Winning Is A HABIT | Nuggets Beat Warriors | Six In A Row

0:00It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. What's up everybody? This is Ross Jackson, one of the hosts of the Lockdown Podcast Network, and if you haven't heard yet, we started a club and we would love for you to join. It's called the Everydayer Club, and one of the things that you get as a member is an ad-free version of the podcast that you're listening to right now. It works with whatever podcast app you already used, same episodes every day, just no ad. There's also a member's only group chat for fans of your team, plus a lot more. You can check it out by tapping the Everydayer Club link in the show notes. The Denver Nuggets get there, one, two, three, four, five, six, straight win. Get there win over the Golden State Word, we got to talk about it. It's also Nicola Yoke, it's player of the week, Jamal Murray and Nicola Yoke in the month of March. They were special.

1:01We got to talk about it, got to talk about the things that went well and the thing they could continue to do to keep up the win streak. This is Swipe Up, and this is Lockdown Nuggets. You are Lockdown Nuggets, your daily Denver Nuggets podcast. I'm your host Swipe Up, glad to be here with you talking about the Denver Nuggets, after they're exciting, wonderful win over the Golden State Warriors, with tremendous second-half defense. I'm also going to talk about some awards that were just announced by the NBA within the last hour. We're going to talk about the months that Jamal Murray and Nicola Yoke had. I want to spend a little bit of time with you. I'm going to talk about the Denver Nuggets. I'm going to talk about the Denver Nuggets. I'm going to talk about the Denver Nuggets. I want to talk about the Denver Nuggets. I want to talk about the months that Jamal Murray and Nicola Yoke had. I want to spend a little bit of time talking about Yoke's MVP case. I'm going to Jamal Murray, second team all in the NBA case. Can I actually think that for whatever reason, narratives, people not watching Denver, if

2:03you compare them to their peers, Jamal Murray, I think that's an argument for one of the 10 best players in the world so far this season and Nicola Yoke has the best in the world. We'll get to that in a minute. Plus, some other habits they need to continue to pick up on so they can go back and possibly win another championship on the defensive. Let's get to it, y'all. The Denver Nuggets yesterday, they played versus the Golden State Warriors. Obviously, no Jimmy Butler. Steph Curry is still out. No outhoafer in this game. Either the Denver Nuggets. They're playing versus the team that has been trying to find this identity. They've obviously been dealing with a lot of different things this year. Will Richard didn't play. Obviously, the Moses Moody went down for basically, I think they're the rest of the season. They're in their own contrition battle right now and they've lost most of their best players. And so the Warriors are still a very well coached team. Steve Curry has done a tremendous job this season. He's been extremely, extremely good about getting a lot of play out of players like Brandon Pizzymski, who had 23 points.

3:04You know, he's been average. I think he's got 20 points in four straight games. Chris Thopp or Zingas is coming off of three straight, really good games, including this one. He had 23. He was five of five from the three point line. And then obviously you know Dremont. Dremont is Dremont, one of the best defensive players in the world, Pat Spencer, Gary Payton had 16 in this game. So I want to shout out to the Warriors. I want to shout out to Steve Curry because especially in the first half, they had the Denver Nuggets down, 53 to 40 stakes. And the Nuggets quite simply, they could not generate enough looks. And if they did a generate enough looks, they weren't converting them. Because if you look at the way this game was kind of flowing, the Nuggets got up to like, they were looking like they were going to be able to take a commanding lead in the first quarter. But then they just slowly but surely started missing a lot of shots. And they went out of and talked about this as well. They were missing open shots in the first quarter. You know, in that first quarter, you know, Yoke to seven points for assist and three rebounds. And it was just kind of like, all right, you know, Yoke, he took seven shots.

4:05It looks like he's about to be on the way for one of those games. And then Jamal Murray, he had six points in the first quarter. He had five rebounds and two assists. But they were down 23 to 28. And a lot of this was they just, they were getting opportunities and weren't converting. And then on the other end of that spectrum, the Warriors got three offensive rebounds. And almost often to rebound on these long jumpers, they would just get these opportunities to put the ball back up into the hole. And in the first quarter, they were at a deficit. But it felt like, hey, you know, Denver, if the ball just starts bouncing right in your direction, then slowly but surely you can get back into this game. But that is absolutely not the way the game would y'all. So what happened is the second quarter starts first round who's shooting 43% on three since January 1st. It's a nice three quarter three. Actually, that might have been the late second one that he hit. And then the nuggets, they're tied. You know, Jamal Murray takes a technical free throw. And so it's kind of a back and forth affair for a little bit.

5:07But then the Warriors in the midst of that second quarter. I want to say they went on like a nine oh run where the nuggets were just not making the decision they needed to make. It was originally was an eight oh run for Denver. And then the Warriors responded with going on a run of their own. And so Yokus came back in the game in the second quarter down to with 7 11 left. And so Yokus won on the next little six oh run himself. But then the nuggets, the thing that they have been struggling with. They won 100% can't guard the split action versus Utah versus the Warriors and versus the Spurs. And other game they played this year where when a team off the ball starts maneuvering and trying to set backscreens and pin downs. The nuggets for whatever reason. And I'm talking about Jamal Murray got beat off this. Cam Johnson got beat off this patent watching got beat off this where they're so caught into what's happening on the ball. They'll then not pay attention. They'll not pay attention to what's happening on the other side of the floor.

6:08And so Dremon or whoever was sitting at the top of the key. And they were just dicing Denver. And I was just so confused. I'm like David Adam. And what are you going over in practice? And what are you reviewing in the film room that for whatever reason. And honestly, any team that has a lot of guards when they start doing all of that. The nuggets are just like their discombobulated defensively to where the communication breaks down. They do not look like a competent defensive team. Now. They made adjustments in the second half and that they deserve a lot of credit for that. But that is something to look out for because even if you all go back to the Utah Jazz game that they barely won. It was a lot of that as well where they just quite simply are not getting to where they need to get on the floor. And you know, let alone like allowing people to get into the paint. It's just discipline stuff that the nuggets are struggling with defensively. So I want to make sure I note that in the first half. It wasn't good. And it was 46 to 53. I have my notes here. The execution has been poor.

7:09And I didn't know what they've been going over in film because it was very clear. Yoke is at 15, 8 and 4. He was a minus 10. But that wasn't like a minus 10 off of Yoke. Like that was the frustrating thing. I thought Yoke was making good decisions. You know, he was only shooting 46% from the field in the first half. But I thought his process was good. I thought he'd been engaged defensively. But the team. The offense was just bad. You know, Peyton Watson. You know, I think that like he has some good moments yesterday. But Peyton Watson had a terrible past in the Yoke. It's where he kind of like you could mouth off to the camera. Like go on the other end or Peyton Watson threw a ball mad late to Yoke. The Yoke is just, you know, he's calling a poor ball when you're, you know, the ball's a floor. And he's asking for Peyton to give him the ball and Peyton gives it to him late. But he gives it to him what to do. That's like four feet from Yoke. So it's a pass is intercepted and then it leads to a score. And so it's just little stuff with Peyton. I think Peyton is like, which is all development stuff, which is perfectly fine. He's still learning like timing and when to do things and when not to do things.

8:11It's just even some of the shots that he had yesterday. And similarly versus Utah at the top of that second quarter where, you know, some shots you don't need, like the nuggets had a transition opportunity. They had advantages and Peyton watched and shot like a pull up mid-range shot. And it just wasn't a good shot for the moment. And I think as he continues to get older and as he continues to refine his skill, he's going to become like a basketball genius of those things because he works hard. And he pays attention. So these are all like growing pains I think for him. But yesterday, again, all in all, I thought that he was, you know, very discombobulated yesterday. He had 10.6 rebounds and five assists. So it ended up like balancing out in the scoreboard, but he's only 3-11 from the field. I think he continues to get better. Yo-Kitch yesterday, like I said, man. In the game, he had 25, 15, 8, and 1. But he had 25, 15, and 8 through three quarters. He literally didn't do anything else, basically, in the four quarter, when he came back in except for grab two additional rebounds. Yo-Kitch in that third quarter though, you know, and this is like when you just need a reminder game that Yo-Kitch is the best in the world and he's a one-up one player.

9:15Yo-Kitch had 10 points, five rebounds, and four assists, and was a plus 19 in the third quarter. Four of six from the field, two of three from three. And he just absolutely took it to the Golden State Warriors. Like, some more shuffles. He found like, Drowby, Kristoff, Dremon tried to double baseline. He spun away from the baseline and shot a floating fade away hook. From the middle of the paint that he made. He had some step out, three that he made on the step back over Dre. He was just in full control. And when Yo-Kitch is playing that well, and when the other players around him start hitting their shots, it's really, really difficult to beat this Denver Nuggets team. And Julian Strathler helped him close out that game. And I believe at the end of three quarters yesterday, the Nuggets had a 86-74 lead after Yo-Kitch, like, just put a whooping on the Golden State Warriors.

10:15And they won that quarter, 40 to 21. And what you did see with that, there was a change in intensity, y'all. There was a change in intensity and defensive execution. There was a change in their focus off the ball that when they were... Now, they got, Yo-Kitch got caught again with Dre-Mon, like stuck behind them. Dre-Mon did a really good job with that. What this is, is like, when you're playing off the ball, one of the things you have to have is trust that whoever's guarding the ball, they're going to handle theirs. You have to worry about handling yours. So if that means I got to watch out for this switch, I got to watch out for who's coming over the top, we're going underneath. If they're trying to set a pin down on me, or they're trying to set a flare on me, I have to make sure I am in the best position that I need to be, and I'm disrupting the path between the man and ball. That's what you have to do. And what happens is the nuggets, they get so overfixated on what is the other player doing that's guarding the ball, protecting the drive, that they then overthink everything.

11:15It's just stuff that can't happen. But that all got fixed up in the second half. They had a 78 defensive rating in the second half, I believe, just today. On the other side, I want to talk a little bit more about this, but I'm going to talk to you all about Yo-Kitch and Murray, because they had very sneakily great, great months. I'm going to come on at more here and lock down nuggets. Welcome to the five-hour energy flavor draft with 18 different flavors to choose from, including new options like confetti craze, fruity rainbow, or cotton candy. There's something for everyone. The board is set. The flavors are ready. Now, I got my number one pick for five-hour energy flavor draft. And as y'all know, I love cherry, love cherry. I am absolutely going with cherry every single day of the week. I love the taste. I always, when I travel and drive great distances, I always have a five-hour energy on me, because you just need to make sure you have the extra boost in case you need it. So five-hour energy shots give you a boost with zero sugar.

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14:22the every dayer club where you can have exclusive conversations with Matt Moore, Ryan Blackburn. You can hear about all the great stuff that's happening with the Denver Nuggets. They have brand new articles that are available for you to read. They got different things for you to tap into. And you can also talk directly to us in the discord y'all. So go to lockedonnuggets.supercast.com to join us with the every dayer club. And you get your first month of every dayer club free when you use code March. All right, y'all. So, Negaleoakish. Negaleoakish just won the NBA player of the week in the Western conference. Negaleoakish, the man who people said is cooked. The man who people said is no longer in the NBP race. He just won player of the week in the Western conference. Now here's the thing, y'all. 26.17 rebounds, 14 assists, 4-0 record, 44% from three and 57% from the field and 77 from the line.

15:24This was an incredible, incredible week for Negaleoakish. He's been absolutely dominant and he deserves a lot of credit, a lot of credit for just how well he has played. And you know, we obviously taken for greatness sometimes. We take Jamal Murray for greatness, for granted sometimes not to be left out by the way. Jamal Murray has 31.5 rebounds and 8 assists this week with 55% from the field, 51% from three on 9 attempts of game and 96% from the free to line. 31, 5 and 8 on 55, 51, 96 on the way to going 4 and 0. That is incredible. Well, the Denver Nuggets have the best duo in the NBA. They especially have been at this level during the regular season. Like we haven't seen them play this well in the regular season together. Just an incredible performance for the both of them. But one thing I wanted to know because there's been a lot of rumors about y'all kids.

16:24And I want to make sure that I'm correcting the things that need to be corrected when I'm can. Because I watch every dribble of the Denver Nuggets team the same as many of you do. Yokich in the month of March. So after he took some time to adjust from the injury where he has really good game and not so good games in the month of February. This month in 16 games, Yokich have 26 points of game, 14 rebounds, 12 assists, a one and a half steals a block. He shot 58% from the field and 33 from three and 83 from the line for a 66.2 true shooting. And he was a plus 98 plus 98 in the month of March. I don't think people realized that while he hasn't been the first 32 games of the year when he was, which is 29, 13 and 11 on 71 true shooting, which was like literally unprecedented, had never happened before for any player that's ever touched a sport.

17:28He has since that point, regressed to still being an all time great player with all time great numbers and all time great impact. And so I understand that people have been frustrated with some things from Yokich, but hey, Yokich has been back for 28 games now. He's averaging 26, 14 and 11 over that stretch. 53, 33, 80 splits. He's done a 63 true shooting. I just think that the narrative around Yokich is so rooted in what people want to happen or what people want to believe. Instead of what's actually going on at this point, y'all. If you look at a lot of the impact stats, if you look at all of like the data ball or stuff, if you look at EPM, you look at just anything on all, Yokich is either one, two or three and everything and mostly number one, mostly number one and everything. And Yokich is having a one of one season like, y'all, I just wish that we could have more honest dialogue about it. Yokich is averaging 28, 13 and 11 this year, 28, 13 and 11.

18:28On 57, 39, 83, 67.4% true shooting. Like, what are we doing? What are we doing, y'all? I just think that for whatever reason, if you just even look at his games that he's having recently, 25, 15 and eight, that's a mid game, 33, 15 and 12, 23, 21 and 19, 23, 17 and 17, 22, 14 and 14, 22, 8 and 9, 29, 14 and 9, a massive win, 8, 7 and 14, 24, 16 and 14. Like, what are we doing? 31, 20 and 12 versus San Antonio with five stocks, 16, 12 and 13 and another win, 32, 14 and 13 versus the best defense in the world. 38, 8 and 5 with two stocks, 28, 12 and 13. For whatever reason, Yokich in the way that he is playing is getting swept under the rug

19:28and I don't understand why. And then Jamal Murray, not to be outdone. Not to be outdone, y'all, in the month of March, he is averaging. 26, 7 assists, four rebounds, 49% from the field, 44 from three of seven attempts, mostly pull-ups, 89% from the free-thaline on a 64-true shooting. Like, y'all, on the season, Jamal is at 25.5, four and a half rebounds, 7.2 assists, a steal, 48, 43, 88 splits. It's literally, the duo that the Nuggets have playing basketball is the best in the world. It's one of the greatest tandems we have ever seen. And it's only getting better. Literally, it is only getting better as the season goes on. Lord willing, they can stay healthy. Now, Cam Johnson would now in a back spasms, but, you know, apparently he was trying to get back in the game,

20:29but it was a blowout, so they didn't want to chance it. Mr. Jones had a hamstring thing that he ran into, but hopefully it's not going to be serious. And then Dignage got hit in the head on a stop that he had on KP. So they obviously need to get their guards. My AG will be back, had a little bit of a cap tweak. They just want to be careful with him. But, y'all, they don't play to Wednesday, y'all. So they should have everybody ready to rock and go by the Utah game. And if Jones misses time, then Dignage, who deserves credit, can step into that spot. So, again, the Nuggets have two, I think, two of the 10 best players in the regular season this year. They've dealt with all kind of injuries, but they're still like just utterly dominant this year, man. And there's something they got to work on. The defense still has to continue to get more consistent. That's going to be the talking point. For me, especially, you've got to be able to lock in. But we'll talk about that more on the other side. And I think there's some things that they did, but things they need to continue to improve. We'll talk about more here at Lockdown Nuggets.

21:32So, it's tax time. But for a lot of us, the old way of doing taxes is, it's a lot. Trying to book an appointment that's not the most convenient, sitting in a waiting room with stack of papers, emailing back and forth, wondering if they really get your situation. But this year, you're getting a major upgrade into a TurboTax now has in-person locations nationwide. You can meet face-to-face with a real tax expert and your documents get uploaded straight to your TurboTax app on the spot. And just like that, you're done. Your TurboTax expert works to get you every dollar user while you get real-time notifications as you go about your day. It's a relief of walking in and meeting a real person and walking out on your tax or being handled right. At the TurboTax.com slash local to find a store near you and book your appointment. We'll be back for the final segment here at Lockdown Nuggets. We are back for the final segment here of Lockdown Nuggets. Thank you all so much each and every day for joining us and being a part of our great Lockdown Nuggets family over here. You know, we're just talking about a little bit about Nikola Yogic in Jamal Murray.

22:35And I just can't continue to say enough how dominant they have been this year. They have a plus 12 net rating this season. They got a 130 off into rating when they played this year. They've just been spectacular. They've been spectacular. When Aaron Gordon plays, they got a plus 20 net rating this season between the three of them. They've just been once again spectacular. The offense is elite. The defense is very good in spots, but obviously they're still trying to figure some stuff out. So, you know, it just needs to continue to be talked about that they obviously have things they need to continue to work on. But I think there's a lot for people to be excited about. I also will say this y'all. Hey, Spencer Jones. Let's say he's down for a few games or a game or whatever. Zignaji has to be able to get some tick. He has to. I do not agree. Do not agree with the people who continue to say that Zignaji is not somebody that can play on this roster.

23:36I can continue to say that when you're looking at what Zignaji offered through this team as a defender. They need to continue to play him because when he came into the game yesterday. He was crazy. He was great. He did so many little things for them defensively from switching out from being able to guard in the post versus KP. He got switched on to a guard and immediately switched on to a guard and forced a 24 second shot clock violation. They need someone else that is a big player that would Aaron Gordon is not there and not available. That they can say, hey, we need you to get in the game. We need you to be a rim protector. We need you to switch and we need you to be able to take on matchups in the post and on the perimeter. And that's what Zeke does. They don't need more offense. Like. Zeke is a good enough vertical threat that if you put him in the darker spot, you can manufacture some things. But Zeke, he fits so many things that this team needs.

24:39Now, he's not a great player. He makes a lot of mistakes. He has weaknesses. But dude, I think yesterday was just further another example, another example of Zeke offering true viability to this roster. It's just great, man. It was just great. He played really well. He deserves a lot of credit for what he did yesterday. But again, y'all, the biggest thing with Denver y'all is the thing that I continue to stress with this team defensively. What they really struggle with more than anything is not even like personnel stuff. They just sometimes it feels like at least they don't trust each other to do their job. Or they're over helping because they're trying to do too much. Because what happens is when they contain from the three point line and they shrink the defense, they'll do it in such a way where they're basically abandoning shooters. Or if they shrink too far into the pain, then they'll leave wide open shooters either in the corner or at the wing.

25:43You know, Jamal Murray, one of the things that comes to mind immediately is I versus Utah, but also versus Spurs when they lost. Devin, myself at 37 points. Jamal Murray will drop super low on a roll or a short roll. He'll leave a really good shooter wide open because again, he's trying to overcompensate a little bit. But you got to be able to play that in between better. And I know that's like when you're discussing coverage is you got to be able to compress the court or also not completely abandoning your responsibility out there. Now, that's very difficult to do. You know, y'all kids, y'all kids when he's playing at his best, he's playing with extremely extreme aggression at the level. He's on the in-between place in the drop pick and roll, but he's like still getting his hands up to be able to contest a lot. But when he's playing at his worst is when his feet are undisciplined when he's turning his body sideways or horizontal to the line out of bounds, either facing the bench or away. But when he's good in doing the things he needs to do, it's a square up. It's a square up and it's like, all right, bet. We know what we got from you.

26:43Christian Brown, when Christian Brown is at his best, he's keeping his hand out of the cookie jar and playing discipline. The same thing Cam Johnson does from Cam Johnson playing good defensively. He's able to catch you off that screen. He'll body you use his body to wall you off and then he puts his hands out and keeps him out in the cookie jar for the most part. So the nugget have defenders. They have defenders, but it's about executing the scheme well and trusting one another that you are going to do the job to the best of your ability. And I think as the season continues to roll on y'all, they got Utah in that game coming up. They need to take care of business. No play around with Utah. This should be a game where you're like, you know, we can't do this anymore. We can't we can't mess around. Let's get the win versus Utah. Let's get a seven and no win streak. And then you got San Antonio in Denver. You get San Antonio in Denver on prime video. And I believe that when we should be ready to play that game because they're trying to get the one seat as well. So then between that game, though, you got two days off between this warrior game and then the game versus San Antonio versus Utah.

27:49And then now you got Thursday and Friday off for the game versus San Antonio. So this should be a time where it's not about like proving to anyone but you that we know what we need to do defensively. And then we can put together a very strong half versus a very good team was they've done before and done in the stretch. But it needs to happen again. Y'all the nuggets if y'all don't know this the nuggets are nine and two in their last 11 games. They're nine and two in their last 11 games. I think and they're also 11 and four. Well, actually they're 11 and five in their last 15 games or 16 games rather. So they're winning. They've turned up the dial on the winning stuff. They've been able to do the things they need to do and exit and close a lot of these games. And I think that's also a big thing. Like them being able to say that like we haven't been good enough. You know, we need to really focus up.

28:50We need to make sure that in the class this year that our defense is getting better that we're not just succumbing to pressure. And that we're playing smart and we're doing the things we need to do. You know, they've been showing it in the clutch as of late. They've been a much better team in the cluster. Nuggets have the most clutch wins in the NBA in the month of March. They played 10 clutch games. They're seven and three in those games. And they got a positive point differential as well in those games. That's big. That's huge, especially considering where they were prior to that, especially considering where they were prior to that. And they just have to continue to iron out their process, man. That's really one of the big things like they can't turn the ball over in those stretches. They got to be able to trust that Jamal and Yoke is going to do the things that they need to do. That they're going to play consistently that they're going to find ways to get stops on the defensive end. But also that their office is going to take care of the business and they're going to cook. And having Aaron Gordon to be in that dunker spot matters a lot too because just functionally for how this Denver Nuggets team plays.

29:54Having somebody that's able to play in that spot and be somebody you can throw the lob to. Or you could even give the ball to to be somebody to take advantage of a cross match or a mismatch in the half court setting. That matters so much to their success level. And then defensively having Aaron Gordon and Christian Brown and Cam Johnson and Peyton Watson and Bruce Brown all available for the roster for the team. It helps Yoke it helps Jamal all that stuff. It just adds to the process for the roster. So the biggest thing is defensive execution. As the season goes on, can they be tighter little details and when the playoff come around, which is in less than a month. That they're able to realize that hey, this is a big situation. This is the situation we need to get a good win in. These are situations we got to lock in here defensively and do the job. I expect for everybody, especially Christian Brown and Cam Johnson and AD to be ready to right defensively come playoff time. But y'all, let me know what you think in the comments section. How do you feel about yesterday to win versus Golden State?

30:55How do you feel that Yoke and Jamal Murray have been playing in the month of March? And do you think either one of them had argument for second team all NBA and then for MVP? And then what do you need to see from the Denver Nuggets defensively to believe in them in their title chances here in the next couple of months? Y'all, this is Swiper, this is Lockdown Nuggets. I'll see you on the other side.