The board came out perfect and Will Barton sentenced the game from the corner. Thus culminated a great job by the Nuggets, who win the game of honor and honor, of poetic justice. Probably the farewell victory to a very meritorious year of a project that injuries have left hanging by a thread. We’ll never know, after those conference finals in the Orlando bubble, where the Nuggets might have gone if Jamal Murray was healthy. And if he is accompanied by Michael Porter Jr., even better. At the perfect age, at the perfect time, the Colorado franchise made the perfect moves and was thrust into the other side of the game. Something that has harmed them too much and has left them in more backward positions than these years expected..
Nikola Jokic has been in charge of pulling the project. Alone, against everything and everyone, adding to last year’s MVP another historic season, the current one, in which he has come out statistically (27.1+13.8+7.9 and again a candidate for MVP) has touched the ball in practically all his team’s attacks, has finished melting and has achieved the goal: the playoffs. Directly, without play-in through despite the siege of the Timberwolves, finally seventh, and in a really worthy position for such a short squad, with so little margin in the market (pays two maximum contracts to two injured players) and with little attraction, already in itself, for more or less quoted free agents.
Will Barton put the icing on the cake after a titanic fight: Stephen Curry, with just over a minute to go, put the Warriors ahead for the first time since the first quarter (119-121) and put fear into the body of the Nuggets. But the hearts of the Colorado players were wounded in his pride and he wanted to give himself a cheer before his more than possible (and next) vacation. Nikola Jokic went to 37 points to tie the match, Monte Morris certified an extraordinary performance with another basket (24 points, 19 in the second half and 5 of 7 in triples) and the aforementioned Barton, after a fabulous board by Mike Malone (from the corner and a pass from Jokic, who made the pass from inside to outside), he sentenced. Curry’s subsequent ruling gave the Nuggets the win. And the city of Denver burst with joy and relief and fervently applauded its heroes.
Aaron Gordon was the other great player of the Nuggets (21 + 6 + 4) and had a clash with Draymond Green that raised the tension and the decibels as soon as the match began. And Bones Hyland, with 15 points, rounded off the attack of the locals, who shot better than 3 than the Warriors (almost 50% for 35 of his rivals) to compensate for his lack of security with the ball (up to 20 turnovers). The Warriors lose for the first time in these playoffs despite an extraordinary Klay Thompson (32 points and only 31 minutes for 4 fouls in the first half) and a Curry who continues to come off the bench to revolutionize everything (33 points, 15 in the last quarter, and 8 assists) despite his poor shooting today (3 of 11 in triples). Draymond Green fought with Jokic what the Serbian endured (and endures everything) and went to 13 + 11 + 6, so intense (and sometimes controversial) as usual. The Nuggets resisted and took a fair and necessary joy. A way to finish with dignity against a team that wants, chooses and is a favorite for the ring. A spectacular survival exercise.
#Denver #survives #heart #attack