Denver is exceeding expectations in the NBA’s highly competitive Western Conference.
Denver Nuggets’ head coach Michael Malone says his team won’t be satisfied by merely qualifying for the NBA playoffs.
Paul Millsap’s late score secured a 102-100 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Saturday to move the Nuggets onto 46-22 for the season. Then Denver clinched its first post-season berth since the 2012/13 season by beating the Celtics Monday night.
Denver’s Michael Malone (photo, USAToday)
With star player, Nikola Jokic leading the way, the Nuggets have enjoyed an impressive campaign. Malone now admits that team expectations have now changed.
“Going into the season, it was ‘just make the playoffs,’ but now it’s ‘let’s fight for a No. 1 seed, let’s fight for home-court advantage,’ and see where that can take us,” Malone told the Denver Post. “We still have a lot of very difficult games left, but one game at a time. I love the mindset of our players right now.” Malone continued. “No one is satisfied with just being a playoff team. I think we’ve seen what we’re capable of, and we’re going to hold ourselves to the highest standard possible.”
Much of the Nuggets’ success this season has been down to the stellar performances of Jokic. The Serbian bagged 26 points against the Pacers, although his late ejection from the game for arguing with the officials could have cost his team dearly.
Denver’s Nikola Jokic (AP Photo/David Zalubowski/Denver Post)
But the Nuggets held on, and Jokic is confident that the team can achieve more than their original aims this term. “I think the goal is probably home court, just because we are playing extremely good at home,” he said. “Just clinching (a playoff berth), we are over that.”
Those two recent wins have left the Nuggets just .5 game behind the Golden State Warriors for the top seed in the NBA’s Western Conference.
The two sides are due to meet in Oakland on April 2, although the Nuggets have a tough schedule before that match-up. Denver moves on to the second game of a four-game road trip against Eastern Conference sides when it meets the Wizards tonight. Then it’s on to New York and a return game against the Pacers.
It won’t be easy, according to numerous betting sites, but the Nuggets will celebrate with home fans when they host the Detroit Pistons on March 26.
No matter whether Denver is the 1-, 2-, or 3-seed, one thing is for sure: these Nuggets will be a dangerous opponent during the NBA playoffs.
