Have the Nuggets figured out the Wolves?

How did Denver blow out Minnesota after being blown out in Game 2? This detailed film breakdown & scouting report explores Denver’s changes in Game 3, Jamal Murray’s resurgence and more.

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Music by Hairlight (Detour in velour) and Cody martin (Epiphany)

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[Music] there’s a scene in Monty Python in the Holy Grail where someone prematurely tries to declare a family member dead says he’s not dead yes he is I’m not he isn’t well he will be soon he’s very ill and that’s all the basketball world has done to the Nuggets over the past 4 days but Denver is still kicking and they’ve made it a 2-1 series after a blowout win in game three and the big question now is have they solved this suffocating Minnesota defense recall that in game one the Wolves executed a wonderful game plan where Rudy goar roamed off Aaron Gordon to protect the paint while Minnesota also loaded up to jokic’s role after he set a pick in game two goar was unavailable because of the birth of his son but Minnesota ramped up its defense in his absence and put on a clinic for the ages by hounding Denver into 16 turnovers the Wolves length and hands overwhelm the nuggets with an incredible 12 blocks and 11 Steals and that defense turned into easy offense on the other end for Minnesota Denver compounded all this by unraveling emotionally with Jamal Murray even throwing a heating pack toward an official and so Denver’s execution wasn’t crisp as they bumbled into a 91 offensive rating which actually under States their offensive sloppiness because all those turnovers hurt their defense Murray was 3 of 18 in the game and looked like he was playing in quicksand for most of the night he couldn’t really get by anyone on a bum leg lacked burst and just dead ended Denver’s offense on a number of key possessions but three days of rest seemed to really help his strain calf in game three so he could actually turn the corner here and collapse the defense Jamal had a little more burst back which was huge for dealing with all that ball pressure and finishing vertically at the basket and we saw this on the second play of the game where he was a little shiftier attacking Anthony Edwards and then finished right into go bear so a healthier Murray can create a little separation around screens and then quickly rise and fire with that extra space and all of a sudden the nuggets look like the Nuggets Again by getting layups out of their Twan game and note how Murray creates just a little separation which sets up the yic screen cat doesn’t want to leave him with all this space so now Joker’s free on the rooll and it’s Tic-Tac toe here’s another one where Murray’s usual shiftiness helps him set up another big yic pick and then we get that vintage shot making on the wing and for someone who couldn’t throw in the ocean last week suddenly his tough shot making returned in late clock spots which has served as a nice back stop for the Nuggets offense when possessions break down late in the clock so Murray’s play changed everything but the Nuggets were also far more careful with the ball Anderson reaches on jic here who was setting him up with a spin move and remember back in game two the Wolves had success poking at that left Tan on the back down dribble so on jokic’s move against Kyle he hesitates with the ball in his right hand to protect it and it’s two points instead of a turnover here it is again Joker actually stops to complain and Anderson flicks at the ball but yic is ready and moving it away as he reaches and this lets Denver’s offense have a very nugget likee possession basically the Wolves now have to pay for double team Joker like everyone else he makes the right pass kcp cuts through and keeps going and the Wolves never quite recover in rotation even on a cross match Edwards is hunting for that steal but jokic makes sure to protect the ball on the pass and now he’s just shooting fish in a barrel so Denver’s ball security helped its defense and let them dictate the terms of Engagement like they normally do and because Murray was functional again there’s a big difference between mostly dead and all dead all of a sudden the legendary nuggets offense looked good no double comes cat does something Joker hits the open man that scrambles the Wolves defense and there’s no one left to block out jic on the putback so this wasn’t a game with big strategic adjustments but there were small tweaks to grease the rails and attack Minnesota’s weaknesses they want to keep goar off yic so they have Joker screen for Gordon which creates a switch and from there he can go to work in the post and draw free throws here’s another lovely wrinkle with jic initiating and Murray setting the screen in the back court Jaden McDaniels doesn’t want to leave him and goar is hesitant to help but towns can’t ever fully recover they also ran some middle pick and rolls toward an empty side of the floor basically preventing cat from recovering to yic because there’s too much space only that freed jokic’s role and the Nuggets could play their game there’s another offensive rebound from scrambling the defense and we actually saw this on an earlier play where having Murray come back toward that empty Corner really stress test the idea of the big man gluing himself to Joker here’s another one with that empty Corner spacing Murray walks Anderson right into the screen and that’s an absurd pass to jic and this time Nas Reed actually jumps out to the ball briefly which Lets jic Roll free to score and so now the best two-man game in the world was unlocked again with Murray stringing out jokic’s Defender and Nia diming up teammates and again note how powerful those crushing yic screens are so the next time down they run the ball screen on the opposite side and this is Peak Murray walking his man into another pick then probing the Baseline just to reverse it in at this point the Nuggets were rolling they went to their Flex offense action and that buckled cat chasing yic so that’s something to watch for later in the series and the next time they set up a little three-man game with yic at the elbow kavus calwell Pope back doors the overplay that collapses the defense and then Christian Browns left wide open for three and note that goar has to guard Brown here who’s a 37% three-point shooter in his career so if he’s roaming around these players will take and make open shots heck even Aaron Gordon has been firing them aggressively after game one and while he shoots it in the low3s he’s at least shot them confidently when he’s open which means his man might not always sit on his back cut when he’s spotted up in the corner finally at the end of the half we got two possessions the Wolves want to avoid first Minnesota’s defense scrambling around chasing all these shooters while the Nuggets work to find the perfect shot and second goar stretched way out on yic while the Nuggets back cut them to death in open space so there weren’t many big adjustments from game to but there certainly were a lot of changes and those changes reinvigorated nuggets offense that is organically filled with counters built around the deadliest 2-an game on earth and that’s what makes the next few games so compelling there still may be a big tactical move left to make but otherwise this Championship Denver offense is just staring down an incredible Minnesota defense and saying we don’t think you can really stop us to support this channel check out patreon.com thinking basketball that is the best way to directly support thinking basketball podcast and these videos hope you enjoyed this one and that you are enjoying this wild series and as always I hope you’re having a great day