The date is April 11th, 2018, the Denver Nuggets are visiting the Minnesota Timberwolves in the last game of the season, the winner goes to the playoffs and the loser's season ends. It was a back and forth game that went to overtime, where Will Barton missed a floater that would have tied the game at 108 with 24 seconds left, Karl Anthony-Towns got the rebound and the Nuggets season ended on the heels of a 112-106 loss. Nikola Jokic had a monster game scoring 35 points and 10 rebounds and, according to ESPN’s Zach Lowe, he promised everyone on the team plane after the loss that this wouldn’t happen again and the Nuggets knew they had their guy of the future.
Missing the playoffs may have been a blessing in disguise for the Nuggets as they were able to land the 14th pick in the 2018 draft. With that pick they took a flier on Missouri forward Michael Porter Jr. Porter Jr. had missed all but 3 games of his freshman season due to back issues but everyone knew the talent was there as he was the number 2 recruit in the 2017 class, according to ESPN’s top 1000. Porter Jr. became a really good player and although he was not great in The Finals, MPJ is still a big piece of the Nuggets future.
Entering the 2018-19 season, it looked like this would be the year it clicked for the Nuggets, Jokic and Jamal Murray had taken huge steps in 2017-18. They did not make big roster changes but they did sign Nikola Jokic to a 5yr/$148 million contract extension that summer. That season, Jokic and Murray took another big step leading Denver to a 54 win season and clinching the 2nd seed in the Western Conference. In the first round the Nuggets took on the San Antonio Spurs, who were led by DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge. After the Spurs took game 1, the 2 teams each took both games at home, setting the Spurs up 2-1. In game 4, Jokic and Murray would not let the Nuggets lose as the pair combined for 53 points in the 117-103 Nuggets win. The 2 teams would both take a home game over the next 2, with the Spurs win in game 6 coming in spite of a 43 point, 12 rebound, and 9 assist effort from Jokic. Game 7 was a mess for both sides as both Jokic and DeRozan struggled throughout but Jokic and Murray pushed their team over the hump in a 90-86 win. Next up was the Portland Trail Blazers. Denver got game 1 behind 37/9/6 from Jokic and 23 points and 8 assists from Murray. No one was good in game 2, as the game's high scorer was CJ McCollum with 20 points in the Portland win. Game 3 went to 4 overtimes as Jokic played 65 minutes in the game, 17 more than an entire game that would end in regulation. However, McCollum and Damian Lillard were too much, combining for 69 points, as the Blazers outlasted the Nuggets to take a 2-1 series lead. However, much like in the San Antonio series, Denver did not go down easy, winning game 4 in Portland and game 5 back home. In game 6, Lillard and McCollum combined for 62 points and forced a game 7 back in Denver. This was CJ McCollum’s series and game 7 was his day as he willed Portland to a 100-96 win, scoring 37 points and ending the Nuggets season.
In the summer of 2019, the team traded a 2020 first round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for Jerami Grant as their big acquisition, at the trade deadline they traded Malik Beasley, Juan Hernangomez, and Jarred Vanderbilt in exchange for players who didn’t make an impact and a 2020 first round pick. In the shortened season, the team went 46-27, good enough for 3rd in the Western Conference. Those playoffs took place in the NBA’s Bubble at Walt-Disney World, and in round 1, Denver took on the Utah Jazz. In game 1, Denver was able to withstand 57 points from Donovan Mitchell and win behind 36 points from Jamal Murray, 29 points and 10 rebounds from Jokic, and 19 points off the bench from Jerami Grant. Denver proceeded to get blown out in games 2 and 3 before losing a close game in game 4, going down 3 games to 1. Jamal Murray scored 42 points in game 5 and 50 points in game 6 forcing a deceive game 7. In game 7, Denver led 80-78 with 17.4 seconds left and Utah was inbounding, Donovan Mitchell drove and turned the ball over. The ball was picked up by Jamal Murray who sprinted up the court and threw a pass to a cutting Torey Craig, who smoked the layup. Rudy Gobert rebounded the ball with 4.7 seconds left and out-letted the ball to Mike Conley. Conley sprinted up the court and took a 3 pointer that barely rimmed out and Denver survived. It is still one of the craziest endings that you will ever see and I recommend watching it on YouTube (unless you’re a Jazz fan). In round 2 came the Clippers. Denver went down 3-1 again and trailed by 15 in the 2nd half of game 5. Then, the Murray-Jokic pick and roll turned the series around for Denver because the Clippers had no answer for it. A comeback win in game 5 and a 34/14/7 slash line from Jokic in game 6 forced a game 7. In game 7, the Clippers rolled over, 40 points from Jamal Murray and 16/22/13 from Jokic and the Nuggets were headed to the Western Conference Finals. After losing game 1, the Nuggets had a lead in game 2 when Anthony Davis hit a buzzer beater to take a 2-0 series lead and snatched the Nuggets soul, as Denver would lose in 5 games.
The 2020-21 season presented Denver with its best chance to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy to that point. After losing Jerami Grant that summer to the Detroit Pistons, the Nuggets were sitting at 26-18 and 5th in the Western Conference at the trade deadline. A lot of the buzz was coming due to a Michael Porter Jr. breakout season. After missing his first season due to a back injury, Porter Jr. was up and down in his rookie season averaging 9.3 points and 4.7 rebounds on shooting splits of .50/.42/.81. In 2021, he broke out averaging 19.0 points and 7.3 rebounds on shooting splits of .54/.44/.79 for the season. Nikola Jokic was also having his first MVP campaign averaging 26.4 points, 10.8 rebounds, and 8.3 assists. They knew their window was open, they needed a big wing to guard the other team's best wing, the Jerami Grant replacement. As a result, they traded Gary Harris, R.J. Hampton, and a 2025 first round pick to the Orlando Magic in exchange for Aaron Gordon and boy did it work. Through the first 7 games of Gordon’s Nuggets tenure they were dominant winning all 7 games, including a dominant win at the Clippers. It looked like they were ready to win the whole thing, and then on April 12th, Jamal Murray drove to the cup with the Nuggets down 111-104 to the Golden State Warriors with 53 seconds left. Murray fell to the ground and his knee buckled and he instantly grabbed at it. He had torn his ACL and would miss the remainder of the season and all of the 2021-22 season, effectively killing all of Denver’s dreams of a title for 2 seasons. Denver finished 3rd in the West with a 47-25 record. In the 2021 playoffs, the team faced off with the Portland Trail Blazers in round 1, a rematch of the 7 game slug feast in 2019. After losing game 1 due to 34 Damian Lillard points and 18 points from former Nuggets All-Star Carmelo Anthony (the real Melo) off of the bench, the Nuggets took game 2 behind 34 Nikola Jokic points. After the two teams split in Portland the series shifted back to Denver for an epic game 5. The game went to double overtime due to one of the greatest Damian Lillard games you’ll ever see as Lillard scored 55 points, as Kevin Durant said on Twitter, “this a spiritual experience.” However, it was not enough as 38 points, 11 rebounds, and 9 assists from the MVP (Jokic) and 26 points and 12 rebounds from Michael Porter Jr. proved to be too much as Denver outlasted the Blazers 147-140. In game 6, 36/8/6 from Jokic and 26 points from Porter proved to be too much as the Nuggets eliminated the Trail Blazers. Denver proceeded to get swept by the Suns. In 2021-2022 Jokic won his second consecutive MVP but the Nuggets finished 6th because Murray missed the entire season and Porter Jr. missed all but 9 games. They were bounced in 5 games from the playoffs in the first round by the eventual champion Golden State Warriors and they moved onto 2022-23 where they were set to get Jokic’s co-stars back.
As the 2022 offseason began, new General Manager Calvin Booth got to work. In the draft he selected Christian Braun and Payton Watson. He then signed Bruce Brown in free agency and traded Will Barton and Monte Morris to the Washington Wizards for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Ish Smith. Booth knew that with Murray returning, Denver’s offense needed to be the Murray-Jokic pick and roll surrounded by 3 and D players, KCP is the perfect fit for that role and while Brown and Braun (pronounced the same way) are necessarily as good as KCP at 3 or D, they are both better ball hander’s than Caldwell-Pope so one one, or both, of Murray or Jokic sit, those 2 guys help with the ball handling duties. The season started and the Nuggets got off to a blazing start and never looked back. They demolished the Western Conference so badly early in the season that even when they were shaky in the final 5 weeks, or so, of the regular season, it didn’t matter and Denver clinched the number 1 seed. There were concerns about Denver entering the playoffs, due to their struggles near the end of the regular season, but they were unaffected as they trucked their way through the Western Conference Playoffs, beating the Minnesota Timberwolves in 5 games, the Phoenix Suns in 6 games, and sweeping the Los Angeles Lakers advancing to the NBA Finals, where they would face off against the Miami Heat.
As I talked about in my last blog, the key to Miami’s success was their 3 point shooting. In game 3, Miami was 11/35, 31.4%, in game 4, Miami was 8/25, 32%, in game 5, Miami was 9/35, 25.7%. The Heat lost all 3 games. Jimmy Butler did not have a standout game in these Finals either, in 2020, he was masterful in game 5, with the Heat facing elimination he scored 35 points, 12 rebounds, and 11 assists, in 2023, he was disastrous for most of the game, before getting hot late, before turning over the ball and missing a 3 on Miami’s final 2 possessions. Nikola Jokic was masterful in the Finals, in game 3, he had the first ever 30/20/10 game in Finals history. In fact it was only the 5th such game in playoff history, Jokic has recorded 3 of them. Nikola Jokic is an incredible player and he had the MVPs to back it up, now he adds a ring and a Finals MVP to his resume, and is the best player in the NBA and the numbers back it up. At 600 points, 269 rebounds, and 190 assists, Nikola Jokic became the first player in playoff history to lead the playoffs in total points, rebounds, and assists. He also held his opponents shot 39.8% with Jokic as the nearest defender. He has been dominant for years now and he was dominant in these playoffs, leading the Nuggets to their first championship in franchise history.
In 2018, the Denver Nuggets lost in the last game of the season to miss the playoffs against a Jimmy Butler led team, in 2023, they beat a Jimmy Butler led team to win the championship for the first time in franchise history. They didn’t ever make a splash trade, sign a max free agent, or draft at the very top of the draft to build this roster, they just made good sound decisions and got so good they won the championship. It was not flashy, nothing about this was ever flashy (and that upset some people), but they were really good and just accomplished the ultimate goal, to lift the Larry O’Brien trophy. Congratulations to the Denver Nuggets and all of their fans!
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