This season has been doomed to be unusual since the regular season. The Warriors in the playoffs were sadly out. In the first round of the playoffs, the Suns led by Durant+Booker+Bill were swept 4-0 by the Timberwolves, the Lakers led by James and Shumei were eliminated 4-1 by the Nuggets, and the Clippers were eliminated 4-2 by the Lone Rangers; On the eastern side, including the Bucks, the 76ers and the Heat, these competitive teams fell in the first round. What is more unexpected is that the Pacers, a young team, will finally face the Celtics on the stage of Dongduan; What is more surprising is that Xiju is a dialogue between the lone ranger and the forest wolf. This season has also created a history: since the NBA established the MVP award in 1956, for the first time, the top four teams in a single season, no player has ever won an MVP or won an MVP in that season! To put it simply: New Wang Dangli!
In fact, the Nuggets came out last season, and it was quite surprising that they won the championship in the final playoffs 16-4, because in addition to the solar energy to create some pressure on them, other teams are difficult to match the offense and defense of Nuggets. Especially last season, the Lakers were swept out 4-0 by the Nuggets. Last summer, the departure of Bruce Brown and Jeff Green, two experienced veterans, seriously affected the depth of the Nuggets' bench. But this season, they won 57 in the regular season (only 53 last season). In the regular season, the Nuggets overcame hardness with softness, but also exposed a huge weakness. The most unexpected thing was the layout of the closing stage, which anchored itself in the second position in the western region and gave the Lakers a choice between competing for the No. 7 seed against itself or risking the risk of losing the playoffs to compete for the No. 8 seed.
Embarrassed by 12 consecutive defeats, 0 win and 5 lose unexpectedly! The favorites who won the championship were out, and you also paid for your arrogance! Let's start with two sets of data. First, Nuggets scored less than 100 points in 12 games this season, and all of them lost! The regular season includes 8 games (2 against Timberwolves); There are 4 playoffs, all from the Timberwolves! In other words, the Nuggets hope that defense will not win the game, as long as the attack is blocked, they will lose! Secondly, although Jokic has won the MVP three times in the last four seasons, he led the team to the championship last season and was crowned FMVP. Many media have put Jokic in the top 20 in history. But in his playoff career, Jokic faced 50+teams in the regular season, and unexpectedly won 0 - 5 in the series. He never won! On the contrary, it is 9 wins and 0 losses! Even the Denver media are questioning: Jokic can't play the high-end game?
Nuggets ranked eighth in the first round of the regular season against the Timberwolves in the playoffs last year; The second round hit the sun, ranking fourth; The West will play against the Lakers, ranking seventh; The finals were played by the Heat, and they came from the eastern play offs! We need to look at this problem dialectically. First, in the past few years, the competition in the west has been really fierce, and no one has the same dominance as Celts; Secondly, the Nuggets themselves have a huge weakness. Murray is unstable. Jokic, as an efficient insider, is indeed perfect according to the data, but lacks the ability to score explosive points and change his destiny at critical moments. The role attributes of other people around them cannot meet the requirements. However, another point was ignored, which was the arrogance of coach Malone! Malone publicly attacked reporters when Denver was out of the game: the end of the season is the most painful, and being turned back 20 points is a silly question.
In fact, Malone is a very arrogant coach, which can be seen from his attitude towards the Lakers. After sweeping the Lakers in the West Final last year, Malone said frankly to the media: I don't care about the championship, I'm very happy that we swept the Lakers 4-0! In the championship parade last year, Malone didn't let the Lakers go, even called himself the father of the Lakers. Including after the playoff matchup this season, Malone directly mocked Laman: Denver has swept them for two consecutive years, which certainly won't make the Lakers feel good! Even after the Lakers were turned around by Denver by 20 points, Malone said with a smile: I like to be 20 points behind the Lakers at half time, and don't lead too much. This time, we become hungry and more urgent. But what about fighting the coyote? When the defense intensity of the Timberwolves came up, Malone often pressured the referee and complained about the unfair blow.
Malone's practice will virtually change the team's mentality, especially some core players, who think that the team is really invincible. The most direct example is Murray. What's his status against the Lakers? Facing the forest wolf, even the bag clip could not be broken. In fact, from the perspective of Jokic, he and Murray led the team to win the championship last season, there was a certain contingency. In fact, Murray was not enough to support as the second core, because in the first six games of the series against the Timberwolves, Murray only had 15.7 points and 4.7 assists per game. If he could improve to the regular season level, Denver would not be dragged to the seventh game! The Denver Nuggets have risen slowly in recent years, thanks to the rapid growth of Jokic and Murray, but this has reached the upper limit. Jokic's own slow playing style does restrain some teams, but the new generation of Thunder and Timberwolves are not afraid of Denver!
Murray needs a super top salary contract, but like Porter+Gordon+Pop (with player options), they will also account for more than $73 million in salary space next season. It can be predicted that Popp will choose to leave for a big contract. Of course, Denver cannot afford to offer an average salary of about 20 million yuan, and the team will only become weaker and weaker! The young people on the Nuggets' bench, such as Brian, Strauss, Watson and others, are too young. Malone may be the last fig leaf to grasp the Lakers, but in addition, they have slowly lost their dominance in the West. Can they win the championship if they win the Lakers? You pay for your arrogance.
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