Nikola Jokić can’t play defense. Jamal Murray can’t do it outside of The Bubble. They can’t win on the road. They were terrible down the stretch. The West wasn’t that good this year. They’ll be exposed in the playoffs.
For nearly an entire season, it’s seemed like the discourse around the Nuggets—the No. 1 seed in their conference—centered on why this team couldn’t win an NBA championship. Whether it has to do with the skepticism around Jokić’s two MVPs or faith in bigger names elsewhere, Denver hasn’t exactly been a sexy Finals pick for the last few months. Headed into the playoffs, many oddsmakers gave them the fifth- or sixth-best chance to win a championship, despite having arguably the best offensive player in the league and a fully healthy roster for the first time in years.
And yet, now the Nuggets are the first team to punch their ticket to the conference finals. And they did so with a dominant closeout performance, smothering the Suns 125–100 in a game that wasn’t even as close as that score would suggest. Denver raced out to a 30-point lead at halftime, apparently eager to secure a mini break before the next round. And while a bigger test awaits, the Nuggets are starting to answer most of the questions that hounded them before this postseason run.
