After beating the Detroit Pistons 89-79 on opening night, the Denver Nuggets are well on their way to 82-0 this season.
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Ha! We all know that one is never happening, but it’s still good to be undefeated after opening night. No matter the outcome last night, the team is set up to have a great season in 2014-15, and winning the home opener against Detroit should be a sign of good things to come at the Pepsi Center.
The team is 15 players deep and they plan on running visiting teams right out of the building with their new found health. In all, the Nuggets will win 50 games this year and become the eighth seed in the NBA’s Western Conference.
The big bad Western Conference? The conference that has dominated the NBA for more a decade? The Denver Nuggets are making the playoffs in that conference?
Yes. The Nuggets are making their way back to the playoffs this season, and that is exactly what the team, the fans of Denver, and the front office expects. It’s a lot of pressure for a team that is coming off of a 36-win season, and for a team that doesn’t have a superstar as Brian Shaw pointed out to us,
"“I believe in strength in numbers,” Shaw said. “We don’t have a superstar, but that’s OK.”"
You’re right, Coach Shaw, that is OK! It’s OK to believe going into a season without a superstar when you have a roster that has 15 NBA-ready players, and when you play in an arena that is known for dominance by the home team.
It’s OK to think you’re going to make the playoffs in the West when this same core (plus Arron Afflalo, minus Andre Iguodala) finished with 57 wins and the third seed in the conference just two seasons ago.
The Nuggets biggest asset in getting back to the playoffs is going to be the infusion of talent they get in players coming back from injuries. With Danilo Gallinari, a starter, joining Nate Robinson, J.J. Hickson, and JaVale McGee as players returning from injuries, the Nuggets gain a total of 51 points, 23 rebounds and 18 assists a game!
Getting their home court magic back will also play a huge factor in getting back to the playoffs. The Nuggets went 38-4 at the Pepsi Center in the 2012-13 season. After going 22-20 last season, we should expect more of the norm after the infusion of health.
A year of familiarity under Shaw will only help the home record, and the two factors combined represent a return to where we all want the Denver Nuggets to be — the playoffs. After all, we’ve only missed the playoffs once in the past decade, and we should expect nothing less going into the new season.
The fresh season also represents another year of improvement for the Nuggets’ two stars in Kenneth Faried and Ty Lawson. Both blossomed last season after the All-Star break, and there is no reason to expect anything less from them going into the new season.
Ty Lawson averaged 16.5 points and 8.6 rebounds post All-Star break last season, and Kenneth Faried was a monster post All-Star — averaging 18.8 points and 10.1 rebounds.
With the duo of Lawson and Faried, the return of Pepsi Center magic, and the infusion of health to this talented team, expectations are high. However, they should be! The Nuggets haven’t given us any reason to doubt their regular season performance over the last 10 years, and after they win 50 games in the West this season, they’ll be in the playoffs once again.