Last year, 53 victories were enough for them to secure first place. This season, the Nuggets have won four more games, but the Thunder, with the same record, have established themselves on the throne of the West. Another sign of densification at the top of this conference: five teams have reached the milestone of 50 victories, compared to two last year. And 49 victories were needed to qualify directly for 6th place, compared to 44 last year.
The Nuggets therefore did not really have the means to “relax” after obtaining their title. This was precisely the goal set by their coach, Mike Malone, whose team could become the first since the Warriors in 2018 to achieve the double.
A target on the back
“ I am especially proud of the fact that, as reigning world champions, we were not satisfied during the year. We have to stay hungry because we have 29 teams behind us trying to take what we have. You have to have the mindset, the energy, the focus, the discipline, the urgency, whatever you want to call it, and we had it “, judges the coach.
The first step in this quest for a double will go through the Lakers, defeated last year in the conference final. The Californians passed the play-in obstacle by winning on the Pelicans floor. A match followed by Nikola Jokic's Nuggets at home over glasses of… rakija, a brandy very popular across the Balkans.
“ We have a target on our back, even more so now. That was our message today: Don't let anyone in these playoffs take what we got, giving it our all. », Continues Mike Malone, whose squad remained almost unchanged in the offseason, with the exception of the departure of Bruce Brown, offset by the productions of Christian Braun and Peyton Watson.
Eight teams, eight candidates?
In the event of another victory against the Lakers, the Nuggets should then have to battle with the winner of the series between the Suns and the Wolves. Knowing that at the top of the table, for a possible conference final, we count the Thunder, the Mavs and the Clippers. All in all, what big pieces.
“ The playoffs in the West are going to be crazy. Forget the rankings and places of each team… Throw them out the window! There will be eight very talented teams and I wouldn't be surprised to see a number of them win the West, as the conference is so dense and talented », continues Mike Malone.
What makes him most proud? “ The fact that we didn't rest on last year, that we challenged ourselves to be even better. This is what we feared going into this year. We won a title, the first in the history of the franchise. Are you getting some fresh air? Are you blowing? Are you relaxing? » The answer seems natural for his players: no.
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Nikola Jokic | 79 | 34.6 | 58.3 | 35.9 | 81.7 | 2.8 | 9.5 | 12.4 | 9.0 | 3.0 | 1.4 | 0.9 | 2.5 | 26.4 |
| Jamal Murray | 59 | 31.5 | 48.1 | 42.5 | 85.3 | 0.7 | 3.4 | 4.1 | 6.5 | 2.1 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 1.8 | 21.2 |
| Michael Porter, Jr. | 81 | 31.7 | 48.4 | 39.7 | 83.6 | 1.3 | 5.7 | 7.0 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 1.8 | 16.7 |
| Aaron Gordon | 73 | 31.5 | 55.6 | 29.0 | 65.8 | 2.4 | 4.1 | 6.5 | 3.5 | 1.4 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 1.9 | 13.9 |
| Reggie Jackson | 82 | 22.2 | 43.1 | 35.9 | 80.6 | 0.4 | 1.5 | 1.9 | 3.8 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 1.8 | 10.2 |
| Kentavious Caldwell-pope | 76 | 31.6 | 46.0 | 40.6 | 89.4 | 0.4 | 2.0 | 2.4 | 2.4 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 2.0 | 10.1 |
| Christian Braun | 82 | 20.2 | 46.0 | 38.4 | 69.4 | 1.0 | 2.8 | 3.7 | 1.6 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 1.7 | 7.3 |
| Peyton Watson | 80 | 18.6 | 46.5 | 29.6 | 67.0 | 0.7 | 2.5 | 3.2 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 1.1 | 1.8 | 6.7 |
| Julian Strawther | 50 | 10.9 | 36.9 | 29.7 | 71.0 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 4.5 |
| Justin Holiday | 58 | 14.9 | 45.4 | 40.4 | 75.0 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 4.0 |
| Deandre Jordan | 36 | 11.0 | 62.4 | 0.0 | 49.1 | 1.5 | 2.9 | 4.4 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 1.6 | 3.9 |
| Colin Gillespie | 24 | 9.4 | 46.4 | 39.5 | 66.7 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 3.6 |
| Zeke Nnaji | 58 | 9.9 | 46.3 | 26.1 | 67.7 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 2.2 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 1.4 | 3.2 |
| Jalen Pickett | 27 | 4.5 | 42.9 | 36.0 | 75.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 1.6 |
| James Huff | 20 | 2.5 | 60.0 | 33.3 | 100.0 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 1.2 |
| Hunter Tyson | 18 | 2.7 | 40.0 | 28.6 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.6 | 1.1 |
| Braxton Key | 20 | 3.0 | 41.2 | 40.0 | 75.0 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 1.1 |
