The Nuggets are finally back to full health, and over the last 10 games, they've looked more like the Nuggets that opened the season. Jamal Murray just scored 53 points, and Nikola Jokic had a two-game stretch that no player in NBA history has ever accomplished. The Nuggets look great, shouldn't be counted out, and need to be taken seriously as a threat in the West again.
The Nuggets have won seven of their last 10, and they're even 6-3 in clutch games in March, which could easily be 8-1 if they hadn't lost on last-second shots to the Thunder and Lakers. And they've even found what looks to be a solution to the non-Jokic minutes that were dogging the Nuggets for most of the year,
There's nobody on the injury report, and the Nuggets don't have a back-to-back game left on the schedule after going through a brutal stretch in mid- March. Six of their remaining eight games are at home, and it's just the right time for the Nuggets to have it all come together.
Nuggets can't be written off
On the latest "Game Over with Max Kellerman and Rich Paul" podcast, Paul said the Nuggets can't be written off. "I would not count them out. Do not do that," Paul said,
And that seems to be more of a sentiment than not around the Nuggets now that they're healthy. Stephen A. Smith said previously that as long as the Nuggets had Jokic, there was no reason to count the Nuggets out. And after Jokic's last two games, you can see why.
Jokic had 23 points, 17 rebounds, and 17 assists against the Suns, and the next night against the Mavericks, the Joker had 23 points, 21 rebounds, and 19 assists. Huge nights, back-to-back, and no player has had that kind of production over two games. Ever.
Jokic corrected a problem that has been plauging him
Jokic has 36 assists over his last two games and just three turnovers. A 12:1 ratio, an insane rate. Jokic had been having turnover issues ever since he came back from a knee injury that had sidelined him for 16 games, including tying a career-high with 10 turnovers against Memphis.
But in the past two games, Jokic looked vintage. He's got two game winners in the clutch, the Nuggets have won four in a row, and Jamal Murray just scored 53. The Nuggets have averaged 127.4 points over their last 10 games, they're fully healthy, and for the first time in a while this season, the Nuggets look like a threat in the West again.