Denver Nuggets regain chips on shoulders, seek second championship in three seasons

After a year with a target on their back, the Denver Nuggets are back to having chips on their shoulders.

The Nuggets’ bid to be the NBA’s first back-to-back champions since the Warriors did so in 2017 and 2018 ended when a 20-point lead early in the third quarter in a decisive Game 7 turned into a 98-90 loss to Minnesota on May 19.

It’s an ending that serves as motivation for most members of the team in September.

“Finish,” starting power forward Aaron Gordon said when asked what lessons were learned last season. “That’s the first word that comes to mind. … I didn’t like our focus coming out of halftime.”

After a summer of thinking about the missed opportunity, the team reunited with a few new pieces for Thursday’s media day at Ball Arena. A short training camp in Denver follows before the team heads to Abu Dhabi for a couple of preseason games against the Celtics, who eventually became the sixth different team to lift the Larry O’Brien trophy in as many seasons.

“Seeing that we could lose in a Game 7 on our home court and then have to sit on that all summer – me having to sit on that all summer - it was tough,” Michael Porter Jr. said. “It definitely is a good motivator, going through those hard times and adversity.”

In typical fashion, Nikola Jokic sees it differently. After leading Serbia to the Olympic bronze medal over the summer, he’s using his mental energy on what’s to come.

“I don’t think about something that happened three, four, five months ago. It happens,” Jokic said.

“We had a Game 7. We lost it. We had a big lead, but that’s why basketball is an amazing sport. … It can change in every possible way.”

Even though the repeat didn’t happen, the dream of a Denver dynasty persists. Nuggets coach Michael Malone cited the San Antonio Spurs as a team that enjoyed sustained excellence despite never going back-to-back. He allowed that the pressure of either repeating or having the season deemed as a failure was “immense,” but it is also a privilege enjoyed by only the league’s best teams.

“Not every team has a championship window. And what do you do – do you take advantage of that or do you look back in 20 years and have regrets?” Malone said.

“The vibe and feel I get from our players is that they tasted success. They tasted what it’s like being on that mountaintop. We were knocked off last year, so let’s get back up, don’t feel sorry for ourselves and continue to work.”

General manager Calvin Booth believes the franchise’s championship window will be open long enough to give the Nuggets a handful more shots at a second championship as long as Jokic is in Denver.

“In a best-case scenario, I think Nikola has like a prime, 10-year contention window. You count the first year of that when Jamal got hurt, I think we’re about halfway through it,” Booth said.

“We probably have about five more single shots. All those shots count. If we hit one of them, it’s great. The earlier we hit it, the more we can have other conversations about other things. … It’s going to be incredibly hard to win another one.”

The Nuggets are entering the Oct. 24 regular-season opener with a little more wisdom when it comes to what it takes to become – and stay – champions. Now, that’s Boston’s problem as Denver looks to turn last season’s lessons into a second championship in three seasons.

“We know what it takes to win a championship. It was tough (trying) to go back-to-back,” Murray said. “Now, we realize how tough that was, so(we’re) going into this season with better experience, better knowledge.”