The time when the Nuggets made their Pespi Center an impregnable fortress, with an almost perfect record of ten wins and just one loss at home during last year's playoffs, is over!
Undergoing the law of the young Wolves of Anthony Edwards And Karl-Anthony Towns during the first two games of the conference semi-final, which they played at home, at altitude on their Rockies, the teammates of the double MVP Nikola Jokic appeared not only overwhelmed by events, and the suffocating defense of Wolves, but also irritated and irritable. Simply losing control….
“We lost control of our emotions in this match”recognized Mike Malone himself after the loss of Game 2 (106-80).
Trailing by 32 points on home soil, with leaders in distress, the Nuggets clearly did not show their best face in this first part of the Western Conference semi-finals. Mike Malone was also entitled to his little moment of confusion: with a face-to-face with the referee Mark Davis, insulting him with virulence following a forceful passage not whistled against Karl-Anthony Towns who crushed Jamal Murray…
“Although Coach Malone was visibly upset with his team and the referees, I did not hear him say anything unsportsmanlike that would have warranted a technical foul.”, Mark Davis said very soberly after the match. The benefit of a champion ring probably…
“We have to leave the referees alone”
But, with a Jamal Murray who is now at 9/32 on shots on the first two lifts, and a jostled Nikola Jokic, who lost far too many balls (11 lost balls for 17 passes), without weighing as he should have facing the Wolves deprived of Rudy Gobert in Game 2, the Nuggets will have to question themselves.
“We were getting pushed and taken out of our spots. They grab us and hold us, and we turn to the referees. We did nothing to respond to their aggression”, Aaron Gordon rightly noted. “Honestly, we have to leave the referees alone. They are not here to help us. They are there to whistle a match. »
The only player sanctioned with a technical foul, even though Mike Malone probably deserved one for his rant, and Jamal Murray could have risked even more on his gesture of frustration (a very dangerous and dangerous heat pack throw). very expensive), Aaron Gordon signed a real plea in defense of his friend Jokic, victim of numerous uncalled fouls according to him.
Before retracting. Or in any case, to refocus the debate for the Nuggets who actually got lost along the way against the Wolves…
“I know I'm giving you somewhat contradictory statements by talking about the referees and then saying that we should ignore them. But that's the bottom line, we just have to focus on ourselves and play our game.” concludes the strong winger, well aware of the difficulty of the equation.
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Nikola Jokic | 79 | 34.6 | 58.3 | 35.9 | 81.7 | 2.8 | 9.5 | 12.4 | 9.0 | 3.0 | 1.4 | 0.9 | 2.5 | 26.4 |
| Jamal Murray | 59 | 31.5 | 48.1 | 42.5 | 85.3 | 0.7 | 3.4 | 4.1 | 6.5 | 2.1 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 1.8 | 21.2 |
| Michael Porter, Jr. | 81 | 31.7 | 48.4 | 39.7 | 83.6 | 1.3 | 5.7 | 7.0 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 1.8 | 16.7 |
| Aaron Gordon | 73 | 31.5 | 55.6 | 29.0 | 65.8 | 2.4 | 4.1 | 6.5 | 3.5 | 1.4 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 1.9 | 13.9 |
| Reggie Jackson | 82 | 22.2 | 43.1 | 35.9 | 80.6 | 0.4 | 1.5 | 1.9 | 3.8 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 1.8 | 10.2 |
| Kentavious Caldwell-pope | 76 | 31.6 | 46.0 | 40.6 | 89.4 | 0.4 | 2.0 | 2.4 | 2.4 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 2.0 | 10.1 |
| Christian Braun | 82 | 20.2 | 46.0 | 38.4 | 69.4 | 1.0 | 2.8 | 3.7 | 1.6 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 1.7 | 7.3 |
| Peyton Watson | 80 | 18.6 | 46.5 | 29.6 | 67.0 | 0.7 | 2.5 | 3.2 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 1.1 | 1.8 | 6.7 |
| Julian Strawther | 50 | 10.9 | 36.9 | 29.7 | 71.0 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 4.5 |
| Justin Holiday | 58 | 14.9 | 45.4 | 40.4 | 75.0 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 4.0 |
| Deandre Jordan | 36 | 11.0 | 62.4 | 0.0 | 49.1 | 1.5 | 2.9 | 4.4 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 1.6 | 3.9 |
| Colin Gillespie | 24 | 9.4 | 46.4 | 39.5 | 66.7 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 3.6 |
| Zeke Nnaji | 58 | 9.9 | 46.3 | 26.1 | 67.7 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 2.2 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 1.4 | 3.2 |
| Jalen Pickett | 27 | 4.5 | 42.9 | 36.0 | 75.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 1.6 |
| James Huff | 20 | 2.5 | 60.0 | 33.3 | 100.0 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 1.2 |
| Hunter Tyson | 18 | 2.7 | 40.0 | 28.6 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.6 | 1.1 |
| Braxton Key | 20 | 3.0 | 41.2 | 40.0 | 75.0 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 1.1 |
