Timberwolves vs. Nuggets: Will the winner be the NBA Title favorites? | First Take Debates

Timberwolves vs. Nuggets: Will the winner be the NBA Title favorites? | First Take Debates
On First Take, Shannon Sharpe, Brian Windhorst and Tim Legler debate whether the winner of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Denver Nuggets series will be title favorites.
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do you think the winner of this series should be viewed as the title favorite I think if it’s the Nuggets yes if it’s not the Nuggets I think it’s going to be Boston because I think because of joic and Murray because they have a two-headed monster and Michael Porter Jr the third option and you know you’re going to get at least one game from Aaron Gordon so no I do not think the winner of the Minnesota series Denver unless it’s the Nuggets if it’s not the Nuggets I think the Boston Celtics will be the favorite now Boston might be the favorite even over the Nuggets but I would pick the Nuggets because of that number 15 in the Nuggets uniform well first of all I think we all agree we expect D to win this series now yes I mean for Minnesota not to get one of those two home games I think it did him in Denver seems to figured out how to get Space Jamal muray looks like a completely different guy physically we expect Denver to win it the only thing I will say is yes if it’s Denver I agree I wouldn’t necessarily discount Dallas if Dallas figures out a way to get through this series and let’s say Luca does play much better Kyrie goes off in one of these games then they win this series in six games I wouldn’t discount a team with Luca dones Kyrie Irving like they wouldn’t have a shot against the Denver Nuggets I I wouldn’t go that far but yes I would lean that way Denver wins this series particularly the way that they have reversed this this is as dramatic a turnaround as I have seen a team have offensively from game two to what we saw in two games in Minneapolis it looked like Minnesota was going to be able to replicate that suffocating defense and Denver just came right back and had that answer Murray jic figured out they got some room and they reestablished control and now they look like again the front runner to win a championship so I agree with you but Denver gets out of it I think a lot of people are going to make them the favorite over Boston I like this question Molly and here’s why because it illustrates how nobody’s paying attention to the Celtics I know the Celtics haven’t been impressive so far but they’re seven and two and six of the seven wins they won by double digits and now I know that that’s that’s more commentary on their opponent but that’s kind of the point they’re not stressing that I really wish Donovan Mitchell wouldn’t have gotten hurt yes because I think the Cavs had a real shot at making a 22 and I wanted to see the Celtics stressed out playing at home because they don’t play good at home in the playoffs it’s kind of ridiculous I wanted to see a stressed out game from the Celtics tomorrow night we’re not going to get it and I don’t think Donovan’s playing on that game either he’s got this calf injury I think he’s done for the series um then um Denver is obviously getting a really good test and and it’s they’re ramping up their game you know after the All-Star break yic tested them yeah they went they went on a tear they sort of established themselves they had a bummer end of the season where they lost the number one seed and they got away with being able to play halime against the Lakers they they play the second half of those games this has sort of warmed them up so if they are able to go ahead and take this series I think if you want to install them as the favorite because they win this series I wouldn’t be opposed that I think they’re playing great the performance they had on Sunday in game four that fourth quarter that was as as good as they’ve played in this run but don’t forget about the Celtics just because they’re not playing great yeah doesn’t mean that they’re not out that they’re out of it let me ask you this would you be more or less surprised if Minnesota didn’t win another game if they did not win another game I would not be surprised by that I would not be surprised by that that’s that’s because you know here’s the thing about that very few times that can I ever remember and I can’t even top of my head where a team that was ahead 2 yeah was actually under pressure in game three the way that they were going to play in game three was was a commentary on everything for them and the way that they came out and you were on the call it it it Illustrated to me they’re not quite ready yet because they had to sit around for three days listen everybody tell them how great they are going had the slow start though I think Minnesota just took it to them I I don’t think they were ready for it you think they caught him off guard well not necessarily I think it was a lot to do with Jam Murray’s inability to accelerate and escape that pressure if you go back and look at game two he couldn’t get around those guys they’re screening by the way also atrocious in that game and and I talked to Michael Malone about this before game three and that was a point of emphasis in those three days off they weren’t getting every Defender was getting between Jamal Murray and the screen whether it was a dribble handoff they were getting through that Gap if it was a ball screen they were over the top and through the Gap and it was because Jamal Murray was not accelerating around those screens all of a sudden he comes out game three I was as fascinated as anybody I’m sitting there and had a great view of it he gets a switch early in that game he goes right to the left wing right in front of where I’m sitting calling the game and he backpedals with a scissor dribble and he had that look in his eye and that bounce and he got right to his mid-range pulled up and hit it and he kind of nodded and I knew right then it was different and the entire game looked different so I think physically his ability to get away from that pressure changed a lot of things for Denver they also let more guys handle the ball bringing it up to preserve of his energy Aaron Gordon has been big in that joic has been big so their game plan was good their screening’s been better and then there was a self assuredness that that that overcame them once they started to have success other thing about this I noticed joic joic has been verbally going at guys on his own team for mistakes and you don’t typically see him do that man it showed you the level of seriousness seriousness with which he approached these two games he understood we can’t split we’ve got to get both games to reassert control and I saw I put his leadership at the top but for me the main thing was Murray looks different physically and he’s now an impact in this series offensively yeah and I also felt Minnesota they weren’t quite ready to match that intensity they didn’t I don’t they had four turnovers in the first quarter they just weren’t sharp and they opened the door for them right and you just when you’re at home in game three you need to slam the door they open the door for him they got momentum and and that really it could be the whole series I hate to say that but it could be the whole series you remember um they would was asking an Ant-Man and he said coach said in game three be ready to get punched in the mouth and his response was they got to get ready to get punched too that let me know he don’t really understand what a game three is like when a team’s down 02 and they fight they’re they’re desperate they’re backed in a corner every animal will fight for their entire life when you back him into a corner whether it’s a house cat a bunny rabbit he’s going to come out fighting you think you know you don’t know yeah and they had no idea that’s the reigning defending champs with the finals MVP and the regular season MVP and you thought they were just going to this like oh we already down 02 we ain’t got nothing hey no they going to give you everything they got and you needed to be able to weather that storm and they couldn’t and they once they got up you could tell in the first quarter you could like Minnesota don’t have it tonight and they get it down to 10 and the next thing you know they’ll run it back to 20 in the blink of [Music] [Applause] I’m [Applause]