Nikola Jokic delivers as Nuggets take strange Game 1 win
That was definitely a game that happened. Despite his early struggles and never reaching his peak game, Nikola Jokic once again delivered big for the Denver Nuggets as they took down the Minnesota Timberwolves. The greatest player alive today is now 1-0 in the NBA Playoffs. Emmet Ryan on a predictably strange encounter.
Game 1 in the first round of the NBA Playoffs is often odd. There are stakes, obviously, but equally as obvious is the room to adjust. Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets took this to extremes early against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Yet despite being sluggish in parts, possibly because of it, they look to be in a great position for the remainder of this series.
It was a feeling
There’s a moment in V for Vendetta where Stephen Rea’s character accurately predicts the cycle of events that will follow. He got it just from a walk but he was certain and he ended up being right. That’s how I felt when Bruce Brown made a three to start the second quarter.
For all the problems Denver had in the first quarter, including the turnovers by Nikola Jokic and Jonas Valanciunas, this felt like it was done. Not just the game. I mean the entire series. Minnesota had been gifted an awful 12 minutes of basketball by the Denver Nuggets and it didn’t matter.
Honestly, everything after that felt irrelevant. It just seemed like there was no doubt that the Denver Nuggets would find a way to win this game. Similarly, it’s really hard to see what the Minnesota Timberwolves have to offer that will be enough to be superior for long enough in four games of this series.
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Are you drunk?
No but I intend to be later. There’s an element of they are who we thought they were. Nikola Jokic isn’t just amazing, he’s consistent. It’s extremely rare for him to have a truly off night. Couple that with Jamal Murray entering the NBA Playoffs off the best season of his career to date and a Denver Nuggets team with steel should have been expected.
The Minnesota Timberwolves don’t lack talent but they have certainly lacked bite all through the season. There was an opportunity to blow open a big hole yet they couldn’t do it. Granted, there were some individual moments of brilliance defensively from Rudy Gobert and Donte DiVicenzo.
What wasn’t there was a reason to think they could fully outperform this Denver team sufficiently across 48 minutes. The moment that Brown three dropped, it felt like all the work the Timberwolves did had been for nothing.
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I’m genuinely surprised this isn’t working
Jonas Valanciunas had the ideal pre-season for playing as a back-up 5 who was entering an unfamiliar set-up. His experience at EuroBasket with Lithuania, where his role was shifted dramatically during the group phase, was like the perfect baptism. He adjusted well above expectations. It was like the Denver Nuggets had asked the Lithuanian national team to try it, so useful did it look.
Yet he was simply not ample. When Nikola Jokic sat for the first time, after a so-so start. Valanciunas unfortunately lived up to his largely dour performances this season. There was a foolish belief in me that he’d turn it on for the NBA Playoffs. I may yet be proven right but, right now, I feel like I was mistaken.
That’s the one real concern I have for Denver coming out of Game 1. They have more than enough to make relatively light work of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Granted, light work Nuggets-style can still go six games. For the steps beyond this, most likely the Spurs, it’s a real concern.
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