Paul Millsap will help Nuggets close out games
By Mathew Huff
Paul Millsap should be the missing ingredient to closing out games for the Denver Nuggets.
Expect the Nuggets to go to Paul Millsap in the final stretch of a close game many times this coming season. With his experience and and influence as a star player, he should be able to help Denver seal the deal on close games.
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Something the Nuggets struggled mightily with last year and it ended up coming back to bite them as they missed the post season by just a couple of games. Think about some of the games which were lost in the last minute of the stretch.
There was the Houston game where James Harden took advantage of porous defense and converted a game winning layup. There was the Memphis game where Marc Gasol got the game winning tip in. There was the Portland game on the night the Nuggets were honoring Dikembe Mutumbo where Damian Lillard scored the go ahead floater to win the game. And of course, there was the game where Denver was officially knocked out of playoff contention by a game winning three point shot by Russell Westbrook after he broke Oscar Robertson’s triple double record.
Expect this trend to change dramatically now that Denver has their own closer in Paul Millsap. For one, Millsap will make it difficult for the opposition to get off a game tying or game winning shot attempt.
Second of all, he is a solid scorer and has the ability to hit go ahead shots in clutch moments.
Finally, he will be a great mentor and will bring out the best of all the players offensively and defensively in the clutch moments of close games.
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Millsap may not be a Steph Curry or Kawhi Leonard, but he will certainly be the star needed for a clutch moment by the Denver Nuggets.