By Jordan Long
The Denver Nuggets season came to a stunning end yesterday at the hands of the Portland Trailblazers in game 7 of the 2nd-round of the NBA playoffs by the final score of 100-96. This wasn’t the way the Nuggets wanted to have their year end but the future is bright for them.
Denver started 2019 with the goal of ending their playoff drought. They hadn’t made the postseason since 2013 and missed out the last 2 years by one game. In 2018, it came down to game 82 against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Minnesota took the game 112-106 in overtime.
Denver made sure that wasn’t going to happen again. They started hot at 9-1. At that time they showed it wasn’t going to take game 82 for them to miss out on a chance to make the playoffs. Denver ended up 54-28, the 2nd best record in the Western Conference. They won the Northwest Division for the 1st time since 2010.
Denver’s defense was the reason why. Opponents had a difficult time scoring and running their offense. They didn’t allow them to make easy baskets, giving up 106.7 points per game which was 6th in the NBA. Denver could also box out on rebounds with 46.4 rebounds per game. They didn’t give up many second chance points.
Once they made the playoffs, they faced the San Antonio Spurs in the 1st-round. Some NBA experts thought the Spurs experience in the playoffs would make a hard matchup for the Nuggets. Denver somehow survived and won game 7, 90-86.
In the 2nd-round they faced a team that they knew well, the Portland Trailblazers. Portland finished behind Denver by 1 game. They were evenly matched going into this playoff series. Portland took a 2-1 series lead with a 140-137 4 overtime game win. Denver could have folded after that and gone down 3-1 but it didn’t happen. In Game 4 Denver beat the Trailblazers 116-112. They ended up winning the next game to take a 3-2 series lead.
In game 6, Denver went up as many as 10 in the 1st quarter. It looked like Denver was going to cruise and head to the Western Conference Finals. Well Portland made sure it didn’t happen as they outscored Denver 32-20 in the 2nd quarter and Denver never recovered. The reason was their shooting. Denver shot 38.4% for the game including 37.5% from the 3-point range. Portland on the other hand shot 46.1% from the floor and 45.5% from the 3-point line.
Denver knew they had game 7 at home. They were the top team in the NBA with a record of 34-7 on home court. Denver came out hot and went up as many as 17 points in the 2nd quarter. At that point, Denver was well on their way to punching their ticket to the Western Conference Finals. Somebody forgot to tell the Trailblazers the game was over. They outscored Denver 61 to 48 in the 2nd half and won the game 100-96. Denver couldn’t make a basket from behind the arc as they were 2 of 19, a dreadful 10.5%. They missed 11 free throws as their season ended.
The future is bright for the Nuggets. They reached their goal of making the playoffs and even won a series. This experience is going to help them next year. Denver is going to have most of the same team back. Their only free agent is Trey Lyles who is a restricted free agent. They also have a team option on Paul Millsap who is due to make $30 million. They may decline the option. If they do, they could restructure the contract or risk losing Millsap in free agency.
Denver has a big three in Jamal Murray, Gary Harris, and Nikola Jokic. After that they can’t trust the bench nor other shooters. Looking at the offseason, they have must improve the bench and it wouldn’t hurt to bring in another shooter who can play defense as well. The Nuggets will be back in the playoffs next season. They have the talent to even make a run without adding a player to make the Western Conference Finals which should be their goal. ffffffffff
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