It’s a fancy trick, if nothing else
Los Angeles Lakers v Denver Nuggets | Matthew Stockman/GettyImages
Coming into Saturday night’s game with the Lakers, it seemed like things couldn’t possibly be going better for the Nuggets. The team was riding a nine-game winning streak and had risen all the way up to second place in the Western Conference.
Nikola Jokic was in the midst of another MVP-caliber season, and Jamal Murray was on the best run he’s had in years, including a career-high 55-point game just before the All-Star break. Aaron Gordon appeared to be over his injury and Michael Porter Jr. is having the best season of his career.
Even the young players had upped their game as Christian Braun was making fans forget about Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and guys like Jalen Pickett and Zeke Nnaji were even filling in well and playing their roles. Russell Westbrook just came back from injury and Peyton Watson seems like he’s getting close as well. The vibes were strong in Denver.
Yet all of that came crashing to a halt on Saturday night as the Lakers trounced the Nuggets, 123-100 and exposed many of Denver’s weaknesses in the process. After the loss, Jokic was asked about the team’s struggles against good teams, and his response was revealing and concerning.
Nuggets have losing record against teams better than .500
Jokic was specifically asked if the team’s poor record against teams better than .500 means anything to which he replied, “Yes, of course… we had the nine-game winning streak against teams that were injured and teams that were not really good or high in the standings. So maybe we tricked ourselves into (thinking) that we are playing good”.
Nikola Jokić on playing struggling teams during the winning streak:
“Maybe we tricked ourselves.” pic.twitter.com/PNS1JOtsi2
— DNVR Nuggets (@DNVR_Nuggets) February 23, 2025
For the season, the Nuggets are now just 12-14 against teams with a winning record and they haven’t beaten one since January 14th when they beat a Mavericks team that was missing Luka Doncic. Denver has taken care of business against the dregs of the league, going 25-6 against teams that are .500 and below, but that has inflated expectations for them, perhaps unfairly.
Next stretch of games will show where Nuggets stand
But that’s all about to change as the Nuggets are set to embark on one of the toughest remaining schedules in the NBA. Their next nine games are all against teams in the playoff or play-in mix, including a game in Boston and two in Oklahoma City.
Whether the team has tricked people into thinking they are good, or they actually are good, we will find out soon enough. The Nuggets have been looking like real contenders, but not against any teams that are really contenders. The Lakers game showed that a lot of problems still remain and they can be exposed against good competition.
Good competition is coming soon and we’ll see if the Nuggets can actually stack up. They clearly have a high ceiling, but also a low floor. Whether they can play their best, consistently, against the top-tier teams remains to be seen.