Yahoo Sports senior NBA analyst Kevin O’Connor and NBA contributing writer Tom Haberstroh look at the upcoming schedule for Denver and how they likely may not be able to navigate it. Check out the full conversation on “The Kevin O’Connor Show” and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.
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Video Transcript
They have something to prove because Peyton Watson, Peyton Watson, still injured with a hamstring issue.
Aaron Gordon, still out with a hamstring issue.
And now they have the hardest remaining schedule in the entire NBA the rest of the year.
Their, their opponents have a winning percentage of fifty-five point one percent, which is toughest in the league.
And so these next fourteen games they have, they have four sets of back-to-backs.
They have at Clippers, at Blazers back-to-back.
Then they face the Warriors, the Celtics, and then the Thunder, and then they have the Wolves and Jazz back-to-back, the Lakers and the Knicks back-to-back.
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Then they have a game against the Thunder.
Then they have the Rockets and Spurs back-to-back, and then they have the Lakers, and then they face the Sixers.
That’s their next fourteen games!
While they’ve been sputtering as of late, like I said, three and four since Jokic returned on January thirtieth.
And so the Nuggets are in a position now where they’re dealing with injuries.
They need to prove that they can get healthy.
They need– Their defense has sputtered.
They need to prove that they can fix their defense, and if they slide Right now, Tom, they’re only three and a half games back from the two seed, the Spurs, but they’re only up three games on the seven seed.
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So with this really, really tough schedule, they’re in a position where they could slide.
And if they start winning games, rattling off wins, I think that’s gonna say a lot about what we feel about them as a guy- as a team that can go toe-to-toe with the Thunder in the playoffs.
But if they slide here, it’s, it’s gonna get tough.
It’s gonna get tough to have no home court, r- move up the Western Conference, and go through the road every single round.
That gets tough.
So the Thund, the Nuggets have a lot to prove to be a team that can actually go toe-to-toe with, OKC.