Basketball Is Almost Back: Denver Nuggets 2018 Schedule Released
By Ryan Palmer
The Denver Nuggets need to play strong through the end of the season.
Last season the difference between the playoffs and an early offseason came down to a game number 82 against the Minnesota Timberwolves. This year we get a repeat of that game to end the season.
Finishing strong is going to be tough. The last 10 games of the season are going to be a slog to the playoffs with 5 divisional games and 3 more against teams that were out of division contenders in 2017-2018. This is one of the reasons why the Nuggets need to get off to a quick start to the season.
The final 10 start with a home game against the Detroit Pistons that should be the easiest in the stretch. The Nuggets need to win this to keep up any momentum that they have going into the end of the season or to create some to finish it out.
Then the March 28th and 29th back-to-back on the road against Houston and Oklahoma City that we mentioned earlier. This seems like a split only if Houston can be beat to start the back-to-back. If the Denver Nuggets can down the Thunder on the second night it would be an added bonus.
Next the Washington Wizards at home seems like a win to me. This isn’t an easy win, but should be a win all the same. The Nuggets can’t start dropping home games now.
Next is another back-to-back starting with the Warriors in Golden State. This one is going to be extremely hard. Hopefully the Warriors are thinking about throttling back at this point in the season to give some of their superstars a rest before the playoffs. My gut tells me they wont.
The second half of the back-to-back is San Antonio in Denver. The Denver Nuggets I think will win this one as I have some major questions about what the Spurs look like this year. I think they are going to take a major drop in the standings this year.
Next are 2 games against the Portland Trailblazers. One game is played in Denver and then the Nuggets travel to Portland. These could be important games. The Blazers could be in a playoff race with the Nuggets. These will be tough. I’d be happy with a split if the circumstances are right.
The Denver Nuggets finish the season out with a back-to-back against the Utah Jazz and the Minnesota Timberwolves. Both of these games will be tough. Again, last season was a last minute race to the playoff for all in the Northwest Division. This year may very well be the same. This year the final game against Minnesota will be on the Nuggets home turf. If a repeat of last season happens hopefully this is what gives the Nuggets the edge.
This schedule isn’t going to be easy for the Nuggets. This schedule shouldn’t be impossible for Denver either. There are good points to what the Denver Nuggets were given and there are bad points to it as well. The bottomline is that the Nuggets need to play hard early in the season and figure out how to win on the road throughout the season.
The home wins should come like they did last year which should help the Nuggets with a challenging end. If the Nuggets can survive the hard back-to-backs and the road trips then at the least the Nuggets should find themselves in a situation similar to last season. This season will end in the playoff for the Denver Nuggets.