Hold Your Heads Up

“And if it’s bad, don’t let it get you down

You can take it

And if it hurts, don’t let them see you cry

You can make it

Hold your head up

Hold your head high”

– Argent, “Hold Your Head Up”

Turns out the Denver Nuggets are facing just a few too many heads at the moment. Heads held high. At least three, to be exact, though sometimes it seems like more. And we’ve all seen how that story goes…

Ah, that old chestnut. But if you’re not down for two-and-a-half minutes of semi-palatable monster flick, suffice it to say that the three-headed hydra thingy ends up beating the one-headed dinosaur guy, who is, uh… Our hero.

Huh.

I think maybe this analogy is falling apart. Almost as much as the plot line of Godzilla, King of the Monsters. 

Last night, your Denver Nuggets came out swinging, literally fighting for their playoff lives, and were still unable to find sufficient answers for the suddenly mistake-prone Warriors, who were on and off all evening. But Golden State gives themselves more cushion for error when fielding the three-headed monster that they are in these playoffs, and have missed being since their not-so-distant glory days.  It was the record-setting 2012-13 Nuggets squad of the George Karl era that ran into v1 of this Warriors buzzsaw in the first round of that year’s playoffs, and even with a rookie Draymond Green, first-year Klay Thompson, and third-year Steph Curry, it was immediately clear that this trio was something special.

Denver narrowly won the the first game of the contest due to some Andre Miller heroics, and the rook Green saw all of four-and-a-half minutes in the contest, still landing at a +3 plus-minus. In Game Two, Draymond saw his minutes increase to 14+ in a win. The Warriors played him 15-25 minutes a game after that, and took four of the last five with the multi-faceted Green and often unguardable duo of Curry and Klay, before they were even Splashy. Suddenly, Golden State was a dervish of a whirligig, and have been so ever since when they can keep that trio healthy and on the floor. The gents of 73-9. Of three Championships.

Them.

But, believe it or not, this is not a Golden State Warriors appreciation article. It’s an appreciation article for the sixteen gents who saw minutes for the Denver Nuggets this season, and especially their very own Godzilla/hopefully soon-to-be two-time MVP Nikola Jokic. While the Warriors were the superior seed in the contest, Jokic is still clearly the best player on the floor. That just doesn’t make the difference in winning when Golden State fields arguably the second, third, fourth, fifth, and possibly sixth-best players after him. No offense meant to a talented, scrappy, and proud Nuggets squad, it’s simply the nature of the way the opposite team is playing.

A reason every Denver Nuggets player can hold their head high is that they will go down swinging, whether they are swept in the next game, or play another 25 games on their way to the worlds most-improbable Championship. Coach Michael Malone is almost as invaluable to the Never-Say-Die Nuggets as the Joker is, because he instills that no-quit attitude from top to bottom. While Denver surely missed the scoring of Michael Porter, Jr and the brilliance and grit of Jamal Murray, Malone rewards the guys on his squad who go down swinging, even if they’re simply being outplayed. While that probably won’t carry the team to glory this season, it will be a key ingredient of why they got there, if they do during the Malone/Jokic era.

They can hold their head up because they are still playing a guy who can shoulder this load and carry his team to a very admirable season, putting up never-before-seen numbers. When Golden State was trying to run their season through only one or two of their three-headed beast, their win-loss percentage was decidedly different. While each is an amazing player in their own right, none of them can lift everyone he’s surrounded by like Jokic does.

The Nuggets can hold their head up as they consistently found solutions during a season of problems in which they weren’t just missing their second-best player and third-best scorer, they went through a litany of injuries and rotations to find gems like Bones Hyland, Davon Reed, and DeMarcus Cousins. If they are able to have a more consistent and injury-free season next year, with a (hopefully) three-headed monster of their own, they should be a lot more of a handful themselves.

I know it stings right now, and you may think this the song a semi-apologist, making excuses for another playoff exit. I’d argue that it’s actually approximately the outcome many theorized about before the season began, with the possibly protracted absence of Murray, not even knowing about the subtraction of Porter as well. I’d argue that a truly brilliant season by Jokic might have given the Nuggets an opportunity to well evaluate a supporting cast of who will be backing up our own monster(s)… I mean, we all know what happens when Godzilla gets all his toys back…

Wow. Just a terrible movie. And a worse metaphor. I deeply apologize, and am totally not cackling maniacally at 3 o clock on a Friday morning. No, really. Next week, I’ll have to better assimilate my simile. Please do not watch that movie.

Damnit, now I’m going to go watch that movie.

Burning metaphors aside, it also burns like hell in the moment you’re going down as these Denver Nuggets are, but the sky is not falling, Nuggets Nation. There are still a few things that are for certain. The Denver Nuggets still have the baddest mother-shut-your-mouth in the NBA today. They will certainly live to fight well another day, no matter when this campaign ends. And the way they got themselves to wherever it ends will be a spot they can and should hold their heads high. How they take their next swing at it may just be for another day.

Kick their asses on Sunday, Nuggets. Have a great weekend, DNVR.