Denver Nuggets: The importance of snagging the 1-seed

With such a young and inexperienced team, home-court advantage could play a huge part for the Denver Nuggets in the 2019 NBA Playoffs.

While given its credit as an X-factor of sorts to postseason success, the value home-court advantage is something nobody can truly quantify, seeing as how its importance fluctuates depending on the team that has it.

Whereas a team like the Golden State Warriors has the luxury of one of the loudest home arenas in the NBA, their championship-level experience invokes confidence no matter the setting, as evidenced by their Game 7 victory against the Houston Rockets in last year’s conference finals at the Toyota Center.

Comparatively, the Denver Nuggets are the polar opposite of the two-time reigning champions, having failed to reach the playoffs since 2013 with one of the youngest rosters in the entire league.

They’ve surprised many so far this season with 49 wins, but due to their inexperience, not many believe in them as legitimate postseason contenders, which is why home-court advantage is such an important goal to reach as the season winds down.

For as talented as this Nuggets bunch is, there’s a reason nobody is really all that convinced in their ability to advance deep into the playoffs. It’s because a majority of them haven’t ever done it before.

They have the second-youngest roster in the NBA, with only five players having experienced postseason basketball. Paul Millsap and Isaiah Thomas are the only two to have ever played in a conference finals, with a combined six games of experience between them.

That kind of stuff matters when the guys most relied upon to win games don’t really know what it takes, especially at a time where the opponent has scouted them for days and is able to take away every sweet spot on the court.

Playing four out of seven postseason games at home doesn’t make those issues magically disappear, but it does provide a benefit a team like the Nuggets could desperately use when the time comes.

The city of Denver has always been a unique place to play sports of any kind. High up on the mountains, the altitude is a real difference-maker to those who aren’t around it on a daily basis. Guys get shortness of breath and may need to take a seat more often than usual, and it’s an edge the Nuggets have recently used to their advantage, with an 83-35 record in the state of Colorado over the last three seasons, including an NBA-best 30-6 record at home this year.

So whereas every team insists they have a great home arena because of their fanbase, Denver actually has an advantage no other organization can claim, creating real stakes down the stretch as it attempts to acquire as many home games as possible.

Barring a massive collapse at the end of the season, the Nuggets will at worst occupy the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, assuring home-court advantage through the conference semis. They’re currently half a game behind Golden State for the No. 1 spot, which could come in handy if they were to advance even further than that.

However, Denver has the fourth-hardest remaining schedule in the league, while the Warriors have the sixth-easiest, with one matchup left between the two scheduled for April 2 in the Bay Area. It really is a toss-up between the two, with no real indication as to who is going to come out on top.

Postseason games usually come down to execution at both ends, independent of where they may be played. But for the Nuggets, who aren’t really well versed in the field in that type of environment, any little advantage may wind up going a long way in their ability to advance deep into the playoffs.