The Nuggets sowed the seeds of possible NBA Finals success three years ago during their shocking run in the bubble playoffs, and watered them in the seasons since as their culture took root.
Now they’re reaping the benefit.
The top seed in the Western Conference this year and the overwhelming favorite to win the title going into the Finals against the Heat, the Nuggets now have an even bigger edge as they go into Game 2 on Sunday with a 1-0 series lead.
Their defense in the 104-93 Game 1 win Thursday — and frankly over the last two-thirds of the season — is what makes this group different from past Nuggets teams.
They looked championship-worthy in Game 1, able not only to survive on defense when Nikola Jokic was off the floor, but also to thrive.
“No, no, definitely thrive, not surviving,” Aaron Gordon said. “I feel like surviving is almost like fear-based. No, we ain’t got no fear.
“Defense [is the key]. Defense. So when he’s sitting off the floor we need to lock in on defense. That’s the most important, crucial aspect of the non-Nikola Jokic minutes because that’s how we get our offense as well. When we get stops on defense, we can get out and run, and we’re really fast and versatile when it comes down to defending.”
That defensive speed and versatility weren’t there three years ago, when Jokic carried the Nuggets into the conference finals.
Defense was they Achilles’ heel they’ve made move after move to correct.
They dealt for Gordon at the 2021 trade deadline, and signed former Nets Jeff Green and Bruce Brown in the next two summers. All those gambles have paid off.
While Jokic and Jamal Murray have provided the offense, Gordon has led a defensive corps that suddenly jelled midway through the regular season.
From the start of the season through Dec. 6, Denver had the 27th-ranked defense, but over the final 58 games, they ranked seventh-best.
While they are still susceptible to dribble drives and attacks at the rim, their size and length, with Gordon and Michael Porter Jr. flanking Jokic, make it easily said, but not so easily done.
They’re more versatile than that 2020 team.
Gordon has taken on the challenge of guarding Karl-Anthony Towns, Kevin Durant and LeBron James in succession, and he excelled against each of them.
“The key for that [second] group is to defend. If you can get stops, you can get out and run,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “That’s when that group is at its best, because you don’t have the luxury of coming down and playing through Nikola.”
With Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in the lineup, Porter regaining his old athleticism after back surgery and Brown coming off the bench, there is more than enough defense for a team led by Jokic. Even the hulking Serb, who sat in drop coverage during those 2020 playoffs, can come out and guard now.
“He moves his feet well. He’s constantly making guys make decisions whenever they get into the paint,” Heat star Jimmy Butler said of Jokic. “As much as everybody looks at what he does on the offensive side of the ball, he’s a hell of a defender, as well.”
The Heat spent 98 days in the bubble in 2020, eventually reaching the NBA Finals. But the Nuggets were there almost as long, an 82-day stay from which they learned.
That was when Jokic emerged — he earned his first of consecutive MVPs the next season — and when the Nuggets made historic 3-1 comebacks over the Jazz and Clippers before finally falling to James’ eventual champion Lakers.
“We knew we had this potential in us ever since this core came together, since we traded for Aaron, and we went on a good little win streak,” Porter said.
“We really felt like we had this potential back in the bubble. We felt like that Lakers series could’ve gone a completely different way. … But we knew we had the team because we were still very young. We knew if we keep this core together, a couple years down the road we could be right back here, and that’s what we did.”
They’re back. And they’re better.
Three more performances like Game 1, and they can call themselves the best.