West best
Don’t look now, but the Nuggets are once again at the top of the Western Conference. Powered by a strong push that has them sporting a 10-1 slate after the All-Star break, they appear ready to take on all comers anew come the 2024 Playoffs. And while a fifth of the regular season remains, there can be no doubting their capacity to keep on building momentum and ultimately repeat as champions. Headed by reigning Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic, they boast of a starting five that even the Celtics, five and a half games ahead of them in National Basketball Association standings, are arguably hard-pressed to match.
The proof of the pudding is, of course, in the eating, and the Nuggets know their efforts will amount to squat if they fail to retain the Larry O’Brien Trophy. Indeed, projections have become so rosy that anything less than the hardware staying in their mantel will be considered a failure. The burden of high expectations is borne of both immediate past success and the continued presence of personnel that carved it. And with Jokic setting the table, they cannot but be deemed the postseason favorites.
Not that the Nuggets are shirking from the responsibility of proving the prognoses true. In fact, they relish it. They’re so confident of their superior standing that they utterly believe they will win no matter who they are up against. It’s also no coincidence that they’re pushing the pedal to the metal down the stretch, and with their regular rotation intact. Having been there and done that, they know well enough to pace themselves for the encounters that truly count — but, at the same time, ensure that they still put in the requisite work.
Whether the Nuggets will be the last ones standing when the battlesmoke clears, only time will tell. That said, the odds are in their favor. Never mind that the West is loaded, with the Celtics likely to await them in the Finals. No one else has Jokic, and their advantage should be more than ample on most nights. Simply put, challengers can only hope to catch them at less than their best — and then, maybe, just maybe, turn the chance into victory. But for four games in a series? Good luck.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and human resources management, corporate communications, and business development.