In the Nuggets’ biggest win of the season so far, they planted a seed.
Hopefully it’ll blossom into a big, beautiful, winning tree.
When Denver thrashed Golden State Monday night 132-110 at Pepsi Center, they sent a message to not only to the Warriors, but the entire NBA. The Nuggets are officially back – and they’re not going anywhere anytime soon.
At times playing a lineup featuring guys that can barely drink alcohol (or aren’t even allowed to yet), Michael Malone’s bunch is young and confident.
Nikola Jokic is on fire, Juancho Hernangomez has remarkable swagger and Jamal Murray isn’t afraid to pull the trigger from anywhere on the floor. That core can develop into Denver’s own big three and win a lot of basketball games in this city for a long time. And while they won’t be winning the NBA Championship this season, those guys throwing Denver a parade sometime in the next decade doesn’t seem all that far-fetched.
If it happens, we may remember Monday, Feb. 12, 2017 as the day it all began.
First, Denver got in Golden State’s head. That may go a long way toward stealing a game or two in a playoff series come April. After the game, Kevin Durant was engaged by a heckler, clearly a sign the Nuggets – and their fans – were under his skin.
“See you in the playoffs,” a gleeful spectator yelled at Durant as he exited the court. “Yeah, we’ll sweep your ass!” Durant hollered back.
Maybe. Maybe not.
But the fact Durant was bothered enough to respond shows the Nuggets ticked him off. Even Steph Curry admitted after the game that the Warriors aren’t unflappable.
“We just got served a humble slice of cupcake,” Curry told media members, a reference to Thunder fans calling Durant a cupcake in his return to Oklahoma City over the weekend.
Yes, the Warriors are clearly a better team than the Nuggets, but Denver isn’t afraid to get into a shootout with them – and win the game.
Denver was 24-for-40 (!) from 3-point land Monday night en route to those 132 points. In fact, in 2017 alone the Nuggets have scored more than 100 points in 19 of their 22 games, including outbursts of 140, 127, 123, 125, 127, 123, 121, 131 and 132.
The Nuggets probably can’t keep up with the Warriors in a full seven-game series, but do you really put it past them to win a game at Pepsi Center 130-125? I don’t.
This isn’t going to be 1994 when No. 8 Denver upset No. 1 Seattle, but the experience these pups gain by experiencing four, five or even six games of playoff basketball would be absolutely invaluable. And it’d plant another seed for the future.
Step one is getting to the playoffs. Step two is winning a playoff series. Step three is winning multiple series. And step four is winning four series in a row on the way to an NBA title.
The Carmelo-led Nuggets got as far as step three. Then, the immature Melo and his attention-craving wife decided to blow the whole thing up and force a trade to a bigger market. One in which La La still isn’t as famous as she’d like, but I digress.
Rebuilds take a long time, but doing it around Jokic, Hernangomez and Murray seems like an awful lot of fun. Sprinkle in Emmanuel Mudiay, Mason Plumlee and whichever of the three veterans from the current team are the best locker room guys, and you’ve got a helluva eight-man rotation.
For the first time in a while, the Nuggets are on the right track – with a light at the end of the tunnel. And when they make it out, hopefully a bunch of winning trees are waiting to greet them.
Right now Denver is planting seeds.
The shellacking Monday night of the Warriors was a promising one.
