The Lakers were looking like the team the Nuggets wanted to play in the first round of the playoffs. But they've played the Nuggets tough, won the season series, and have won nine of their last ten games. Surprisingly, it's starting to look like the Rockets, the latest team to fall to the Lakers, may be the ideal opponent for the Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs.
The Nuggets just beat the Rockets last week in Denver by 36 points, claiming their third victory and the tiebreaker over the Rockets, a crucial component in playoff seeding.
Plus, the Rockets have been playing some poor basketball of late, including that loss to the Lakers, when they scored just 92 points, their second-lowest total of the year.
Stephen A. Smith says he thinks the Rockets have "hit their ceiling." "I think they hit their ceiling because they don't have a point guard," Smith continued.
Houston's starting point guard has missed the whole season
Smith's right. The Rockets roll out 6-foot-7-inch Amen Thompson, a defensive specialist first, to run the point. Thompson is a wing playing point guard in place of the injured Fred VanFleet, who is out for the season with a torn ACL.
VanFleet meant so much to Houston that Smith says, "Had Fred VanFleet not gone down, I would have had them as the title favorite."
There's also the issue of Kevin Durant's alleged burner social media account that could be causing some team chemistry issues. Stack that together with the Nuggets' record against the Rockets, and their now-low ceiling, and it's a great setup for a first-round matchup with little resistance for the Nuggets.
The Nuggets can handle Houston
Jamal Murray has played exceptionally well three of the four times the teams met. Murray scored 26, 35, and 30 points in the three wins, proving he can overcome Thompson's All-NBA Defensive Team caliber defense.
Plus, the return of Peyton Watson is coming ever so closer. Watson will add length and size to the wing and can help defend the larger guards Houston has in their backcourt.
If you asked Nuggets fans who they wanted to play just a couple of weeks ago, most would have said the Lakers. But thanks to Stephen A. Smith's eye-catching ceiling comments about the Rockets, that sounds like an easier path given the Nuggets' record against both teams.
Unfortunately, there are 14 games left in the Nuggets' season, and a lot can change, but if the playoffs started today, the Rockets would be the opponent.