The surprise team of the Western Conference is none other than the Denver Nuggets who didn’t make the 2018 NBA playoffs but are now one of the top teams in the league. Though they failed to show they have what it takes to take down the defending champion Golden State Warriors last Friday, the Nuggets are legit title contenders who have more than a few tricks up their sleeve.
Despite the 122-105 setback to the Warriors, they have an opportunity to exact vengeance when the Nuggets meet them again in April. If Klay Thompson didn’t erupt for 39 points with nine 3-pointers and if the Nuggets didn’t have to overcome an off night from their starters, they could have had a better chance to win the game. That was a bad combination right there but that was one of only a few games that they weren’t in sync. But there is a silver lining to the team's performance as I’ll explain later.
In this last part of a series on teams that can win a 7-game series versus the Warriors, the Nuggets are the dark horse candidates to end Golden State’s reign at the top.
The team is built around multi-talented center Nikola Jokic whose floor game is arguably the best in the business. As a defender, post-up player, shooter, passer and leader, Jokic is undeniably a superstar, one who is barely scratching the surface of what is expected to be a Hall of Fame career. He’s a seven-footer with an all-around game that would embarrass most small forwards in league history and he’s only 24 years old. The best is yet to come and he is itching to show everyone what he’s capable of in the postseason.
The Warriors built their championship foundation around stars who knew how to play with and for each other but you can see signs of their decline as a cohesive unit. Should they fail to overcome their issues in the locker room and on the court, the Nuggets will be waiting to pounce on the opportunity and they are more than ready for it.
Here are three reasons why the Nuggets are one of the best teams with an excellent chance to dethrone the Warriors:
3. They Rotate the Basketball
Denver is second only to the Warriors in assists per game at 27.6 and is eighth in the league in turnovers per game. This means that multiple players get touches on almost every possession but they don’t make too many mistakes.
Everything starts with a team’s superstar and Jokic is the engine that gets this team running. An MVP candidate that no one is talking about, Jokic is the catalyst for the unselfish brand of basketball that the Nuggets are playing. He is one of the league’s best passers (7.6 assists per game, 7th-best in the league) and with his height, the Joker can pass over double teams easily and find the open man.
Of course, that’s also a testament to coach Mike Malone’s system and he has done a terrific job of instilling this mentality to his team. He is outstanding at developing his young players who are as mature as 10-year veterans.
That type of pass-first mindset trickles down to the rest of the team who look for better opportunities to score when they receive the basketball. The ball doesn’t stick to a single pair of hands and everyone has an opportunity to be a playmaker even though Jokic initiates the offense most times.
As good as the Warriors are defensively, they are vulnerable to teams that distribute the basketball and the Nuggets are as good at that as any. They are patient to find the open shooter and they aren’t as prone to hero ball as star-laden ballclubs.
2. Bench depth
Very few teams have as deep a bench squad as the Nuggets do. None of them are household names except perhaps for Isaiah Thomas who only suited up for Denver last month after coming off an injury.
Despite the recent lopsided loss to the Warriors, the Nuggets bench outscored theirs 58-23. It was mostly a matter of the starters not playing well at the time. Regardless, the game underscored the fact that the Nuggets reserves can carry a team even if the starters were to put up even just a bit of a fight.
Monte Morris and Isaiah Thomas are a handful for most point guards coming off the bench. Malik Beasley is averaging a career-high 11.8 points a game at the shooting guard spot. Juan Hernangomez, Trey Lyles and Mason Plumlee are as good a frontcourt reserve trio as there is in the league. Now, can you imagine if they can plug in a suddenly healthy Michael Porter Jr. into this mix?
Some of these guys could start for other teams in the right situation. There’s very little weakness in the Nuggets’ bench and Malone gets the best out of them.
1. Offensive Firepower and Balanced Scoring
The Nuggets have one of the most potent offenses in the NBA. They are only 23rd in pace but are fourth in the league in offensive rating and fourth in point differential at +4.7. In other words, they slow the pace down but they maximize scoring opportunities. A team like the Warriors may want to run up the score but Denver is disciplined enough not to run with them and keep the scoring as low as possible. Their patience and discipline are key in slowing down a game against Golden State.
The Nuggets have 10 players averaging at least eight points per game and six of them are scoring in double digits. Only Jokic scores 20 points per game (20.4 to be precise) with Jamal Murray at 18.4, but the rest of their top scorers contribute between 8.1 and 13.7. One of their strengths is being unpredictable as to where a bunch of their points will be coming from on a given night.
Denver is not a star-studded team and egos are not an issue. Every player has some contribution to make and they live by that philosophy.
It sounds like it’s too good to be true but since Nuggets management decided to grow the team from the draft and they worked feverishly on player development, this is mostly a homegrown team with little to no egos at all. If the Warriors and Nuggets were to meet in the playoffs, it would be an interesting matchup with a team that has a lot of egos to massage (coach Steve Kerr’s job) versus one that’s solely built to work as a unit. Given the hotly contested nature of the postseason, the ego-less Nuggets may end up humbling the Warriors in the end.
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