Proud Proud Proud

First things first. Congrats to the OKC Thunder on a remarkable game 7 and series. They were the better and sharper team today, and good luck to them the rest of the way in the playoffs! They showed why they won 68 games in the regular season, and they're only going to get better in the future because of how young they are.

Now onto the Nuggets. I don't think I can put into words how proud I am of this team. It's easy to complain about how everything went wrong in game 7 and feel like the refs were being unfair or that we weren't fully healthy or whatever. When you take a step back and look at what this team accomplished this year, it can't be brushed over.

The 2024-2025 season for the Denver Nuggets was not a pretty one. The 2024-2025 Nuggets had 2 losses to the worst team in the league in the Washington Wizards. The 2024-2025 Nuggets equipped the 24th-ranked defense in the league. The 2024-2025 Nuggets lost 4 games to the Minnesota Timberwolves, the same team that knocked them off in the semis a year ago. The 2024-2025 Nuggets saw a normally even-keeled Nikola Jokic come across as animated on the bench multiple times this season. The 2024-2025 Denver Nuggets found themselves playing some of their worst basketball in the most important stretch of the season, a they lost 4 straight games to begin April. The 2024-2025 Nuggets fired their long-time coach, Michael Malone, who had won a Championship with them 2 years prior, and his 10 years as Head Coach turned this franchise from a laughing stock to when he first came on board to contender. The 2024-2025 Nuggets had long-time assistant coach David Adelman step in with 3 games left and were in a position where they needed to win the last 3 games to get home court round 1, and if things went wrong, they could have dropped into the play-in tourney. The 2024-2025 Nuggets endured it all. This team could have easily folded, dropped into the play-in, and been knocked out. And you know what, that would have been a perfect ending to the chaotic and toxic season they endured all year. But guess what, that's not how this team is wired.

The Playoffs were no cakewalk either, as they played back-to-back seven-game series. The Nuggets found themselves down 2-1 in round 1 to maybe the hottest team in the league in the Clippers, and they needed to win game 4 on the road, and Aaron Gordon came through. They then went on to win the series in 7 games. The Nuggets went through a war with LA in round 1, and their reward was a 68-win Thunder team that had 9 days of rest because they swept their first-round opponent. The Thunder were deeper. The Thunder were younger. The Thunder were more rested. The Thunder had the best season by a mile in the West. Despite all that, this Denver team, the team with no bench, the team that just came off a 7-game war, still was able to take this Thunder team to game 7. MPJ couldn't lift his left shoulder above his head, Jamal Murray had a significant sickness ahead of game 6, down 3-2, and Aaron Gordon suffered a grade 2 hamstring injury in game 6 that was supposed to sideline him for a month but he still played in game 7 and gave quality minutes. Despite everything, we woke up this morning to a game 7. Was game 7 a tough watch? Absolutely. The Nuggets were outclassed, outmuscled, and outcoached. But if we take a step back, were they supposed to make it this far?

Also, a special shoutout to Aaron Gordon. He was clutch all playoffs long. His improvement as a shooter was on full display all postseason and made every shot when the Nuggets needed him to. He also deserves massive respect for playing through a grade 2 hamstring injury, as stated before, that was supposed to keep him out for a month, and still gave his all on the floor, as he was still able to finish the game with double-digit rebounds. He is the definition of underrated and a warrior, and I hope he stays a Denver Nuggets for life.

The Nuggets no doubt have to make some roster improvements into next season but I am so damn proud of this team and they will be back.