The Joker's gonna run WILD! I give the Nuggets about the same chances as the Suns in the 1st Round, which is essentially no chance at all. If there's one thing Steph Curry just proved, it's that one player really can't win a series (or two game mini-series) in today's NBA & Jokic simply has no help. Aaron Gordon has pulled a "magic" disappearing act ever since coming to Denver & unless he all the sudden becomes a PRA monster, this is going to be a quick series.
Meanwhile, the Blazers are coming in hot & have a "full house" of healthy players. Jokic & some complimentary pieces just aren't gonna cut it as the Blazers will simply "flush" the Nuggs outta Game 1 & send them "straight" to Cancun after Round 1. That all said, the Joker is obviously a MUST PICK player so I advise to lay him down well before "the river" so you don't get jammed up with multiple big name choices at a later date.
Okay, enough of the Joker poker analogies, but really the Nuggets are "drawing dead" & I'm quite seriously in Las Vegas this entire weekend so I can't help myself. And also, as a result of being busy here in Vegas, I can't really watch this first weekend of games so I'll be needing to do some big-time catch-up research at the end of the weekend, while of course tracking the games "live" as best as possible via mobile.
May as well add a related BOLD prediction: Jokic triple-doubles & the Nuggets lose by double digits
I root for Blazers in that series too, but I do think that it won't come to an end in less than 6 games, so I'm keeping Joker for now.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I cannot see Celtics win a single game against the Nets, so I'm confidently going with Tatum tonight.
One more reason I'm not picking Joker tonight: There are only 2 games on Monday, and one of them is DEN-POR, other one is MIL-MIA. 2 series which I think is going to last at least 6 games.
DeleteTotal rookie mistake on my end not looking ahead to Monday’s slate! I was in such a rush last night! Regardless I’ll probably stick with Jokic because I wrote this blog & ya know, picking differently than others. Lots of Nuggets love in this thread, which I’m somewhat shocked by. Jamal Murray was a major part if not the main part of their post-season success last year. I give the Mavs a better shot than the Nuggets.
DeleteI'm still not convinced Blazers are a lot better and Jokic will play amazing probably in every game of the series... I think about picking Tatum/Walker (I'm afraid of blowout) or Donicic/Porzingis (last year I picked KP on the first day and he was ejected, so it shouldn't be worse this year ;))
ReplyDeleteYeah, I decided I'm going with Luka. Last year I picked him when had amazing game finished with buzzer beater, so I hope this year he will also play well at least when I take him ;)
DeleteRooting for the Blazers.
ReplyDeleteBut betting on the Nuggets.
Well, the Playoffs haven´t even officially started yet and I am already 60 points behind in the standings. Not an easy task.
ReplyDeleteValanciunas was the worst pick possible in the Warriors - Grizzlies debacle. He had (I read) 19 and 26 in the last regular season game on sunday and 23/23 in the first play-in-game, so of course he brings a whopping 24 PRA in an OT game (because he fouled out early in the fourth). All in all, could hardly have been worse. Morant at least would have brought some PRA and Curry would have been the ideal pick. That combined with a DeRozan pick and not Tatum or Westbrook leaves me in a big hole before there is even a single game of the real playoffs played. Way to go, me.
It already shows that the last NBA game I followed was in last years playoffs. Pretty much everything I know from this season is that Jamal Murray has torn his ACL, and just in the last few days I read that Klay Thompson tore his Achilles before the season, or that certain stars had long injury breaks this season, or that Westbrook had his fourth triple-double-season in five years, and things like that. And not even all that ignorance helps my picks. Too bad.
Ah well, go I will start with Porzingis (before he inevitably gets hurt) and Westbrook and go from there.
I will start by picking from the teams most likely to lose in my opinion. So Luka Doncic gets my pick today. And tomorrow probably I will make different picks, Beal on DTTF and Westbrook on FP as I still have him available there. Also, as I Onur wrote, there's only two games on Monday, so I have the Joker in mind for that day. I also think the Blazers are favourite, I just prefer to wait to see the first game of this series. I wouldn't rule the Nuggets out just yet. But the Murray loss is a heavy one
ReplyDeleteI'm picking Jimmy Butler today. I think the Bucks will win this series. I have my eyes on the Heat, so not counting them out, but overall this doesn't feel like the same Heat vs Bucks matchup we saw last year. That felt like more of a one-off against a distracted Bucks team dealing with real-world issues in the bubble, where Miami also had a sort of home-court advantage.
ReplyDelete