What’s next for Nuggets? Why there are no big changes — or easy answers — coming in Denver

The key to beating Nikola Jokic, prior to the 2024 postseason, had been to beat his teammates. When the Nuggets lost to the Portland Trail Blazers in 2019, they did so despite winning the minutes Jokic spent on the floor in that series. For as ballyhooed as their 3-1 comeback over the Clippers was a year later, that series might not have even gone seven if the Nuggets could have just survived Jokic’s rest minutes. He played the 2021 postseason without Jamal Murray. In 2022, he was without both Murray and Michael Porter Jr.

For the past half-decade or so, that was all you could really hope for against the Nuggets. If Jokic and his team were at full strength, he’d clobber you and you could only hope to clobber his teammates harder when he went to the bench. If those teammates were hurt? Then you might have a shot after all. That — and the fact that the Nuggets had a 20-point lead in the second half of Game 7 — is what makes Denver’s second-round loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves so jarring. There’s no caveat here. Minnesota didn’t win this series when Jokic rested. Jamal Murray was playing hurt, sure, but at least he was playing. Every Nugget in the rotation was available to play in all seven games of this series. Jokic had his teammates. It didn’t make a difference. The Timberwolves didn’t just beat the Nuggets. They beat the best version of the Nuggets.

Denver’s starting lineup of Jokic, Murray, Porter, Aaron Gordon and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has been more or less infallible since it was assembled. It has outscored opponents by a combined 483 points across the past two regular seasons. It won its minutes in last year’s playoff series against the Suns, Lakers and Heat by 69 combined points, and in this year’s first-round series against the Lakers, it outscored Los Angeles by 27 points while on the floor. The one slight blemish? Last year’s first-round series against the Timberwolves. Denver’s starters lost their minutes to the Timberwolves by a single point in the 2023 playoffs. This time around? Denver’s starters were outscored by 50…

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Author : Sam Quinn

Publish date : 2024-05-20 03:14:25

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