Nuggets finally get long-awaited respect
America ain’t sleeping on the Nuggets anymore.
Well, most of America, anyway.
“Real basketball minds already knew this team was good,” Dennis Scott, a former NBA forward and current NBA TV analyst, told The Denver Post. “It’s like with Portland, Denver, Utah, when you’re so far (on) what we say, ‘The Left Coast,’ most of the East doesn’t stay up and really pay attention.”
Whether it’s “Game of Thrones” or the NBA playoffs, everybody loves watching a regime change unfold before their eyeballs. Late TV tips aside, the Nuggets’ 4-3 series victory over the San Antonio Spurs — new money triumphing old, Joker and Malone outlasting LeMarcus and Pop — only added to a young roster’s growing street cred among the national talking heads. Especially among those heads who actually are staying up to watch.
“I think Game 7 (vs. San Antonio), for me, I’m glad it was close versus a blowout. Because it made them come closer together,” Scott said. “When (the Spurs) cut it to four, they could’ve easily broken up, and then it would be a different question. So I think their toughness and togetherness were really huge down the stretch.”
Golden State’s’ stockpile of all-stars — the foregone conclusion of another Warriors title — and the lack of LeBron, no shock, have combined to slaughter NBA postseason TV ratings. According to SportsMediaWatch.com, only nine of the first 43 playoffs games have shown an increase in ratings or viewership from this time a year ago. And of those nine, five have featured the Warriors.
But even if Nuggets vs. Blazers is perceived anywhere east of Omaha as the undercard semi to Warriors-vs.-Rockets in the West, it’s an undercard with potential long-term implications: Portland (average age: 25.2 years old) and Denver (24.7) have the two youngest rosters left among the eight still standing in the postseason. And, TNT analyst and Hall of Famer Kevin McHale noted, they’re also two of the more likely successors to the Warriors’ crown.
“Believe me when I tell you, because I’ve been involved with it — these dynasties that are going to ‘last forever’ don’t,” McHale told The Post.
“Golden State may be on its last legs and then, who’s next? I mean, you look at the Denver Nuggets, and Portland’s a young team. So, for me, this is kind of a series of maybe (who’s) next up into the (category) ‘dynasty that’s going to last forever,’ which is four or five years at the most. These guys are going to be fighting for that, so they’re interesting on a lot of different levels. Plus, (the Nuggets) are growing and getting better.”
And getting tougher, mentally, after surviving The Gregg Popovich Litmus Test in the first round. A badge of pride and validation.
“Yeah, it does (validate them),” McHale said. “I mean, they’re interesting to everybody, because (Jamal) Murray’s turned into a really nice guard that can really play. And (Nikola) Jokic is unique.
“These (Nuggets) are gifted, they play basketball the right away. And to me, they actually can play a couple different ways. Most of these teams play a drive-and-kick game, which I think is fantastic basketball — until you run into a team that can guard the drive-and-kick. And that means, do you have a big guy that can post up? What’s Plan B? These guys have a Plan B. They can play out of Jokic in the post. They can play out of (Paul) Millsap in the post.”
Sleep on Millsap — and the Nuggets — at your peril.
“Hands down, this team is on the upside,” Scott said. “And as long as they stay healthy and the front office continues to tinker just a little bit — not a lot, just a little bit — they should be fine.”