Jason Sitoke

Suns fans are convinced that quality vets are lining up in droves to sign minimum contracts to chase a ring. I have a feeling they’re going to be disappointed.

Can't believe we live in a society where either is tolerated.

Yeah. True outlier in American society as a whole.

Gonna have to replace cowboy Bruce Brown, which will be a task. Need Braun and Watson to step in and likely find another big and backup point in FA.

Man…this Nuggets run feels surreal. So proud of this team so far. They just do what they do. 7 straight wins.

Also drafted by the Dallas Cowboys. Fun fact.

‘How could anyone hope to turn out more awesomer than Harrison Beck?’ -Harrison Beck

Boston tried to give it away. Lucked out in the end. Adebayo is an awful offensive player. Butler had a terrible first 46 minutes. Duncan Robinson missing 2 wide open threes late.

Yeah, and I agree. It hadn’t really angered me as a fan or anything. We live in a world where hot takes and superstars living in media mega vortexes rule the day, and the NBA is basically built on it. I’m not really a guy that fumes watching Nick Wright or Max Kellerman dismiss the nuggets. With Wright, it’s a schtick and Kellerman just isn’t very sophisticated, even as sports personalities go. What has bothered me is media people who’ve never commented on jokic or the nuggets before acting like they’ve really evaluated this team all year and that this team has really elevated their game. No…this is who they’ve been most of the year and if you watched them you would know that.

But I think the superlatives are also seeming to be of utter surprise at how good the team is, which is odd. They were 1st in the west all season and yet you had more Warriors, Suns, Lakers finals predictions. And it didn’t seem like affinity bias…it felt like none of the media had actually watched the Nuggets all year. Lisa Salters is an NBA sideline reporter and flat out admitted she’d never seen Jokic play: https://apnews.com/article/nikola-jokic-nuggets-espn-lisa-salters-31566fb8b829c8062bcba739c812d3a7 In her job of covering the NBA, she just noticed that the 2-time MVP is good at basketball. She’s using superlatives now because she’s forced to watch him play for the first time. Watching a lot of the media sing praises of the nuggets is cool, but it kinda reminds me of a 3 month old being excited at discovering his own feet.

Hachimura is a damn good player. Reaves can shoot and foul bait with the best of them, but I think he’s overrated as a defender. Honestly, Anthony Davis should get 30 and 15 every single night. Figure that out, and the lakers can go further. In he meanwhile…go nuggets!

I’d take the Nuggets to cover. Not necessarily win outright. Think it’ll be a 2 possession game either way. I think Denver will split in LA. Not sure which one though.

Most controversial thing you’ve said in this thread. I am finally offended.

And yet no one you knew ever got arrested for not complying with these draconian measures. Quite a breath taking set of circumstances, but you courageously stood your ground…against the 17 yr old Applebees hostess that asked you to wear a mask.

Westbrook is canned ravioli. Sucks, isn’t good for you…but you’ll deal with it if you don’t have any steak (kawhi) or chicken (Paul George)

Ugh, I’m not. I said whether you agree the rules are soft, they are the rules and it was a textbook flagrant 1. I’m saying they spent 10 minutes of game time criticizing the call, to the point where every foul after that Van Gundy kept saying ‘oh isn’t that a flagrant’? He doesn’t go over the top like that for as long as he did typically.

RUI is really good. A guy that can play physical defense, has length, and can shoot the 3 and finish around the rim. You win with guys like that. Reaves is decent, but I think he's overachieving a bit. I feel like he's the kinda guy that will ride this run into a max contract from the Hornets and disappear from relevancy.

We're definitely in agreement that this should be the real story. And honestly I have to give credit. I underestimated how good their supporting cast was improved at the deadline. I thought it was overblown because the Lakers weren't as terrible as they were before, and they were just getting over-covered. But they're tough and they mostly play together.

Not sure I agree that Jackson is: Mark Jackson says leaving Jokic off MVP ballot was 'absolute mistake' - ESPN Classy fan gave him a towel though, which James seemed to appreciate.

I'm not typically a guy that complains about biased commentary. I usually poke fun at our fans in the game threads that think every announcer is against Nebraska. That being said, last night was over the top. In the first half, every point the Nuggets scored was 'bad Laker defense' and every point the Lakers scored was a great Laker play. Van Gundy and Jackson freaking out about the Flagrant 1 where Russel wound up and hit Murray in the face. Whether you agree that the league is soft or not, that is a play that has been called a Flagrant 1 for several years now. Hell, Jokic got tossed on a Flagrant 2 for a similar play (where he actually hit the ball too) in a closeout semifinal game against the Suns 2 years ago. Then Jackson goes full retard and agrees with a call where everyone else seems to agree that Lebron flops into the 1st row. It's not that I think they're rooting for the Lakers. I think it's an artifact of the main character syndrome that befalls the Laker Empire. Whatever happens, it is happening to or because of the Lakers. The Nuggets certainly aren't winning this series so much as the Lakers have missed opportunities and should be winning. The story after game 1 was that the Nuggets won, but should be scared because the Lakers have figured them out. Today, I'm sure the story is that the Lakers blew a chance and Lebron looks old.

What color is the sky in your world? JVG isn’t even the best commentator in his family. Jackson is objectively awful. I like Breen. Only thing worse than the in game analysts is ESPNs halftime show. TNT squad should be contractually obligated to do every halftime show.

They’re bad tonight. Mark Jackson and Van gundy got the memo. Lakers need to win for espn to exist tomorrow.

This will be a series of tweaks. No one adjustment is going to be either teams silver bullet. Also look for Denver to go under pin down screens for LBJ to avoid a Murray switch. Most of James’ points came off that. Look for Gordon to stay high if AD starts spying Jokic on post ups. He’ll be the weak side screener for the rest of Denver’s shooters. Question will be can they knock down open shots like they did in game 1. Look for LA to go big to start and absolutely crash the paint. You will not see an early rebound advantage for Denver like game 1, methinks.

I think it was Keyshawn Johnson that said 'Jokic just doesn't look good when he plays' or something like that. Apparently watching Embiid falling down all over and shooting 16 free throws a game is more aesthetically pleasing.

Jokic is actually not all that foul prone. He isn’t a rim protector, so he tends to use his positioning and get his hands in passing lanes. I’ll be more curious if AG can stay out of foul trouble against Lebron. Schroeder is likely too small to guard either Murray or Bruce Brown, so not sure where he fits in this series. Reeves, Vanderbilt, Russell and Rui are gonna be key. If those 4 outplay KCP, Brown, MPJ, and Braun…Lakers will win. I’ll be curious to see how AD and James hold up if this is a long series. They play every other day for the first 4 games. First 2 in altitude and neither AD or Lebron will be able to coast or roam on defense. If the Lakers win this series in 6 or 7 games, then Lebron will have played like 2017 LBJ and this will be a huge feather in his career cap.