By Bobby Hinker,
Last year in the bubble, the Denver Nuggets were one of the biggest surprises of the summer despite being the third seed in the powerful western conference. They beat the Jazz in an all-time first-round series that went seven games and then came back from a 3-1 series deficit to defeat the Los Angeles Clippers in the next round before tiring out and getting taken down by the eventual champions Los Angeles Lakers.
This season the Nuggets have lived up to all the lofty expectations set for them this year, having a record of 42-21, putting them at 4th place in the west. MVP front runner Nikola Jokic leads them. The superstar is averaging 26.6 points per game, 8.6 assists, and 11 rebounds, but more on him later. The Nuggets took a devastating blow to their team earlier in April. Borderline all-star guard Jamal Murray went down with a torn ACL and will miss the remainder of the season. Last year in the playoffs, he went off and had multiple 50-point games to lift the Nuggets to their series victories. He started slow this season but was finding his groove before the injury. His absence will be most noticeable in the playoffs when teams focus on Jokic and force someone else to beat them. Murray was that guy for them, and filling his absence will be hard.
That being said, the Nuggets may have another emerging star on their hands in Michael Porter Jr. Anyone who knew anything about high school basketball remembers the takes where people said MPJ would have been the number one pick if players still could come right out of high school to the NBA. Instead, he had to go to Missouri for a year, where he got hurt two minutes into the season and struggled when he rushed back onto the court. The Nuggets took a chance on him in the 2018 draft with the last pick in the lottery. He missed his entire first season with back surgery and didn’t play actual minutes until the second half of last year. In the last seven games of last season, he averaged 22 points per game on 42% shooting from three, and then in the playoffs was a solid contributor averaging 11 points per night.
This season he has taken another step up this season averaging 18.8 points per night but has taken a more prominent role since Murray went down, averaging 23.6 ppg on a ridiculous 46% shooting mark from three. He is perfect for the modern NBA in every sense of the word. He is 6’10 and can jump out of the gym while still having one of the NBA’s prettiest and most reliable shots. He has been learning how to play better off the ball and can be seen flashing to open spots on the court and being found when Jokic is operating with the ball. On the defensive end, he is developing as well and makes impact plays by blocking shots. As he gets more experienced with defensive rotations, there is no telling what MPJ’s ceiling is.
With Murray out, more of the load than ever will go on Nikola Jokic, but it seems as if he will be able to handle it just fine. Last year between the regular season and the bubble, Jokic lost a ton of weight, and I thought he was going to regret that, but instead, he made me look like an idiot and uses his slimmer frame to slip baseline even more this season and get reverse layups or set his teammates up for easy shots. Jokic is averaging the most touches per game in the NBA this season, and for a good reason. His scoring moves may look awkward, but they are incredibly effective. He also happens to be one of the best; you know what I’ll say it, the best facilitator in the league. He doesn’t rely on the pick and roll for his assists, he can get it done in any way he wants. His favorite is to get the ball in the high post and have his teammates come around him and play the two-man game with a handoff or fake handoff and a backdoor slip.
If you are not regularly watching Nuggets games, I highly recommend it. Nikola Jokic plays a game that doesn’t rely on athleticism, and even the most casual pickup player can take something from his game. He is so creative and crafty with the ball and his eyes and has Magic Johnson levels of look-away passes. I have picked up on his off-footed floater. That is when he takes a right-handed floater off of his right leg. It is incredibly awkward but pretty easy to master, even for a semi-athletic (who am I kidding, unathletic) white guy like me, an average to above-average pickup player. This awkward-looking shot throws off the timing of the defense and makes shots very difficult to contest.
However, the Nuggets have their backs against the wall going into the playoff race. They are the fourth seed in the west, having jumped the Lakers since the injuries to their two stars. They have a five and a half-game lead on the Lakers right now, so unless they fall apart down the stretch, they are solidified as the four seed. But that means that they will have to play the Lakers in the first round of the playoffs, and if they have their two stars back, it is doubtful that a Jamal Murrayless Denver team could take down the returning champs. This is not to say that Jokic couldn’t take over a series and Porter could get hot from three and shock the world, but it is highly unlikely. One thing I do know for sure is that a Lakers Nuggets series would be entertaining, and I would tune in for every minute of every game.
