The Nuggets have been skyrocketing up the standings in recent weeks. For the first month or so of the season, they had been stuck around .500, struggling to gain any separation in the West and seeming to be stuck in the play-in mix.
But things steadied in Denver, the team got their guys back, found some rotations and lineups that worked, and ripped off 11 wins in 14 games. They shot all the way up to fourth in the Western Conference standings and to within sniffing distance of the two seed.
With that rise in the standings and quality of play, the team also saw a move up the NBA.com weekly power rankings. NBA insider, John Schumann ranks each NBA team every week from 1-30 all season long. Denver was as low as the mid-teens in some weeks but has been on a steady rise, peaking at number 6 a week ago.
Nuggets’ recent skid drops them to 7th in NBA power rankings
But the Nuggets came crashing down to earth on Saturday as they got rocked by their conference rivals, the Timberwolves. The Denver defense got ripped to shreds and some warts were exposed. It was enough for Schumann to drop the Nuggets from #6 to #7 in the latest power rankings.
This list was published early on Monday, so it wasn’t even factoring in the Nuggets’ stinker on Monday night against the Bulls; their second straight concerning loss. Things won’t get any easier either as Wednesday night the team travels to Madison Square Garden to take on one of the league’s best and hottest offenses, the team that leapfrogged them in the rankings, the New York Knicks.
After that, things should get a bit easier when the Nuggets finish off the week with games against the 76ers and the Hornets. But Denver wants more than to just beat up on the dregs of the league, they want to be contenders.
Right now, with the league’s 18th-ranked defense, it’s hard to call them true contenders. They just aren’t able to get stops consistently against good teams, and ultimately, that will be their undoing. There’s still time to fix it, but they need to start building good habits now.
The offense has never been an issue and it likely never will as long as Nikola Jokic resides in Denver, but it’s very hard to win a title without a top-10 defense - no matter how good the offense is. For the Nuggets, the top-10 would be a dream come true; getting into the top half of the league would be a solid start.
Once the defense improves and the Nuggets don’t have to rely on outscoring every opponent, they should be able to continue climbing the power rankings in the coming weeks.