Despite being a young team, the Denver Nuggets have the experience necessary to win game 7.
This Sunday the Denver Nuggets take on the Portland Trail Blazers in the Western Conference Semifinals.
Game 7 is a high stakes game for both teams as the winner will face the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals.
The Nuggets have beaten all expectations this year after not making the playoffs last season.
Most critics point of the Nuggets “lack” of experience as the main reason they could lose in Game 7.
To this the Nugget’s star Point Guard Jamal Murray had the perfect response
"…everyone keeps talking about experience, and I just want to say that we’ve been here before… We’ll go back home, regroup like we did for San Antonio, come back with energy and…just be ready to play"
In some respects, the Portland Trail Blazers do have more experience than the young Denver Nuggets.
However, Damian Lillard and CJ Mccollum have never played in a game 7 in their entire careers. And Damian Lillard is 3 for 5 in elimination games in his career. While Damian Lillard was clutch in key moments in the first round against OKC Thunder, Damian Lillard has performed substantially worst this playoff series than he did against the OKC Thunder.
And Let’s not forget that for the past two playoffs, the Trail Blazers have been swept in the first round.
“Dame Time” has been inconsistent in the playoffs.
However, despite Jamal Murray being 22 years old and The Joker being 23 years old, the Nuggets are performing like Veterans this year in the playoffs. More so than even Damian Lillard and CJ Mccollum.
The Joker leads Lillard in RPG, APG, FT%, 3P%, and FG% in the Western Conference Semifinals. And Lillard only averages .4 more PPG. And he is five years younger and this is his first playoff appearance. And Jamal Murray is shooting better from three point range than Damian Lillard also.
Damian Lillard and CJ Mccullum have performed well in the second round, however, key to Portland’s success has not been the experience of their two stars, but the contributions of their role players.
Portland’s role players and bench have really stepped it up this series and allowed them to stay in the series.
Rodney Hood and Enes Kanter have kept the Portland Trail Blazers in this series and have had big games. Both players have been playing substantially better than they did in the regular season. Without Rodney Hood’s buzzer beater, the Trail Blazers would have already been eliminated.
Rodney Hood has been averaging 21.0 PPG in Portland’s 3 wins this series. During the regular season, Hood averaged just 12.2 PPG. Enes Kanter is averaging 12.7 RPG and 13.3 PPG in Portland’s wins over the Nuggets .
Coach Malone even proclaimed Rodney Hood as the “MVP” for game 6.
Most critics of the Nuggets made the argument that the Nuggets did not have enough experience to win the first round against the Spurs. Let alone beat them in a game 7. However, the Nuggets proved them wrong.
Last round against the Spurs, the Nugget’s bench really stepped it up. And this was critical for them to win the series. Key to the Nuggets winning this game is having their role players step it up on the offensive and defensive end of the court.
The Nuggets showed they could overcome “experience” in a game 7 in the first round. The Spurs are probably the most experienced team in basketball. The Spurs are arguably the best coached team in basketball and with an established system that has won them Championships.
The Denver Nuggets have the “Experience” to Win game 7
If anybody can be trusted to put away the Nuggets in a game 7, it is Coach Popovich. However, the Nuggets shut the Spurs offensively down and coach Popovich did not have an answer.
The team’s defense won them the game. They had a poor shooting night and struggled offensively at the end of the game. Luckily, heading into this game, the Nuggets are one of the best home teams in the NBA. The Nuggets were 34-7 record at home, are 5-2 at the Pepsi Center in the 2019 playoffs, and the Nuggets were 22-4 at home against Western Conference opponents.
Damian Lillard is a clutch player, but he ain’t no Stephen Curry. Period.
For the Nuggets to win, the Nuggets are going to have to play Nugget basketball and have a lot of ball movement
Like Michael Malone, coach of the Nuggets said about the opposing team’s fans,
"As long as their fans go home disappointed, that is all I care about. The Warrior fans can come in here, the Celtics fans can come in here, the Laker fans can come in here, but take L on the Way out…"
The Portland Trail Blazers can come into the Pepsi Center and take that L on the way out too.