Any Playoff Hope For The Denver Nuggets?
By Joe Lemere
Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports
Since the return of Ty Lawson a couple of games ago, the Denver Nuggets have been playing at a much higher level than without their point guard, but do they have any playoff hope left? They beat the eighth-place Dallas Mavericks and are set to take on the miserable Lakers tonight. This needs to be the start of an incredible run if they hope to make the postseason for the eleventh straight year.
As of right now, the Nuggets are nine games back of the Mavs for the last seed in the playoffs. That’s bad enough, but when you take a look at the schedule and realize there are only 22 games left in the season, things are looking downright bleak. So, is there any hope left? Yes, but only if you’re among the most appalling of optimists.
Let’s say that the Nuggets go absolutely bananas and win all of those last 22 games. They would still need the Mavericks, a team currently 10 games above .500, to go 11-9 in their last remaining games. Again, pretty bleak, but that isn’t even the worst part. The Nuggets are also behind the ninth-place Memphis Grizzlies and the tenth-place Minnesota Timberwolves. So if they Nuggets go crazy and sweep their remaining schedule AND the Mavs falter, they’ll still need the Grizzlies AND the T-wolves to slip-up as well.
Is there any hope for the playoffs for us Denver Nuggets fans? No. Even the appalling optimists know it now.
But there is hope for this team. Maybe not for the roster as it stands now, but there could be some light at the end of the tunnel. Ty Lawson has proven to be one of the best PGs in the West, Evan Fournier has shown flashes of playmaking ability, Timofey Mozgov has improved mightily, Kenneth Faried and JJ Hickson are two of the most athletic PFs in the game and lest we forget, Danilo Gallinari, Javale McGee and Nate Robinson all come back next year. That, with a potential top 5 pick from the Knicks and rumors of a huge offseason floating around, all us Nuggets fans should have hope. Whether we actually do or not.