These Portland games are so fun!

Ya, Denver lost that one. The trade that is. I don't have a photographic memory.

Still keepin' the seat warm for The Anchorman.

Jurkic IV

Pre-Game Thoughts: Jokic FINALLY had an answer for Juka in the last meeting. There were only three Nuggets to achieve double figures in TPM, lead by Chandler's +23 (a 21 point 11 rebound 2D performance, by far his best game of the season) but more importantly perhaps, there was nobody in the red for one of very few instances on the season. Jokic had 27-9-6 in leading the good guys to a 102-85 victory, their first in Portland since 2013 (10 games).

The Blazers of course were without their best player, Damian Lillard that night which will not be the case this evening.

Ally's hair looked a little fried on that winter's eve in the Pacific North-West, apparently. Denver's bench struggled mightily, Malone had one of his better games in terms of rotations, Napier was very impressive for Portland, the official scoring was dreadful and IIRC many changes had been made by the next day in the stat sheet and Big Honey debuted his "Nowitzki", one-legged, step-back jumper that to my count he is thus far 3-3 on, despite it's always seeming to my eye at least, to be superfluous motion, not unlike the Jordon tongue; perhaps a nod to Dirk and nothing more.

Juka will make his first appearance in Denver following the trade and I for one, will be rooting for him to play well, all be it while resulting in a Nuggets victory. These two squads are separated by just 2 games despite PDX residing in the 6th spot while the Nuggets are on the outside looking in at a playoff seed. They seem however to be heading in opposite directions as the Blazers are coalescing with the return of Lillard, the newfound trust in Napier off the bench, the slow but steady, incremental improvement of promising rookie Zach Collins and are winners of three in a row, while Denver has lost their last two, are struggling to win against a soft January docket of opponents and are entirely unpredictable from one game to the next.

To the frustration of Nuggets fans everywhere, Malone is offering little in the way of answers or even a concrete vision of the teams rotational near-future, as he offered this to Gina Mizell of the Denver post (credit to Blazer's Edge for the quote) :

Is the Nuggets’ "Twin Towers" starting lineup of Nikola Jokic and Mason Plumlee officially over?

Not exactly, coach Michael Malone said. But Malone revealed Friday that he will begin mixing and matching his front-court starters depending on the opponents’ personnel — but that he’ll aim to play Jokic at center "a lot of nights."

"(We want to) try to get him back to the level he was playing at last year when he was a 5 and we had the best offense in the NBA for that stretch," Malone said of Jokic. "… Offensively, Nikola is a lot more effective playing the 5 than he is a 4."

If Jurkic didn't work, Plumkic sure as hell is not going to work. Stop getting in the way of yourself Malone! Also, for the first time in your coaching tenure, please attempt to be creative and not reactionary.

Soooooo go Nuggets?!?!

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And now what none of you come here for; how about some basketball nerdery?!?!

(After these messages... Er Nicknames)

Coach: Terry "Butters" Stotts

Denver Nuggets Roster

Coach: Michael "Mr Imagination" Malone

Update: Millsap had successful left wrist surgery and is expected back some time around the all star break. Faried is questionable with an ankle injury he apparently sustained from within the doghouse. Mudiay has earned a spot in the rotation with two straight very good games but will most likely return to said doghouse (watch your ankles Emanuel) with Murray seemingly fully recovered from concussion and Barton miscast as a floor general, for the Nuggets. As for Portland, Wilcox is questionable with a knee injury.

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Data: Open this link in a new tab for the definition of TPM™

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TPM™ Game 47 PDX

Jamal Murray: +24

Emmanuel Mudiay: -5

Monte Morris: N/A

Gary Harris: +12

Will Barton: +1

Malik Beasley: N/A

Torrey Craig: +1

Wilson Chandler: +2

Juancho Hernangomez: N/A

Richard Jefferson: N/A

Paul Millsap: N/A

Kenneth Faried: N/A

Trey Lyles: +3

Darrell Arthur: N/A

Tyler Lydon: N/A

Nikola Jokic: +19

Mason Plumlee: +14

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Total TPM™ starting Game 1 vs. Uta

Jamal Murray: 46 Games +433

Emmanuel Mudiay: 35 Games +321

Monte Morris: 1 Game +1

Gary Harris: 43 Games +648

Will Barton: 46 Games +466

Malik Beasley: 41 Games +60

Torrey Craig: 16 Games -15

Wilson Chandler: 43 Games +275

Juancho Hernangomez: 17 Games -17

Richard Jefferson: 14 Games -5

Paul Millsap: 16 Games +173

Kenneth Faried: 30 Games +34

Trey Lyles: 41 Games +328

Darrell Arthur: 6 Games -19

Tyler Lydon: 1 Games -3

Nikola Jokic: 40 Games +542

Mason Plumlee: 46 Games +163

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Avg. TPM™ Per Game

Jamal Murray: +9.41

Emmanuel Mudiay: +9.17

Monte Morris: +1.00

Gary Harris: +15.07

Will Barton: +10.13

Malik Beasley: +1.46

Torrey Craig: -0.94

Wilson Chandler: +6.40

Juancho Hernangomez: -1.00

Richard Jefferson: -0.36

Paul Millsap: +10.81

Kenneth Faried: +1.13

Trey Lyles: +8.00

Darrell Arthur: -3.17

Tyler Lydon: -3.00

Nikola Jokic: +13.55

Mason Plumlee: +3.54

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TPM™ Per-Minute Splits Through Game 45:

*Credit DomP on the Spreadsheet. It's as if my (nerdy) baby (TPM™) learned to speak

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Analysis:

Qtr2- Chandler looks much more aggressive coming off the bench. I'm honestly not certain why Craig continues to see time. He's an above average defender and nothing but IMHO. Connaughton however looks to be much improved for PDX who has their first lead at 9:45.Mudiay does not look sharp tonight at all, but you'll notice that as usual, the opponent doesn't score following his mistakes since he is a very good defender who doesn't compound mistakes Ala Jokic. CJ makes a completely unnecessary shoulder block foul on Lyles. Or maybe it was necessary. The Nuggets could stand to get a bit physical like this on occasion if you ask me. He appropriately earns a flagrant one for it and I doubt he'd disagree. Chandler already has three blocked shots. It's knotted at 27 at 7:25 as the starters begin to trickle in. Jokic FINALLY hits a three following one by Lillard.

On a serious note, I was forced forced to stop watching at 7:25 after fainting for the third time since Dec. 1st and was just released from the hospital, so I'll have to finish watching/tracking TPM for this one after some much needed sleep (it's now 4:23 am). All apologies, no bullshit.

Denver is paced in TPM by

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Halftime: Smoke break?

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Qtr3- The

Denver is paced in TPM by

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Qtr4- The

Denver is paced in TPM by

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Final Thoughts: Again, sorry for lack of analysis. You want me to put the Anal in analysis about my literally and figuratively shitty night? Here goes:

Sorry. Phone died at the hospital Came home after 4 am and passed out without getting back to anyone; friends, family or otherwise. Apologies.

Apparently there is a section in the middle of my intestines that is not working due to inactive muscles which causes a blockage of the passing of food. This triggers the Vagal nerve which drops blood pressure.

In it's temporary form it's called Vasovagal Syncope and can occur with excessive activation of the vagus nerve due to a traumatic experience. Too much vagus nerve activity can cause a drop in cardiac output, resulting insufficient blood flow to the brain (cerebral hypoperfusion). We've all likely experienced this to lesser degrees when vomiting or exercising. Same nerve, starting at your brain stem then down to your sternum and branching out from there to coordinate blood flow.

If it's permanent it's called Gastroparesis and is normally very treatable and even in extreme cases it can be mitigated with a pacemaker on the abdomen.

It is suspected that the cause is either my time with diabetes between 2013 and 2017 itself or coming off the diabetic meds as my Dr prescribed all at once in early December, since she said I'd essentially reversed it through diet and exercise (down from 6'1 296 at worst in 2013 to 190 currently, probably less after the... unpleasantness at the hospital), which would make sense, because the timing lines up with that. I feel ok now. Need to follow up with my PCP.

TPM data remains in tact.

Go Nuggets!

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The Nuggets Win!

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