Denver Nuggets: 3 Franchise Highlights for 2018

The Denver Nuggets are enjoying the most successful beginning to a season since the early 70’s. At 21-10, they sit atop the Western Conference.

The Denver Nuggets were the final 9-loss team to fall with the blowout they suffered in Los Angeles. A game like that was inevitable, they were not going 73-9.  Still, the Nuggets maintained their hold on first place in the conference through Sunday night’s games.

In the articles for the other three Denver teams, we had to cover a lot of the negative swirling around the teams or things that they may be able to do to accomplish playoff appearances.  Things are a little different for the Nuggets.  Clinging to the top spot in the Western Conference despite missing the most games due to injury in the NBA is quite the feat for a Nuggets team whose preseason goal was simply a playoff berth.

Denver is getting All-Star and/or MVP performance from Nikola Jokic.  Jamal Murray‘s shot remains a mystery but he’s found a way to contribute nightly.  During the Nuggets dismal performance in San Antonio on Wednesday night, I thought to myself that Murray and Jokic are keeping this team afloat even with the injuries.

While we await the debut of Isaiah Thomas, Michael Porter Jr. and Jarred Vanderbilt and the return of Will Barton, Paul Millsap and Gary Harris, the Nuggets lean on the output of Murray and Jokic game-in and game-out.  Other guys can flare-up, Torrey Craig is a good example of someone that can knock down a 3, make a defensive stop, come up with a steal or a big rebound.  Trey Lyles though streaky has proven himself a deft scorer.  Malik Beasley is making good on his preseason declaration that he’s a starting-level shooting guard.  His string of 3-point shots in San Antonio in the late fourth brought back memories of Rodney Rogers and his heroics.

Everyone is part of it but there are three guys that have exceeded any reasonable expectations, let’s look at what could be described as their “deal”.