The Denver Nuggets remain a dangerous team despite the national media’s doubts regarding playoff success. Here are five goals for them to achieve in the bubble before the playoffs begin.
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1) Solidify the 2 or 3 seed
In a bubble city, NBA home court is practically nonexistent. Minimal people will be within the facilities as the Nuggets and the other NBA teams play their remaining games, therefore seeding is unimportant, right?
Consider this. Every NBA champion since 2000 has been either a 1st, 2nd or 3rd seed. Let that sink in and then tell me seeding does not matter. The Nuggets have the opportunity to solidify themselves as an elite team if they can take care of business early and often.
The NBA is finally (for the most part) embracing Nikola Jokic as the best center in all of basketball and a transcendent player in the modern NBA. That was also “fat” Jokic. Now we have “skinny” Jokic and who knows what his game will look like now. Even if the physical change makes no difference as to how he performs on the court, the Nuggets still have the best center in the entire NBA.
We saw him do it last postseason when he played his heart out in both playoff series. In 14 playoff games last season The Joker averaged nearly 25 points a game, gathered 13 rebounds, and dished out just under 9 assists on nightly basis. For a player who was “overweight” and “out of shape”, he played a game high 65 minutes in a game three 4 overtime thriller, in the 2nd round of the playoffs against Portland. Bring that effort and attitude and they can put themselves in a position to really compete.