This past week couldn’t have started in a much more promising fashion for the Nuggets as they beat the Thunder in Oklahoma City by double-digits last Monday night. But that was certainly the high water mark for Denver with three concerning performances to end week 21 of the NBA season.
The tumult began with a 20-point home thumping against their bugaboo, the Timberwolves. After carving up the league’s best defense, the Thunder, Denver could only muster up 95 points against Minnesota’s defense two nights later.
The Nuggets got back in the win column on Friday night but needed some last-second heroics to squeak past a Lakers team that was missing Luka Doncic, LeBron James, and two other starters. They surrendered 126 points and got roasted by the likes of Austin Reaves and Dalton Knecht.
Luckily, the team had a prime opportunity to bounce back Saturday night at home. instead, they got embarrassed by the Wizards, falling 126-123 on a last-second shot by Jordan Poole, and getting swept by Washington in the season series in the process. The Wizards are 15-51 on the season, but they’re now 2-0 against Denver.
Nuggets drop to #7 in latest NBA power rankings
The NBA.com power rankings are updated each Monday by John Schuhmann and the Nuggets fell a spot from sixth to seventh in this week’s edition. At the height of their winning streak, the team jumped as high as fourth, but they’ve been steadily dropping since the All-Star break.
This week, they were passed by the Timberwolves who shot up from eighth last week to sixth this week, leapfrogging the Nuggets and the Knicks. Denver still leads Minnesota by 3.5 games in the standings, but the Wolves have beaten the Nuggets in all three meetings this season, including the drubbing in Ball Arena last Wednesday night.
The Nuggets are still in third place in the Western Conference standings, but several teams are playing better at the moment, which is reflected in these power rankings. The Nuggets are behind four different teams from the West and that doesn’t even include the Rockets and Grizzlies who each share the same 43-25 record as the Nuggets.
The Cavaliers, Thunder, and Celtics held steady in the top three spots in the power rankings, while the Warriors jumped to fourth, and the Lakers fell a spot to fifth. This is a reminder of how difficult the West playoffs are going to be and if the Nuggets keep playing the way they have been lately, they are in big trouble.