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The Denver Nuggets are set to face the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the 2022 NBA Playoffs. To be perfectly honest, it is a miracle they are here. This is a heavily depleted team that had a ton of adversity during the season. The Nuggets' second-best player, Jamal Murray, missed the entire year with a torn ACL. Additionally, due to back issues, their third-best player Michael Porter Jr. missed all but nine games this year. To see the Nuggets occupy the sixth seed is a great homage to how amazing their team has been, in the face of all the issues they had. Without further ado, let's look at three bold predictions for the Denver Nuggets in their matchup versus the Warriors in the first round of the 2022 NBA Playoffs.
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Predictions for Nuggets vs. Warriors in the first round of 2022 NBA Playoffs
3. Nikola Jokic will show why he is possibly the best player on the planet
To say that Nikola Jokic is an amazing basketball player would almost be an insult at this point. It is actually incredible how great the Serbian center has been this year. Even looking at the numbers does not do Jokic justice in terms of how he carried this Nuggets team to where they are. Now, with the playoffs starting in a matter of days, the Joker has a new challenge in front of him. The Warriors are a great basketball team, albeit one that somewhat slowed down in the second half of the season. What has remained consistent is their defense and that will be the biggest obstacle to a possible Nuggets win in this series. Instrumental for that win is Jokic showing that he might be the best player on the planet right now.
In all honesty, there is not much that teams can generally do against Jokic. He has been absolutely unbelievable this season, putting up historic numbers. Jokic had the highest PER in history, while also being the first player to record over 2000 points, 1000 rebounds, and 500 assists in a single season. If they want to pass through the Warriors, the Nuggets will need to get Jokic at his best. It is a good sign that he finished the season on a high note, scoring over 35 points in six of his last seven, including a 41-point, 17-rebound performance against the San Antonio Spurs on the 5th of April. Jokic will need to empty his bag of tricks to go through to the second round and while he has not always shown up in the playoffs, this might be his and his Nuggets' year.
2. The Nuggets' defense will suffocate the Warriors
To say that the Nuggets' defense is good would be somewhat right. They had an average defensive rating, standing at 15th in the league, defended the three-point line fairly well, had solid defensive rebounding, and really locked in at times. Of course, they also had some poor metrics, specifically the blocks, where they rank 29th in the league, and they allow the 9th best field goal percentage in the league to their opponents. However, with some absolute defensive menaces in their squad, Denver should be able to guard well versus the Warriors' strengths. Specifically, that would be the three-point line.
As briefly mentioned above, the Nuggets are fairly good at defending the three-point line. Their opponents shot the 10th worst percentage on shots behind the arc for the season, which is going to be key for this series. If the Nuggets can stop Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and other Warriors threats from the perimeter, they would take one step towards the second round of the playoffs. The key players for this will be Monte Morris and Bones Hyland, both highly energetic players that can follow Curry around and, if nothing, make him sweat for his shots. Ideally, they would make him more of a passer than a shooter, but if that fails, the duo mentioned above would be best utilized to simply make Curry really earn every point he scores.
1. The Nuggets will eliminate the Warriors
The Nuggets had three playoff runs before this one, making the postseason in 2019 after a five-year absence from the playoffs. In all three playoff runs, they made it past the first round, even making it to the Western Conference Finals in the 2020 NBA Bubble. Of course, it also included some heartbreaking moments, like going out to the Portland Trail Blazers in seven in 2019. Those moments have been lessons for the Nuggets and it seems like they are entering this iteration of the playoffs ready to fight. They might not be the best team in the league, but the old saying does say that when you have the best player on the court, you always have a chance.
As said above, the Nuggets have some momentum coming into this game. They are 15-9 since the All-Star break, with Nikola Jokic averaging a cool 29.6 points, 13.7 rebounds, and 7.9 assists while shooting 61.2% from the field. On the other hand, the Golden State Warriors are just 11-12, with their best player, Steph Curry, averaging 23.7 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 6.2 assists. Those are still okay numbers for the standard of a two-time MVP in Curry, but the Nuggets should be considered favorites coming in. They have Jokic, momentum, and all the tools to shut down the Warriors. The Nuggets should eliminate the Warriors in the first round of the 2022 NBA Playoffs in six or seven games.
