0-2. They had to dig out by winning three straight, then predictably lost the kitchen sink Game 6 in Minnesota, setting them up to gas out in Game 7 and blow the 20-point lead.
If they just take care of business in Game 2, that series is over in six and Denver likely repeats as champion.
Instead, it led to consecutive second-round exits.
I thought that this team might be different. They’re more mature with Joker across 30 and Jamal Murray coming up on it. Cam Johnson is a more settled personality. AG’s entered a new zone of wisdom. They have veterans like Tim Hardaway Jr., and Christian Braun is no longer a pup.
Instead, they blew a 19-point lead and then another fourth-quarter lead.
Nuggets fans don’t like it when I express my belief, taught to me by multiple players and executives, that teams take on the identity of their best player. It’s often used as a shorthand for me to identify key problems with mindset or performance.
I’ll never believe in the Clippers with Kawhi Leonard, because he doesn’t lead or believe he should have to lead. He doesn’t communicate or set the tone. He plays and practices when he wants, and that’s supposed to be enough.
With the Nuggets, though, this isn’t always a bad thing. Joker is fiercely competitive in a Serbian way I don’t fully understand, being American. He will always have the drive to outlast, out-will, and out-hustle you. He’s calm and unbothered by the things that distract teams.
However, he is prone to moodiness, and when he’s not feeling it, everyone in the building can tell. This is not my read on this: this is what team personnel have relayed through the years.
Is it worth it? No question, look at the guy. He’s a top-ten player of all time already in my mind. His teammates genuinely love him. He’s not standoffish or removed from them. They follow him.
But games like Game 2 are the bad you take with the legendary, incomprehensibly great good.
I have predicted a Game 3 blowout. The Wolves have momentum and the building will be riotous. Denver is 8-8 in Game 3’s after losing Game 2, but 2-3 in a split series, and 1-3 when on the road.3
But more than anything Wolves-related, it’s Nuggets-built. This is the game where everyone says, “You better win Game 3 or you’re in trouble.” The Nuggets always seem to look at that situation and go, “OK, cool, we’ll be in trouble, then,” and then start digging their way out.
