Jazz-Nuggets has been this season’s best playoff series
Has there been a better series in the 2020 NBA Playoffs than the first-round matchup between the Utah Jazz and Denver Nuggets?
The Utah Jazz and Denver Nuggets have brought NBA fans one of the most interesting playoff series’ in recent years, and certainly the most interesting series of the 2020 NBA Playoffs.
Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell and Nuggets guard Jamal Murray aren’t just having a battle for the ages but they’re making names for themselves as superstars. Both players are just 23-years-old, years away from being in their prime, and yet they’re both averaging well above 30 points per game.
Murray’s been so impressive he’s putting his name in the hat with the Michael Jordans and Allen Iversons of the world. As many have pointed out, although Murray has long shown the dedication to be one of the best players in the game, the way he’s played has exceeded many of our imaginations. After averaging 9.9 points per game as a rookie, Murray has averaged 18.3 points per game over the last three seasons.
And now he’s averaging 34.0 points per game in his second career postseason? It’s insane.
Aside from the individual dominance of Spida and the Blue Arrow, names befitting their superhero performances, is the series itself. After the Nuggets defeated the Jazz in Game 1 despite 57 points from Mitchell, Utah reeled off three straight wins against Denver, including two blowout losses for the Nuggets that had many believing the series was all but over.
Jazz point guard Mike Conley returned to the floor after the birth of his son and had all the accuracy of a sniper rifle when he returned. Denver’s defensive stopper Gary Harris returned from an injury in Game 6 and promptly provided the staunch perimeter defense that the Nuggets had been missing throughout the series. Jordan Clarkson, an impressive sixth man, had Denver’s number until Harris returned to the court.
Nuggets star center Nikola Jokic has been hot and cold but has turned in a couple of noteworthy performances, as has his adversary Rudy Gobert.
Meanwhile, Denver’s star rookie — Michael Porter Jr. — was getting abused on the defensive end, to the point where he was the butt of the joke on social media, forcing head coach Michael Malone to replace him in the starting lineup with Jerami Grant. Yet, Porter’s defense has improved tremendously and now he’s closing games in place of the veteran Paul Millsap, who has looked like the polar opposite of the player he was when he was playing for the Jazz.
Speaking of defense, Malone has been forced to show his coaching chops, making serious alterations to the defensive scheme so that the Nuggets could have even a puncher’s chance against the Jazz’s pick-and-roll. In the second half of both Game 5 and Game 6, Denver has played their most impressive defense, allowing them to pull out close victories in each.
All the while, Mitchell and Murray have been using their platform as professional athletes to advance the discussion about systematic racism and police brutality, showing that the future of the league is in good hands both off the court and on it.
Now, the Jazz and Nuggets will face off in a Game 7 that has all the makings of a heavyweight slobber-knocker. With the Kawhi Leonard-led Los Angeles Clippers waiting for the winner of Game 7 in the Western Conference semifinals, the experience of this series will prepare them for what will be a hard-fought battle against a team that has a two-time Finals MVP and the helm.
If you’re a true basketball fan, you’ve had to enjoy this series between Utah and Denver, two teams that have long been a couple of the best teams in the notoriously tough Western Conference.
We can only hope that Game 7, and the rest of either team’s playoff run, proves to be as entertaining as this round has been.