Denver Nuggets fans aren't alone in wondering if this team has what it takes to make another championship run, as Zach Lowe said on his podcast, The Zach Lowe Show, that he's concerned.
"I will never write off the Nuggets with Jokić and Murray... Every great team has those years where it's just, like, 'It's just not our year. There's too much stuff gone wrong, and none of it is really in our control. It's not our year.' I'm worried that this is a 'not our year' year for the Nuggets. I'm not there yet, but I've officially been worried for like a week now."
He's right. You can't write off the Nuggets by any means, as Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray both have a level they can reach that many other players can't. Murray, specifically, has kept Denver in the top six amid all the injuries, and even now, with Jokić not looking like himself.
It's hard not to wonder, though, with everything that's gone on this season, if the Nuggets will be able to turn things around in the few weeks before the playoffs start.
Time is running out for the Nuggets to flip the script
The real question is whether Denver will be able to stay healthy. Aaron Gordon and Peyton Watson should return very soon, and both will give a boost to a defense that's currently ranked 21st in the league. As great as that will be, fans will continue to hold their breath about AG's nagging hamstring issues. Lowe said it a couple of months ago, but the do-it-all forward is the Nuggets' X-Factor.
One would think that after everything Denver has dealt with this season, the basketball gods would opt to take it easy on them over the final stretch of the regular season and into the playoffs. It doesn't exactly work that way, though.
Winning a championship takes as much luck as it does skill. You have to make it through two grueling months of postseason action, and, of course, that's after an 82-game regular season. A team's chances to win it all can change with the flip of a switch. Back to Gordon — maybe Game 7 of the semifinals last year would've had a different result if he didn't have a bum hamstring.
Even though it feels like the odds are stacked against the Nuggets, you can't write them off yet. It'd be premature to do so, which is why Lowe made it clear that's not the stance he's taking. He's just feeling what every other fan has the past few weeks (and maybe even longer than that). Let's hope that feeling will change.