The Denver Nuggets have what it takes to win the Western Conference this season.
The Western Conference is wide open this year.
Unlike the Eastern Conference, which has a pretty clear idea of its hierarchy, the West seems to be trading its top spots like hot potatoes. In this young season, we’ve seen tankers like the Jazz surprisingly take the top spot and the spunky, upstart Pelicans make a push. Meanwhile, the two Conference Finals participants from last season (Golden State and Dallas) occupy the 10 seed and the 5 seed, respectively.
Amidst all of the chaos, there has been one team quietly stacking up wins and now sits tied for the one seed in the West: The Denver Nuggets.
Much like the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers, the Nikola Jokic-led Nuggets are always considered a preseason dark horse but always seem to battle injuries at the worst possible moments or flame out against superior teams come playoff time. This isn’t the case this year as Denver has stormed out to a 23-12 start and has won nine out of their last eleven.
So what’s different about this year’s Nuggets team? Is this start a flash in the pan or can the Nuggets truly make some postseason noise this year?
Let’s break it down.