The sky didn't fall for the Denver Nuggets when Christian Braun got hurt, when Aaron Gordon got hurt, or when Cam Johnson got hurt. It didn't fall when Nikola Jokić suffered the first major injury of his NBA career and missed several weeks. It didn't fall when Gordon got hurt again, nor when Peyton Watson went down with a hamstring injury.
With nine games left in the regular season, the Nuggets have a clean injury report (Gordon and Watson won't play against Dallas due to injury management). They sit No. 4 in the West with a half-game lead over the No. 5 Timberwolves, and a one-game lead over the No. 6 Rockets.
It's still far too soon to know how the conference standings will look at the end of the regular season, but as Brian Windhorst said on the Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective podcast, things are finally going in the Nuggets' favor.
"They have nine games left. Seven of those nine games are at home. Fully healthy. Also, they finish the season playing Oklahoma City and San Antonio, in that order, the last two games of the season. It's possible that those games won't matter, that the first and second seed will be established.. Denver is in position to get that fourth seed if they handle their business and avoid injury."
Things are looking up for the Nuggets at the right time
The third seed isn't out of play for Denver, either, as it sits 1.5 games behind Los Angeles. The Lakers' remaining strength of schedule (27th in the league) is more favorable than the Nuggets' (14th). LA will play OKC two more times this season, though, on April 2 and 7. The Thunder may or may not rest some of their key players in those games.
As Windhorst said, by the time Denver faces Oklahoma City for the final time during the regular season on April 10, the Thunder could already be locked into the No. 1 seed. Two days after that, the Nuggets will go to San Antonio for their regular-season finale, and the Spurs could've solidified their spot as the No. 2 seed. That tough end-of-season stretch looks a lot less daunting than it did.
Looking ahead to the other games on Denver's schedule (which will feature no more back-to-backs!), four will be against teams tanking, and the other two will be against an injury-riddled Golden State squad and Portland, which the Nuggets beat by 16 on Sunday. By no means are any of those games automatic wins, though.
Denver is in control of its destiny, and while the sky still wouldn't fall if it finished as the No. 5 or 6 seed, the Nuggets need to finish No. 3 or 4 to secure homecourt advantage. It matters to them more than it does to other teams, thanks to the altitude.
There were too many times this season when all hope felt lost, but look at where we are now. It's not over yet, which should make you excited, and not filled with dread.