"We're underdogs": Why the Nuggets still believe

Before Jamal Murray dropped 40 on the Clippers’ heads in Game 7, before Kawhi Leonard shot 6-22 from the floor, and well before Paul George’s high-arching three bonked the side of the backboard, the Nuggets faced the daunting challenge of climbing back from another 3-1 series deficit.

It didn’t matter that Denver had just pulled off a 3-1 comeback in the first round vs. Utah. Surely the Nuggets couldn’t do it again. Not against the Clippers. Not against Kawhi and PG. Not in back-to-back series.

After the Nuggets fell to the Clippers 96-85 in Game 4, Nikola Jokic didn’t keep Denver’s mindset for the next three games a secret.

“I think we just need to relax and enjoy the moment,” he said. “… We all need to be a little bit more relaxed and don’t put so much pressure on our self.”

In the first round against the Jazz, the Nuggets didn’t truly begin to play the brand of basketball that helped them capture the third seed in the West until their backs were against the wall. Once Denver trailed Utah 3-1, the Nuggets finally relaxed. They finally settled in and didn’t play under any pressure. There was no reason to. Win and you keep advancing. Lose and you leave the NBA bubble for good. The Nuggets carried that mentality through to Game 7.

“We don’t have pressure,” Jokic said after the Nuggets’ 111-98 Game 6 win. “I think the pressure is on them.”

If there’s one reason to believe that in the wake of Murray’s season-ending ACL tear that the Nuggets have another magical playoff run in them — besides the fact that the MVP and one of the league’s bourgeoning young stars in Michael Porter Jr. both wear Nuggets skyline blue — it’s that Denver finds itself in the same spot that it was in before its pair of historic 3-1 comebacks.

The Nuggets are once again underdogs. No one believes in Denver with no Murray. No one’s picking the Nuggets to get out of the first round. Even if Jokic takes home MVP honors, no one thinks he can will the Nuggets past the Lakers or Clippers, Denver’s two most likely first-round opponents. According to many, the Nuggets are surefire 1-and-dones these playoffs.

That’s perfectly OK with this group.

“We never listen to the narrative, especially nationally,” Michael Malone said. “No one ever gives us a chance, and we’re fine with that. I think we kind of thrive in that element.”

It’s no surprise that these Nuggets excel in the underdog role. This is a group stocked with underdogs playing on a roster built by an underdog executive who was written off by national pundits 1 1/2 years into his job.

Jokic was never supposed to be here. From the draft, through last year’s playoffs, and even now, he’s been doubted at every stage of his career. Porter has carried a dozen chips on his shoulder since he was drafted 14th overall by Denver, one for each team that passed on him in 2018. The rest of the Nuggets’ rotation is made up of six second-round selections or undrafted players — Monte Morris, Will Barton, PJ Dozier, Paul Millsap, JaMychal Green, Facu Campazzo — and only two other former first-round picks in Aaron Gordon and JaVale McGee.

“We’re underdogs,” Malone said. “They want to talk about all the other teams, let them talk about them.”

The Nuggets are perfectly comfortable sliding under the radar. They thrive in that role. They even prefer it. Denver wants to be overlooked. It’s when the Nuggets are at their best.

Even two seasons ago before the Nuggets tasted the playoffs, Denver knew it. In December of 2018, the Nuggets were garnering national headlines for their 21-9 start. Denver had the best record in the West to go with the NBA’s fourth-best defense through the first 30 games of the regular season. But the buzz was a little too loud for the Nuggets’ liking.

“I think it’s almost better when you fly under the radar,” Malone said at the time. “Quiet storm, baby. Quiet storm. I don’t want anybody talking about us. Let us do our thing and continue to play the way we’re playing.”

The Nuggets are 2-0 since Murray was lost for the season and have played inspired basketball since the heartbeat of Denver’s locker room went down. After the dust settled from his injury, Murray texted his teammates in the Nuggets’ group chat a simple message of “next man up.” He also expressed gratitude for how his teammates were there for him in the immediate aftermath of his ACL tear and that he knew they’d stick by his side throughout his rehab.

The Nuggets planted 123 points on the Miami Heat’s seventh-ranked defense in their first game after Murray’s diagnosis and then dismantled the Houston Rockets in workmanlike fashion two days later.

Denver still believes in its roster, its personnel, and is sticking by the championship-level aspirations that the Nuggets outlined for themselves at the onset of the season.

“The goal’s the same,” Porter said. “I still think we have the talent to do it.”

The Nuggets will need a Herculean-type effort to get back to the Western Conference Finals. Jokic will need to go above and beyond what he’s done already this season. Porter has made the leap this year but must ascend to an even higher status when the playoffs begin. Denver’s role players will have to knock down the open jumpers that they’ll surely get when defenses converge on Jokic and Porter and force Morris, Barton, Dozier, Green, Millsap and Gordon to punish them from distance.

They’ll also need to play with the familiar spirit that Denver recaptured over the last week.

“I just felt like there was joy in how we played.” Malone said after Denver blew out Miami. “We had guys that looked like they were having fun. That was one of my challenges to our guys today. Even before Jamal went down with that injury, I just felt like there was not a lot of joy in Mudville. You can’t play like that.”

Perhaps that joy was a recognition of where the Nuggets stand in a post-Jamal Murray world. Their backs are against the wall again. There are no expectations, except for the ones inside the Nuggets’ locker room. No one’s saying that Denver has a chance to repeat what it was able to accomplish last year.

Write them off. Cancel their postseason plans. The Nuggets are done.

Denver welcomes those headlines. The Nuggets are back to being underdogs. It’s not what they wanted by any means this season, but don’t think for a minute that Denver won’t be comfortable playing spoiler.

“I’ve been an underdog my whole life, to be honest, and I’m kind of used to it,” Jokic said. “It’s a normal position for me. It gives us a lot of relief. We are not going to be tense. We are just going to play.”