Seven-game trip requires staying on the right road
When the Nuggets’ 2017-18 schedule was released in August, Michael Malone’s eyes immediately locked on March. The coach saw seven opponents in a row with an “at” in front of their name, a stretch he described as “crazy.”
“We knew it would get here at some point,” Malone said.
Well, “some point” is now, as Denver prepares to hit the road for 15 days to finish out the month. With the Nuggets entering Friday one game outside the playoff picture, it’s fair to call this a seasondefining stretch. And they may need to begin the trip without leading scorer Gary Harris, who landed awkwardly on his right leg after being fouled on a dunk during Thursday’s victory over visiting Detroit and will be listed as questionable to play Saturday at Memphis because of a right knee sprain/strain.
“We know we can’t look ahead too much,” point guard Jamal Murray said. “Just do it game by game, take every possession seriously and know that we are playing for our (playoff) lives right now.”
Denver will be trying to turn around its season-long road woes, entering the trip with an 11-21 record away from home that stands as the worst among any of the Western Conference playoff contenders. This journey east includes matchups against two “tanking” teams, Saturday against Memphis and Wednesday against Chicago.
The other five opponents — Monday at Miami, March 23 at Washington, March 26 at Philadelphia, March 27 at East-leading Toronto and March 30 at division rival Oklahoma City — would all be in the postseason if it began Friday.
Though even a veteran such as Paul Millsap has acknowledged it’s difficult not to scoreboard watch throughout this tight Western Conference postseason chase, Denver players and coaches have echoed Murray’s “one-game-at-atime” cliché. They refused to talk in-depth about the looming trip before Thursday’s home contest against the Pistons, calling that game a “must-win.”
The Nuggets did win, but that followed a troubling recent trend of surrendering double-digit leads. Denver’s advantage over the Pistons ballooned to 26 points with 3:22 left in the third quarter, before a 27-6 run by Detroit got it within five before the Nuggets closed out their victory.
But the dicey stretch forced Harris back into the game, resulting in him crashing hard to the floor with 6:22 to play before gingerly walking to Denver’s locker room for Xrays that came back negative. He received an MRI on Friday morning, which changed his diagnosis from right knee “soreness” to a sprain/strain.
When asked how he plans to pack for such a long trip, Murray joked that maybe he will just buy clothes on the road. Such is the life of a 21-year-old millionaire. But perhaps that will also help Murray compartmentalize each game, as the Nuggets embark on the road stretch that could define their season.
“We have to prepare for Memphis like it’s our last game,” Murray said. “When Miami comes up, prepare for Miami.”