Denver Nuggets: Potential X-factors against the Portland Trail Blazers

The Denver Nuggets could be in line to have a ton of potential X-factors in this upcoming series with the Portland Trail Blazers. The Nuggets are going into this series without Jamal Murray, Will Barton, P.J. Dozier, and possibly even Austin Rivers.

The tough part for the Nuggets will be how they manage without guards that are usually in the rotation, the only light would be that the Blazers won’t know how the Nuggets will play their cards.

Since the Nuggets will most likely use players that aren’t in the regular rotation, the Blazers could be seeing some players they aren’t used to playing against thus giving the Nuggets an unknown look. We won’t know if it will be an advantage or disadvantage until the games are being played out.

If Game 1 rolls around and the Nuggets are without Austin Rivers as well, we can go ahead and mention the first potential X-factor being Markus Howard.

Howard is a 5-foot-10 scoring point guard who can absolutely shoot the ball. Markus in college was ridiculous, he was one of those fun players that come around every so often that could light it up from anywhere.

His senior year he averaged almost 28 points per game which lead the NCAA. He can be the ‘secret weapon’ that could serve as a spark for the Nuggets who will need scoring other than Nikola Jokic and Michael Porter Jr.

No matter how you look at it, the Trail Blazer’s backcourt of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum are excellent shot-makers, plus they have other shooters off the bench along with Carmelo Anthony.

Portland will have better shooters than whatever combination the Nuggets role with. The defense and pressure the Nuggets put on those two will serve as an X-factor itself.

Facundo Campazzo, Austin Rivers, Shaq Harrison, and Monte Morris will need to be pests on defense, which we know they can be. Facu will absolutely accept the challenge of being in Damian Lillard’s grill.

This will be a series where the Nuggets miss P.J. Dozier’s length and defensive ability, it will be interesting to see who the Nuggets decide to put on each guard. There is a possibility even Aaron Gordon could be thrown out to guard CJ McCollum to bother him with size.

On the flip side, Campazzo, Rivers, and Morris will need to contribute on offense. There will be a huge focus on Jokic and MPJ, so whatever offense you get from the guards will be huge for the Nuggets. Look for Austin Rivers to provide a spark offensively for the Nuggets as he’s the only healthy guard who can create and get a bucket for himself.

Perhaps the biggest X-factor will be the man the Nuggets brought over from the Orlando Magic in Aaron Gordon. What kind of spark can Aaron Gordon bring? The Nuggets will need him to be locked in as a defender and a player that is more aggressive on offense with all the injuries. He will have to be effective using his body getting to the rim whether that’s with the ball or working without the ball, the Nuggets would love to see him use his physicality and athleticism to make an impact in this series.

Something to watch for in this series will be how Michael Porter Jr. will handle being a ‘go-to’ guy in the playoffs.

It will be no secret to anyone that the Denver Nuggets will look to get him involved early and often, the Blazers will try to be physical with MPJ in denying him the ball and try forcing him into tough, uncomfortable shots. They will most likely look to force Porter into driving the ball which is part of his game he himself wants to get better at. This is a big moment in Michael Porter Jr.’s career and he seems to be ready to step up to the plate.

As far as secret weapons go, an outside-of-the-box thought could be the injury report and the players that are on it. The Blazers’ lack of knowledge about what combinations the Nuggets are going to throw out there and contributions from players no one could see coming could most likely end up being the ‘secret weapon’ advantage for Denver.

There is a chance that Will Barton could come back this series which would provide a much-needed lift as a utility ‘do it all’ type of combo guard.

It’s less likely that we’ll see P.J. Dozier this series, but the Nuggets are sure glad to have Monte Morris back from injury. Monte is cool, calm, and collected and is one of the most trustworthy Nuggets on this team. He will help command and control the second unit which has been inconsistent all year, but having him back will do wonders for that unit.

An underrated factor in this series will be Nikola Jokic‘s mind, Jokic is a player that likes to be one step ahead of his opponents at all times. He is the ultimate chess type of player always making the right moves at the right time. He’s an excellent, excellent passer (yes, writing excellent twice was on purpose), Nikola Jokic should be virtually unstoppable in this series. Jusuf Nurkic is a really good player, but Jokic is too familiar with him and Enes Kanter can’t hold Jokic either.

Nikola Jokic should be going into this series with the mindset of ‘they can’t stop me’. The best Jokic for this situation will be an aggressive Jokic, he has to make them stop him. He loves making the right pass and assisting his teammates but a passive Jokic won’t do the job since the Nuggets are down crucial players that can initiate offense and score.

Jokic will have to look to score until he can’t no more. Hopefully, it’s infectious enough that the rest of the team follows along.

The Denver Nuggets will need the league’s presumptive MVP to be sharp and be the best player on the court at all times in this series in order to win and the only thing that could stop or slow him down is himself.

Nevertheless, Jokic has played brilliant basketball all season long, check out this highlight package of his basketball artistry:

Either way, it is going to be a great series. We will get to witness a team with the most likely to be MVP have to figure out where they can get contributions from, everything that’s not Nikola Jokic is really an unknown for the Nuggets.

The Denver Nuggets will need any kind of lift they can get, we will have to wait and see, but Jamal Murray showing up as support would be such a great inspiration for the team as we all saw how he played his heart out in the playoffs last year.