When this season started most who follow the NBA thought it would be a battle between the defending champ OKC Thunder and the rebuilt Denver Nuggets. Last night the Thunder came back late to finally beat the 12-24 Utah Jazz in overtime by a score of 129-125, while the Nuggets still without Nikola beat Boston on the road by a score of 114-110.
Amazingly…through all these injuries which have decimated the Nuggets….here they stand on January 8th only one game behind the Spurs for the No. 2 seed in the West. Aaron Gordon and Christian Braun are both back on minute restrictions and Jamal Murray is playing some great basketball as of late with a 22 point, 8 rebound, 17 assist night in Boston last night.
We all thought the Spurs were still a year away from being the team which could unseat the Thunder. That very well might turn out to be the case, but this could also be a case where the Nuggets without Nikola for a month are all going to upgrade their play and become a team which could still win the West.
I mean, last night, Peyton Watson scored 30 POINTS hitting six threes. That doesn’t even regisister with me. Generally speaking, I would be thrilled with Peyton scoring 30 points in three games combined. If Peyton becomes a real player, a dependable player, that coud be a huge storyline for the Nuggets.
Maybe this period of time without Nikola will help these other guys break their dependence on him to do everything when he comes back in three weeks or so.
The Thunder now stand at 31-7 and are stuggling mightliy without both Isaiah Hartenstein and Alex Caruso. OKC was extremely fortunate to beat the 12-24 Jazz last night. Very fortunate Shai, who was a game time decision, did play and carry his mates on his back with a 46 point performance.
We’ll get a better barometer on all of this next Tuesday when the Thunder play the Spurs and we see if indeed as Jim Traber claims…the Thunder are scared of Wembyama. I think its more than that. I think its a combination of things. First and foremost…it’s hard to repeat when every other team in the league has you in their crosshairs everytime they see you coming up on the schedule.
The 82 game NBA regular season is a marathon. Several seasons contained within one. OKC will get it back together I feel certain, but what exactly Denver turns out to be after 82 games is still a puzzle to be put together.
Mike J