While a top-seeded team is never in a position to panic, the Denver Nuggets are certainly feeling mounting pressure right now as they endure major struggles on the court.
Nikola Jokic has been doing his thing, of course, but the energy and effort level of the team (especially on defense) has been sorely lacking. Apparently, things are so bad that Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (1x champion with the Lakers) felt compelled to call out his teammates in a team meeting earlier this week.
“Who do we want to be?’” Caldwell-Pope said, via The Denver Post. “We can’t keep losing like this, we didn’t start off like that. It’s not the time to be losing games that we’re supposed to be winning. It’s crunch time. … It was all about just who we want to be at the end of the season. ‘Do we want to be champions or we just wanna go home?’”
This time of the season is usually when teams will ramp up to prepare for an intense and invigorating playoff run, but the Nuggets are seemingly sliding in the opposite direction.
Losingers of five in their last six, Denver is showing cracks in their system at the worst possible time.
Are Nuggets Still The Favorites To Come Out Of The West?
Despite the recent string of losses, the Nuggets still have a pretty sizeable lead for first place in the West and they will carry home-court advantage throughout the West playoffs.
Unfortunately, with the emergence of the Lakers, Warriors, Suns, and Sacramento Kings, the path to the Finals is not an easy one for any team in the West.
“If they were healthy, I’d pick the Lakers,” said Colin Cowherd. “I don’t trust Denver in the West. Playoff basketball is about being great at stuff. It’s not about depth. It’s not about plaques. It’s not about MVPs. The Lakers, when AD and LeBron are healthy, they have things they’re great at.”
Only time will tell where the Nuggets are at when it’s all said and done, but they have one the best players in the world on their side so nobody can count them out completely.
But if they want to avoid another disappointing playoff showing, the team is going to have to get better and re-discover the formula they had just a few months ago.
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