Nikola Jokic has won the season MVP three times, once in the Western Conference finals and once in the Finals. He is an NBA champion, a six-time All Star, and has been a member of the Best Quintets six times, four in the first when this year’s team becomes official. And yet, he has never beaten a 50-win playoff team. An absolute strangeness and a truly striking fact for a legendary player, surely already the best European of all time and one of the best players in history. But also a characteristic of what these Nuggets are: a team that is all heart, but also the sixth to win the ring in six years, something inherent to the current NBA, one that has no owner and that continues to collect the sparks that arose. of the dominance of LeBron James and the spectacular rivalry he maintained with the Warriors dynasty.
Since 2018, the last time of the four that the Cavs and the Golden State team met, there have been five Finals: only two teams have repeated, the Warriors in the West (2019 and 2022) and the Heat (2020 and 2023). None of them consecutively, something that is also added to the fact that the only player who has been to two Finals in a row is… Danny Green, member of the Raptors and the Lakers, both champions in 2019 and 2020. An anomaly after several decades in which dominance has always been present: from Magic Johnson and Larry Bird to Michael Jordan. With Kobe Bryant and with the Spurs dynasty. And, in the end, with the King of the NBA, one in decline because everything in the past was better, and a dream squad that achieved four rings in six Finals and 73 victories in the regular season… but that is no longer and He hasn’t even made it to the playoffs this season, play in through.
The change of era has been evident, tangible, palpable. And with its high point in these playoffs: no LeBron, Kawi Leonard, Stephen Curry or Kevin Durant. Nor from Chris Paul, James Harden or Paul George. Not Russell Westbrook or Anthony Davis. And now with four teams in the running, things have definitely changed: the Celtics are looking for an elusive ring and have been there for a long time, but they have only been to the Finals once. The Timberwolves are in the Conference finals for the first time in 20 years. The Mavericks return to the same round from two seasons ago. And the Pacers are the special guests at the party after finishing off the Knicks in seven grueling games. Beautiful series that have served to send some rivals home and leave a trail of corpses among which are the Nuggets. Those current champions who have the best player in the world and who promised a dynasty that, so far, has not arrived. And a champion is forever, no matter how much those from Colorado are one more in this stage in which the NBA is immersed. One without a clear dominator. In which everyone can win. Although this time it’s not the Nuggets.
A wounded champion
The 2023 title, the first in the history of a franchise created in the ABA and that had never even come close to such an honor, gave the Nuggets visibility they had never had. The summer was then to enjoy and Jokic changed horse racing for the World Cup with Serbia. It is a tradition for many champions that the season after a title is long and tedious, but the capital sins of the Denver entity have been too many: at no time did they achieve the level of last season despite adding victories almost by inertia and reach 57. But the delay in homework and studying until the last day caused them to have to fight until the end for the first position in the West to have home field advantage in all the playoffs for the title of their Conference (not in a hypothetical Finals with the Celtics, who reached 64 games won).
An untimely defeat on the penultimate day against the Spurs ruined their plans and they remained in second place, forcing them to play against the Lakers in the first round. A series they won 4-1, repeating last year’s victory in the West finals. But also a deceptive result: tied games, a final difference of only 9 points, a constant give and take and two winning shots from a Jamal Murray who was injured and played undercover in the fifth game and the semifinals against the Timberwolves. Too much wear and tear too soon, both in the regular season and in the playoffs. And an unexpectedly good rival that no one was counting on, but who showed that the 56 victories achieved had not been a coincidence and who has carried out an extraordinary exercise of maturity to finish off the champion. Who says goodbye to the throne 342 days later. And that leaves the Denver franchise out of the Western finals for the fourth time in six seasons. A slab that does not make you forget a ring that no one forgets. But what… Well that’s it.
A tough elimination
Jokic, who has won his third MVP of the season this year, has never played with an All Star, nor with a Coach of the Year nor with someone who has been in the Best Defensive Quintets (something that may change when the results are published). this year: Aaron Gordon, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope). A small mission for Calvin Booth (General Manager) and the rest of the board, who will also have to give some thought to the elimination. And a wink of fate regarding Tim Connelly, immersed in the Nuggets’ offices from 2013 to 2022 and creator of the project, despite leaving before winning the ring. He went precisely to the Timberwolves in exchange for 40 million in five seasons… and that is where he built a winning team, he controversially opted for Rudy Gobert’s contract and the signing of a Mike Conley in theoretical decline and he ended up watching, proud, how his current franchise got rid of the one he was previously in.
The Nuggets have finished this season with the second best defense in the Western Conference and have been truly effective on offense: fourth in field goal percentage, tenth in three-point percentage, seventh in rebounds, third in assists, ninth in blocks and fifth who have lost fewer balls. They have also had the fourth best net rating and have gone to 57 wins, their best mark in the NBA tied with 2012-13 (in the ABA they exceeded 60 on two occasions) and have achieved the best offensive rating in their long history . And not even with those, have they managed to reach the playoffs in the best physical moment, being surpassed again in a seventh game at home, just as happened in 2018 against the Blazers but in a moment of maturity that should have been much higher than that currently shown . A tough blow against some Timberwolves who have been better. And that has arrived after resurrecting in a lost series, and then falling again.
the present and the future
Nikola Jokic has averaged more than 26 points, more than 12 rebounds and 9 assists this season, playing 79 games in which he has achieved 69 double-doubles and 25 triple-doubles. Jamal Murray, who tore his Achilles tendon in the campaign after the Orlando bubble, something that slowed the growth of the project at the worst moment, has gone to 21.2 with 42.5% in triples and has formed Together with the Serbian, a truly historic duo… but with the failure against the Wolves, where both scored 69 of the team’s 90 points, with the center going to 14 in the last period, insufficient to close a game that they won by 20. The biggest comeback in a seventh is not a good thing on the Nuggets’ resume either, as they did not assert their power at home then or in the first two games. And they received beatings in the second (in Denver) and in the sixth (in Minnesota), losing by 26… and 45 points respectively. Bad thing.
In the period in which Jokic and Murray have met, the Nuggets have an 8-0 record in the playoffs against teams ranked fourth through eighth. But against those who have finished first, second or third, they accumulate a 1-5, beating only the 2020 Clippers in the Orlando bubble, overcoming a 3-1 deficit in a way that was as unexpected as it was deserved. The administration has not worked at the key moment either: only Aaron Gordon contributed against the Timberwolves, averaging 14.7 points, but he only managed 4 in the seventh game. And Michael Porter has gone from 22.8 against the Lakers (almost 49% in triples) to 10.7 in the semifinals (with 32.5% from outside). In the already famous seventh he stayed at 7, with 3 of 12 in field goals and 1 of 6 in triples. Bad thing for him and for a very blurred Murray, intermittent and bad in defense. And he has averaged 19.3 points in the entire playoffs, shooting 20.2 shots per game. Only Bob Cousy (1951) and John Havlicek (1965) scored less by attempting more than 20 shots in a final phase. Bad thing.
Now, the Nuggets head to the thinking corner. To the summer, another one, one that has very attractive Olympic Games with a new Dream Team of which there is (almost) no one left in the playoffs because times have changed. Jokic is on his way to turning 30, which he will turn next season, and he is in the best moment of his sports career. But in an era full of alternations and without a clear dominator, the Nuggets need something more if they want to repeat the title again and establish themselves as a perennial favorite that does not skid on occasions that are not conducive to winning the ring. The physical moment they have reached in the playoffs has not been ideal and it was leaked that the Serbian was exhausted after playing almost 47 minutes in game 7 against the Wolves. Another sign that the squad lacks some strength to return to the top. Also to beat teams with more than 50 wins in the final phase, something they have never achieved with Jokic. A strange fact for a legendary race. From the ring to failure. From heaven, to a summer that has sadly arrived before its time. Sometimes, having won is not enough to win again. It’s what he has.
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2024-05-22 11:54:35
#Nuggets #ring #failure
