Can the Denver Nuggets overcome the pressure of repeating as NBA Champions?

Can the Denver Nuggets overcome the pressure of repeating as NBA Champions?

The Denver Nuggets are about to kick off the post Allstar break portion of their schedule 27 games on tap before the end of the regular season I’m with my guy swipa here swipa what are you looking forward to most about the beginning of the next 27 games well number one glad

You’re back Ryan Mr vacation man himself flying around the world uh I think the Nuggets man this is the time to put their foot to the metal for a little bit uh they’re going to have seven of their first 10 games coming out of the break are going

To be at home seven out of 10 this is a way for them to really establish their dominance this is a team that’s been really dominant at home they’ve lost five games that last game doesn’t really count uh they basically didn’t play with any energy any effort prior to that they

Lost four games all year so this will be an opportunity for them to catch up in the standings to be able to get back to where they want to be but on top of that Ryan they played a Minnesota Timberwolves three times through March and April and two of those games are

Also going to be at home so you want to talk about gaining ground they can gain ground on the one and two seed and they can put a strangle hold on that number one seed if they can take care of business versus Minnesota so I’m excited

Man they got some really good games they open up with the Wizards and Trail Bladers right after that they got the Warriors the Kings the heat the Lakers the Suns and the Celtics in six straight games and most of these games are going to be at home as well so you want to

Talk about an opportunity to set let the record be known and really just set it straight and tell everybody we are the champions we’re going to come into the playoff with look y’all thought it was sweet last year 16 and4 we’re bringing that same energy this year I think

There’ be a great opportunity for them to do so yeah so some numbers there to to Really Hammer home that point Denver’s 36 and 19 right now in their their first 55 games Minnesota’s the first seed right now at 39 and 16 so Denver’s three games back of them OKC

The LA Clippers they are at two and three respectively but you you go down the standings a little bit Dallas is currently at 32 and 23 they are only four games back of where Denver is right now now I’m not saying that Denver is going to drop to the play in tournament

Or anything like that but it is a possibility Denver is three games back of the one seed but they’re only four games up on the play and all of these games are going to matter and so to your point this is a really important time for Denver where yeah they’ve got a

Relatively easy schedule I would say over the course of these next 27 to really hone in to really get themselves going but every game’s going to matter here down the stretch and you mentioned some of those Minnesota games Denver has an opportunity to really climb the standings if they win those because the

Only way that you’re going to climb is if you win games and the other team doesn’t so they can do that they can double dip a little bit in those those Minnesota games they’ve also got a game against the LA Clippers on April 4th uh they’ve got three games as you mentioned

Against Minnesota so there’s a lot of opportunities for Denver to climb the standings but also if they don’t manage to win there’s a lot of other teams behind them that are currently playing really really well and they could potentially fall on the standings too yeah I’m not gonna lie I don’t see

That happening just because they’ve already trolled like you not you’re not allowed to do that three times they did it once in December lost three straight the team they shouldn’t have lost to and they just did it again to lost three straight the team they shouldn’t have

Lost to the Kings twice and then the Who Can’t Get Right could they beat Charlotte beat Denver and then they lost to the Memphis grizzley with nobody on the court after the xavior Tillman trade so then they’re not losing to teams that are just outright like better than them

Or teams that are in a tough fight where you got some NBA championship level teams that are fighting like by the way Ryan they’re net rating in the clutch just off that one king game went from a plus 25 to a plus 20 it sank Five Points

In one game because their defense was abominable because dearen Fox was getting whatever he wanted on the court obviously so look man like we all love the Nuggets we love the players we love them Malone we get it like we know them we’ve been around them for years seen them for years

Listen to them they get to troll a couple times a year and they get to to not put the the gas down a couple times a year but yic Murray Porter Gordon kyp Payton Watson Christian Brown Reggie Jackson DeAndre Jordan Z Nai Justin holiday you have to get it done simple

Fact you don’t want to be sitting here wondering how are we fighting to stay in the fourth seed now down the stretch of the year the last three games of the year we got to go all out because we don’t want to fall to the five seed and

You don’t want to be in a situation where you’re even fighting for that three seed and you’re too good to do that anyway again right I’ve been very clear about this they in the last 10 games from January 25th to February when they played versus the Kings did you know the Denver Nugget

Went five and five over the course of a 10- game stretch I certainly did I was there did you know that the Denver Nugget had like a negative five net rating over the course of those 10 games that one I didn’t know but I understand it because they were losing some of

These games in blowout fashion I think one of those games I think was against New York where they lost by 30 38 Point loss that’s a that’s a tough one that’s affect the net rating in a big way they were down by 29 to the Kings they were

Down by 28 to the Bucks they lost by 38 to the New York Knicks also did you know they plummeted as an offense went from eight to 12 because of a 10 game stretch so this what I’m saying they already did it they’ve already shown their worst when they were

Absolutely not trying they were in fights with the Washington Wizards because they just weren’t willing to do whatever so I think for me it’s just like it’s enough you have to go out and get this done simply because you want to put yourself in the best situation

Possible and you know we’re going to talk about him on the other side with yoke but yo I know you know we’re doing all this other stuff all Shar breaks gone Hey look it’s time to gety up time to get going uh this team it’s time to

Get going for sure they’ve got an opportunity to do it though and like these next 27 we we mentioned there are some tough games in there but there are some easy games in there as well Denver’s going to play 10 games versus bottom 10 teams in the standings teams

That AR aren’t in the playoff or the playin or anything like that they’re also going to play seven games versus playin teams so 17 of Denver’s 27 games are against teams that are clearly kind of inferior to them at at this stage and they’ve got an opportunity if they just

Went 17 and 10 over the course of these final 27 they’d probably be in pretty good shape they they’d be they’d be in pretty good shape it’s not like it’s not like they would be perfect but they’re going to have to like they’re going to have some opportunities here I would say

To really bone up on their record if they wanted to but I will say this uh Michael Malone speaking at practice over the course of these last couple days he’s serious he’s definitely wanting to get the team right and get them going in the right direction but he’s also not

Looking at a specific record or a specific seating or anything like that as as really indicative of how the team is supposed to play he’s gonna know and the team’s gonna know what they need to do in order to win a championship in order to be at the best possible place

Heading into the playoffs I don’t know if they need the one seed in order to do that I don’t know if they need the two seed in order to do that but they need to be playing the right way which means like you said just not trolling and getting

Serious let me ask you this 27 games 15 at home 12 away what would be your best demment for what their final record is going to be with the last 27 games because I have an answer in mind okay right now the 36 and 19 if if they went

Like I said if they went 17 and 10 that they would match last year’s record at 53 and 29 their numbers are basically identical to what they were last year from a net rating standpoint from an an overall standpoint a record standpoint and if that were the case then I think

They’d be okay I kind of want them to push a little bit harder than that though I think that in my opinion they should be shooting for like 19 and eight like if if they were able to get to that point and win 55 games on the year I’d

Feel a lot better about it because it it shows a little bit more consistency it shows a little bit more Poise and a little bit more desire in this situation to really put your foot on the gas and play the best basketball that you can so

19 and eight is the number that I’d be going for especially because Denver’s got a relatively easy road yeah the number I have is going to be 19 and8 and I think at the worst 18 and N uh and I’ve said this on multiple platforms now

I think that based on what they have in front of them based on the needs in front of them you have the opportunity to do so that doesn’t mean you got to be perfect every game but I think especially versus these lower level teams and high level teams when you know

You have to execute at a high level for these better teams and when you know you got to take care of business from some of these lower seeds just no point because I think you want to get into the playoff with a rhythm could again for

The when the plan comes around if you’re taking care of business you get a few days off anyway so you’ll have the All-Star break you have the 27 gam you’ll have a small break and then you’ll lead into the NBA playoffs and you know we’ll see who they end up

Matching with from there but I think the nuggets should be shooting for that I think 18-9 to 19-8 more than fair given the talent they have on the roster given that they’ve already gone through their spills where they went 14-4 at one point this year they were 21- n over a 30 game

Sample size as well this year so like it’s not they haven’t done it they’ve already done it but now it’s just about stacking those wins and making sure you’re taking care of business on the flip side the other aspect of that is that Denver’s only got three more

Back-to-backs on the season uh they had have 27 games left to play obviously but of those three back-to-backs two of them are in the first five games so they’re going to be able to get those out of the way and they’re going to be able to get

Into a rhythm and they’re not going to have to go on the road that much they’ve got 15 at home 12 on the road so you’re going to be in a situation where you’re going to be able to get into a rhythm you’re going to be comfortable you’re

Going to play consistent minutes and you’re going to play it against a variety of teams but for the most part it’s a pretty evenly mixed schedule I think Denver has a good opportunity here to start playing the version of basketball that they need to play in order to prove that they’re a

Championship caliber team because I don’t think that they’ve proven it yet I think that there are certain aspects of the Season that they’ve had okay here’s a game here two games here but for the most part it has been pretty hit hit or miss in terms of the actual level of

Championship basketball that they’ve played so I’m still looking for it I think that they can hit another gear and once they do that then I I’d feel a lot more comfortable heading into a play I mean I think they’ve already proven they can hit it they were 18 and N some

Came out Jamal Murray in the clutch and I think they’ve shown that like when it matters Mo they’ve been able to put teams away and I think that’s the thing is they have proven it and that when they needed to they’ve done it I think the situation for them like versus OKC

For instance and those three losses they have I think the Nuggets were like there’s reasons why we lost those games remember they closed with Christian Brown and Justin holiday or pton Watson one of them when early in the season you know then they had that blowout after

The second out of back to back and they lost one of those game without Joker so I just think the Nuggets feel really confident and I think that’s why the players are always kind of like not giddy but they’re very relaxed after some of these losses they’re smiling on

The bench because for them they know when money time comes we’re GNA outp punch you four times and we don’t think you can do it we’re not going to let you do it four times so it’s gon to be fun I can’t wait the other thing is no none of

These other teams have really proven that they could do it on a consistent basis either so there’s a lot of time for Denver to rise to the top there’s a lot of other times for some of these other teams to falter so I’m not really too stressed about it one way or the

Other Denver once they get to it they you know what they have you know they’ve got Nicole yic and they’ve got Jamal Murray and they’ve got the formula that they need in order to outlast these other teams and solve the puzzle that they need to solve in order to to

Advance I think that they will um last thing here biggest game what what’s the biggest game that you’re looking forward to over these next 20 7 because you could you could Circle I think a number of these matchups but what’s one that stands out to you well I think the big

One is to Celtics one I think everybody can call that a finals preview uh that would be a lot of fun um I think maybe that first game back versus the Timberwolves on March 19th just because it’s like you’re going to be in Minnesota again it might just be cool

Just to let them know like we see you we recognize how hard you work recognize how good you’ve been but we’re knocking on the door and once we get here even if we got to play in Minnesota cool mat strap him up because it’s about be lights out so I think

Those are the two games I think that game versus the uh the Celtics is going to be important just especially for like the MVP conversation and all that stuff um for Jamal Murray as well like just the narrative around him leading into the playoff I think that first Minnesota

Game as well that’s a good one uh the Celtics one is a good one too I think I’m going to go Thursday April 4th against the LA Clippers where the last time you went into La uh it was fine but joic went nine of 32 in that game and

Denver just did not play the best version of basketball that they probably could have so getting the taste out of your mouth on that one would be good and then just showing that you own the Clippers again would be the I think the right call in this case and that one

Could actually come down to a lot of seating there because Denver’s won two of those three games if they win the third one they clinch a tiebreaker so that that would be a very very important matchup or at least it could be heading down the stretch uh that’s just one of

Those ones that I’ll be circling waiting to see like whether Denver is at that level or not because the Clippers I think have proven that they are over the course of these last 35 games or so they’ve been great yeah we’ll see you know we’re we’re back at that place with the

Clippers again I I like I said I I told herbody November uh that they would be able to beat the uh the the Los Angeles Lakers in the series and I saw this coming from them but people you know a little late to coming on board so uh I

Don’t know man you know y just s-2 now versus the Clippers in the 2021 2022 season and they didn’t change much but I zok Mason plumy and Daniel Ty so I think for a lot of this is like cool I think James Harden obviously is a big deal but

I think the Nugget will feel very comfortable in that match up I just don’t think they have any even kawhai and PG they just don’t have any fear for any of those players yeah that’s fair it’s completely Fair they understand what they’re getting into with that

Matchup but it is also a tough one so look Denver’s going to have a tough road it’s not going to be easy by any stretch of the word but yeah not going to be easy now but then you know what’s can happen if they make it look easy then

It’s be like the West Was fraudulent the whole year everybody knew that the Thunder Clippers and the and the Wolves weren’t going to beat the Nuggets that’s the uh the problem with being so good so that’s what the Lakers remember people were picking the Lakers and Suns last

Year now all of a sudden they suck every time I hear talking about last year oh they were a four seed and a seven seed like who what did you expect all right so funny yeah people love to change the tune especially when it comes to Joker all

Right well hey everybody let us know what your most important game is heading down the stretch of the Season what record do you think you could get you think the Nuggets will get over the course of their final 27 games and how comfortable do you feel with Denver

Heading into this final stretch of the Season he swiper I’m Ryan we’re out

The Denver Nuggets are the defending NBA Champions, and are set to return from the All-Star break with the goal of defending their title. The Nuggets have had their fair share of struggles this season, most recently a three-game losing streak heading into the All-Star break. Can Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter Jr. and the rest of the squad help the team tap into its championship DNA? Ryan Blackburn and Swipa breakdown the rest of the Denver Nuggets season and look ahead to the NBA Playoffs.

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