The Denver Slump

The Denver Nuggets have been uncharacteristic and sucking lately.

Mar 17

Just a few months ago, the Denver Nuggets looked like one of the favourites to make it to the NBA Finals.

They were beating some of the best teams, such as the Boston Celtics, L.A. Clippers, and Phoenix Suns, while going on a wild streak, winning 18 of 21 games.

But lately, it seems like they’ve hit a slump.

In their last five games, the Nuggets lost four straight (that’s the longest losing streak they’ve had this season). And worse, they didn’t even lose to contending teams.

For instance, they played the Toronto Raptors -who are the ninth seed in the east- on Wednesday and lost 110-125.

But the really bad thing about the Nuggets’ performance in that game is that they let the Raptors score a franchise-record 49 points in the first quarter.

So, what’s going on with the Joker and crew?

Well, according to Head Coach Michael Malone, the Nuggets are too comfortable right now because of all of the success that they’ve had this season.

Via ESPN:

"Right now we're just in chill mode, and you can't be in chill mode with 13 games to go in the season," Malone said. "We've got to try to find a way to get our swagger back.
"Maybe we've gotten a little soft with success," Malone said. "We've been on cruise control for so long, No. 1 in the West since like December 15. I just told our players we've gotten away from who we are."

So, what can Denver do to get out of this slump?

Be better. As Malone said, they have to play better and harder and get back to their winning ways.

And that’s what they did on Thursday against the Detroit Pistons, who they beat 119-100.

However -and not to take anything away from this win but also kind of taking something away from this win- the Pistons are the worst team in the league right now.

And the score was close up until the fourth quarter when the Nuggets went on a run.

So my questions are: Have the Nuggets gotten their swag back and can they continue to win? Will they win the majority of their remaining games?

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