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NBA Playoffs: Nuggets vs. Timberwolves - Intense Playoff Showdown
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Apr 10, 2025
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0:00
There was MJ, there was Colby, and now there is Anthony Edwards
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Bradley Beal beats the baseline. Oh, Edwards! A signature slam! Jamal Murray's healthy, Denver wins in seven
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We're going to overtime. Yoko just screened Murray to try to break the top
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The Nuggets advance, and the defense of their championship title is alive and well
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I got Wolves in six. Wolves in seven as well. Yeah, Wolves
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Hell yeah! I'm taking the Nuggets. I'm taking the Nuggets. I think it's a seven-game series and Denver wins at home
0:38
because Denver at home is a beast. Nuggets in seven because I honestly think this is a series that goes the wire
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I think it's going to be interesting. I'm trying to get ready for Saturday against a beast in Minnesota
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The winner of Denver and Minnesota is winning the NBA Cup. Belinda
0:57
Yes, I'm scared! On Saturday night, a playoff series will take place that I think has the potential to be the greatest series in the 2024 NBA playoffs, including the finals
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And that is the two-seed Denver Nuggets and the three-seed Minnesota Timberwolves
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Throughout this video, we will go through the multitude of reasons that makes this series so great
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discuss how this series will play a part in determining the future of the NBA as it ushers in a new generation
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And at the end of the video, I will give my official prediction for who I think is going to win that series
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Let's get right into it. This video is brought to you by Underdog Fantasy. If you haven't heard of it, it's an app that allows you to pick higher or lower on your favorite players from your favorite sports
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2:17
We'll see you over there. Let's get back to the video. So first things first, let's take this all the way back to last year, the 2023 NBA playoffs
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These two teams met in the one versus eight matchup in the first round
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The Denver Nuggets were the number one overall seed all season in the Western Conference
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and the Timberwolves were the eighth seed after defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder
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in the play-in tournament. Minnesota was missing two key members in this series
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Jaden McDaniels, who punched a wall and broke his hand in the final game of the regular season
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and Nas Reid, who tried dunking on the Phoenix Suns a couple weeks beforehand
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breaking his wrist. And although this series only went five games and game one was a blowout, it was very similar
2:58
to the Lakers Nuggets first round matchup this year, where the Timberwolves really did make
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Denver work a majority of that series. So much so that Bruce Brown admitted in a podcast that summer that he felt like the Timberwolves
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were their hardest series the entire playoffs. Anthony Edwards would average 31.6 points in this series with a 54.8 effective field
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goal percentage and in jade mcdaniel absence nakiel alexander walker was a revelation for minnesota with his defense nicole yokich and jamal murray were unbelievable for the Nuggets as well but the Nuggets had a very different storyline
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in the 2023 playoffs than they do this year. They were seen as unproven
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A lot of people did not respect them as a one seed. And even though Nikola Jokic had won back-to-back MVPs
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in 2021 and 2022, everyone was still questioning if that would translate to the playoffs
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And even though the Nuggets made the 2020 Western Conference Finals, most people disregarded
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it because it was in the bubble. In the 2021 NBA playoffs, they would get swept by the Phoenix Suns in the conference semis
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without Jamal Murray. And in the 2022 playoffs, they would fall to Golden State in the first round in five
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games without Jamal Murray as well. But after this Anthony Edwards 3 did not go down and the Nuggets would beat the Minnesota
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Timberwolves in five games. The Nuggets would go on to dominate the rest of the playoffs with only
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one series going six games, that being the Phoenix Suns in the conference semis, finally earning the
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respect they felt like they always deserved, which brings us to this season and this matchup
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The Wolves shocked everyone leading atop the Western Conference a majority of the season
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when healthy. They would lose Cat to a meniscus tear for the final month of the season, fall down
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to the three seed and match up with the Phoenix Suns in the first round. We all know how that
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series went. They swept them. Anthony Edwards has looked phenomenal and the Wolves defense
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was maybe even more impressive. And on Denver's side, they would get the two seed battling injuries
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a majority of the season. Jokic only played 69 games, Aaron Gordon 68, and Jamal Murray 65
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And although they would take care of the Lakers in five games, it wasn't as easy as most Denver
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fans would have thought going into the series matter of fact the lakers were leading a majority
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of the minutes 73 of them to be exact but denver was just so much better in clutch time matter of
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fact they're one of the best clutch time teams in the nba and were able to take care of business
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which finally leads us to saturday's conference semi-final matchup between the nuggets and the
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wolves like i said in the intro i truly believe this is going to be the best series of the entire
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2024 NBA playoffs matter of fact I also believe the winner of this series as bold as this sounds
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on the Wolves side is going to win the NBA finals the Wolves storyline heading into this game is
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that Anthony Edwards is that dude in the Sun series he averaged 31 points per game eight
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rebounds 6.3 assists on 59.8 effective field goal percentage including 43.8 from three on
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eight attempts at just 22 years old and if he somehow is able to beat nicole jokic and defending
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champs in the denver nuggets the basketball social media world is going to explode and it probably
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puts him in a position where he's a top three to five player in this league but the most impressive
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thing about ant isn't necessarily just his scoring he scored 31 points per game in the playoffs last
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season it's the playmaking for his teammates when he gets doubled when they load up on him he is
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finding the right guy. He's learned to be able to play with Rudy Gobert
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so much better in the pick and roll. And he now has had an uncanny ability
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to find open shooters in the corner. But then on the Denver side of this conversation
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if they can get past the Wolves, I really don't think there's a team
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they match up with worse in the entire playoffs including the Celtics And it a big deal for denver to repeat as champions because it going to start putting them in a historical conversation when it comes to being a dynasty and nikola yokich greatest of all time resume he is currently
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building there is a lot at stake in this series and i genuinely believe this series is going to
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change and determine the future of the nba i also believe this is just the beginning of an incredible
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series of battles between these two teams over the next three to four years. When it comes to
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yzing the matchups in this series, people are trying to say they're going to put Rudy Gobert
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on Jokic. It's not going to happen. They put Kat on Jokic almost every time they play them
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and they put Rudy in the roaming spot on Aaron Gordon. They are going to want Aaron Gordon to
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shoot threes. Matter of fact, in that Lakers series, he was one for 10 from them. And on the
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season, Gordon is shooting just 29% from three, which is down 5% from last year. A lot of people
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are going to clown Carl Anthony Towns getting put on Jokic, but in my opinion, they're just not
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paying attention. Matter of fact, Jack Borman, a writer at Canis Hoopis, found some great insight
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on that point that even I wasn't aware of. In six games dating back to the start of the 2022-2023
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regular season, Carl Anthony Towns and Nikoli Jokic have faced off, and in that span, while
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guarding Jokic he has held them to just 37% from the field 48 points total and just five shooting
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fouls with the next lowest in the entire NBA being Alperin Shengun at 49.6% from the field so the
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point with that is that Cat is actually a pretty good matchup on Jokic obviously no one is going
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to stop Nikola Jokic but if you can make him work as hard as possible for what he gets Minnesota is
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going to consider that a win. The only real worry I have with that is going to be will Cat get into
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foul trouble guarding Jokic. Jokic is great at baiting his opponents into committing fouls and
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that's going to be important not just for the Wolves on the defensive end but for the Wolves
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on the offensive end. Cat had a fantastic series against Phoenix and no one's really talking about
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it. He averaged 19 points per game but did it on 52.9% from three on four attempts and a 62.2
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effective field goal percentage while also averaging nine and a half rebounds i really
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think this is a legacy series for cat if he plays well he's gonna start gaining more respect from
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the national media and the masses as for other matchups i assume it's going to be a mix of jade
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mcdaniels and nakiel alexander walker on jamal murray but when nakiel alexander walker and jade
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mcdaniels are both on the floor at the same time my assumption is mcdaniels will get switched over
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to mpj letting nah guard jamal murray who did a fantastic job on him in last season's playoff
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series matter of fact while being guarded by nah last season jamal murray shot just 36 percent from
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the field in those five games i think this is going to be more of a nakiel alexander walker series
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for minnesota than mike conley on the denver side i don't think this is a better roster than last
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year's you had bruce brown off the bench who is such a better player in those playoffs than any of
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of the guys the Nuggets have coming off the bench this year. And Michael Malone has kind of proved
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that with his rotation, heavily relying on these starters, playing them tons of minutes and barely
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playing his bench. But when you have a soon to be three-time MVP, arguably the greatest playoff
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riser in this generation and a 6 sharp shooter sometimes that all you need I do think Nikola Jokic is going to get his in this series I don think Jamal Murray is going to have that great of a series just because of his calf injury and the fact that he is going
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to get 40 minutes of Nikhil Alexander-Walker and Jade McDaniels. But my real X-factor for the
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Denver Nuggets, and in my opinion, this guy could win them the series, is Michael Porter Jr. I don't
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think the Wolves have a fantastic matchup for him unless they're playing Nikhil Alexander-Walker
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substantial minutes but anytime it's Mike Conley out there instead the Wolves may have to put
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Anthony Edwards on MPJ which is just not a good matchup for Ant he doesn't want to chase around
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screens and expend a ton of energy on defense which I assume Denver is going to make him do
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and MPJ had an incredible series against the Lakers averaging 22.8 points per game 55.3
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from the field and 48.8% from three on eight attempts per game which is insane another thing
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too is what if Aaron Gordon is just able to shoot corner threes he only takes 39% of his threes from
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the corner but he shoots 35% of them my assumption is going to be they'll stick him there and then
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have him crash hard on every single shot that goes up he's a great offensive rebounder this brings us
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to my official prediction for this series I went back and forth on this so many times it is so rare
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that you get the greatest player in the NBA today facing off against a rising star that is hoping
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and willing to challenge that status at such a young age of 22 years old, but that's what we
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have here in this matchup. The Wolves have the better bench and the better defense. The Nuggets
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have the better starting five and are better in the clutch. The Nuggets also have the best player
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on the court, but what if Anthony Edwards becomes the best player on the court in this series
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If the Wolves are going to win this, I think they absolutely have to do it in six games
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You are not winning in Denver in game seven versus Nikola Jokic, and I don't care if he
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has one leg, play off Jamal Murray. As crazy as it sounds, that's where I land in this official prediction
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Minnesota in six. I think they split in Denver. I think the Wolves win both games at home
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Denver fights back in game five, and the Wolves close it out in game six
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I heavily, heavily, heavily, I can't say this enough, respect this Nuggets team
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Please do not leave any comments saying I'm disrespecting them. I just think Minnesota is the worst team they match up with in the entire league
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They're the only team that has the size to match up versus Nikola Jokic
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And obviously, I very well could be wrong. It's just my thoughts on this series
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I just have such a hard time seeing how Denver is going to break through a perimeter defense
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of Nikhil Alexander-Walker, Jade McDaniels, and Anthony Edwards. obviously if anyone can do it it's Nikola Jokic either way the point of this video isn't the
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prediction it's a fun thing the point of this video is that this is the best series in the
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entire playoffs I will put my name on that it's going to be so fun to watch gear up on Saturday
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night you're not going to want to miss a moment of this one this is quite honestly the perfect way
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to usher in the new era of NBA stars with guys like KD Steph and LeBron not making the second
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round for the first time since 2005 and i'm ready for it we'll see you saturday night thanks for
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watching this video if you enjoyed this one check out the video i made pretty much cooking the phoenix
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suns and stay tuned for a playoff recap video coming very soon thank you so much for watching
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i would love to hear why you think i'm wrong in the comments disagreement is heavily encouraged
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on this channel as always we'll see you on the hardwood
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