Their Schedule:
In their first 21 games, the Denver Nuggets have played 15 playoff teams from last season (I’m including the Oklahoma City Thunder because they should be; if you don’t like that, fine, 14 playoff teams). That’s a tough stretch for the Cleveland Cavaliers, let alone the Denver Nuggets.
The fact that Denver has made it through that stretch with half of their roster sidelined with injury at 8-13 is a minor miracle; if anything, it’s a positive, not a negative.
And listen, I get that that sort of talk was a little easier to stomach when the Nuggets were 6-5 and not coming off an eight-game losing streak, but let me run down the opponents Denver faced during that stretch:
San Antonio Spurs (18-4)
Phoenix Suns (9-13)
Golden State Warriors (22-0)
Los Angeles Clippers (12-9)
San Antonio Spurs (18-4)
Dallas Mavericks (13-9)
Milwaukee Bucks (9-13)
Chicago Bulls (11-7)
The way I see it, there were only two “bad losses” during that losing streak, against the Suns and the Bucks. And even then, the Nuggets led most of that Suns game before Brandon Knight went bonkers with 38 points and 11 assists, and the Bucks were a playoff team just last season.
Again, I’m not going to say that any team can lose eight-straight games without repercussions, but what I am saying is that the deck was definitely stacked against their favor. And if it makes you feel any better, based on ESPN’s expected-win-loss projections, the Nuggets’ 8-13 record is better than the 6-15 record they would have predicted. So, there’s that.
