The Denver Nuggets have spent the past few months hearing that they can’t be trusted in the playoffs, that two-time Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic couldn’t lead them to postseason success, and that their record, the best in the Western Conference for most of the season, was kind of… mirage.
Nobody was afraid of them in the playoffs, or so the story goes.
But in the first two rounds of the playoffs this year, the Nuggets defied their reputation for fading in the postseason by easily fielding Minnesota and Phoenix. They appeared to be doing the same thing with the Lakers on Tuesday night, as they dominated most of the Western Conference First Round Finals. But as the second half approached, Denver left room for doubts about its playoff strength to sneak up again.
Fair or not, what’s at stake for the Nuggets in this series, which they lead, 1-0, after a 132-126 win on Tuesday, is their ability to prove their elite play isn’t an illusion that disappears in May.
“We’re a long way from what we’re trying to do,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone told his team in the locker room after the game.
The Nuggets have not reached the NBA Finals, nor have they participated in a tournament since their last season in the NBA, in 1975-76. Most of this disappointing history cannot be blamed on their current group.
But even now, year after year, something happens to prevent the Nuggets from competing for the title, and they’ve been blamed for it.
Jokic has been an All-Star for the past five seasons, but Denver has only been to the Conference Finals once in that time, in 2020. The Nuggets lost to the Lakers in five games that year, which were played at a closed site at Disney World in Florida due to Corona virus epidemic. They’ve come out of the postseason sooner in each of the next two years without their talented guard Jamal Murray, who tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee about a month before the 2021 playoffs.
Then this season the Nuggets started to look unbeatable.
They were in first place in the West or were tied to it From December 20th until the end of the season. Jokic had another year of MVP caliber, though he lost the award to Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid. Murray is back in action after a year and a half spent recovering from a knee injury. The Nuggets have won 75 percent of their games in January and February.
Perhaps their lackluster effort in March, when the Nuggets were 7-7, convinced observers that they weren’t as dominant as a top seed should be. Or they may have been penalized by public opinion for their previous playoff performance.
They seem ready to change the conversation this time around, even though they pretend to ignore it.
They passed the Timberwolves, then humiliated the Suns in the second round with a 25-point Game 6 victory that clinched the series.
After the series, Jokic said, “I guess I don’t know what a championship team looks like, but I think that’s what it’s supposed to look like. We were focused on every detail.”
But now, the game against the Lakers evoked memories of the Denver team these Nuggets don’t want to look like: the team that lost to the Lakers in the Conference Finals in 2020, the last time they met in the playoffs. Now both teams are almost completely different except for the stars: Jokic and Murray for the Nuggets and LeBron James and Anthony Davis for the Lakers. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, a key player for the Lakers in 2020, is now a major player for the Nuggets.
They are all older, for better or worse. Before, the Lakers had been spurred on by James’ play. Now, Davis’ role is much more important than it used to be.
For two and a half quarters into Tuesday’s game, the Lakers looked lopsided with this year’s Nuggets, and the doubts about Denver’s championship aspirations were ridiculous.
Denver scored 72 points, with an 18-point lead in the first half. Jokic scored 19 points, 16 rebounds and 7 assists.
“It took us half the time to get into the game,” said James. “That was pretty much a ball game there.”
In the Lakers’ previous series this postseason, against Memphis and Golden State, Davis’ mere presence intimidated opponents. This will not happen against Nuggets. For much of the game, Davis was chained to Jokic in a way that prevented him from being the force he was against the Warriors.
The Lakers haven’t played a player like Jokic yet in the playoffs, in part because there isn’t someone quite like him – a big guy who passes as easily as he scores. That’s why Lakers coach Darvin Hamm jokingly suggested Monday that the only way they could stop Jokic was to kidnap him.
In the middle of the third quarter, Jokic already hit a triple-double.
Then, to stop the Lakers running late in the third quarter, he hit an off center, step-back 3 at the buzzer, with the choked Davis waving his arms. Davis left the court wearing a wry smile. He did everything he could and it wasn’t enough to stop Jokic.
Jokic finished with 34 points, 21 rebounds, and 14 assists. Davis scored 40 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
In the Nuggets’ locker room after the game, Malone addressed his team with caution and pride. A good win, he said in the comments broadcast on ESPN, but also: Play better defense.
Hamm hinted that he did not show all possible tweaks in Game 1. Malone said he would rather fix bugs after a win than after a loss.
What ultimately matters to legitimizing the Denver Nuggets as a championship threat is not how they win these games, but who they do.