Winning another NBA championship is as difficult as ever due to the high level of talent across the league nowadays. Over the past decade, only the Golden State Warriors have managed to achieve this feat.
Consider the five teams that won the Larry O’Brien trophy before the Denver Nuggets did last season: the Warriors in 2022, the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021, the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020, and the Warriors again in 2019. None of them made it past the second round the following year.
Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets are on the verge of breaking that trend and are showing signs of being able to overcome the challenge of winning back-to-back championships.
With an impressive performance from Jokic, who scored 40 points and dished out 13 assists, the Nuggets once again dominated the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday night in Denver, taking a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference semifinal series. They have the opportunity to eliminate the Timberwolves in Game 6 on Thursday night in Minneapolis.
“They are currently performing better than us. They are outplaying us, playing with more intensity, and winning all the loose balls. Everything seems to be going their way,” remarked Wolves guard Anthony Edwards. “They have the momentum, and we need to find a way to shift it back in our favor.”
Interestingly, the Nuggets found inspiration from their heavy defeat by Minnesota in Game 2 on their own turf. It served as a wake-up call for Denver, igniting a much-needed change.
“We weren’t playing like champions. Our confidence was lacking, and we weren’t showing our usual aggressiveness,” stated Nuggets coach Michael Malone. “Credit to Minnesota for pushing us to recognize our shortcomings. Game 2 reminded us of the need to return to our true form both offensively and defensively.”
Over the past decade, the Golden State Warriors were the only team to successfully defend their championship, achieving this feat in 2017 and 2018. Despite making it to the NBA Finals in 2019, they lost to the Raptors, who were eliminated in the second round the following season.
Subsequently, the Lakers were knocked out in the first round in 2021, followed by the Bucks and then the Warriors in the second round in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
The Nuggets, led by the impactful play of MVP Nikola Jokic, have not only ended the Timberwolves’ unbeaten streak but have also exposed vulnerabilities in the NBA’s top defense through effective perimeter shooting by their supporting cast. In Game 5, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope showcased this by hitting four of his five 3-point attempts.
