{"id":123713,"date":"2025-02-14T16:42:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T21:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=123713"},"modified":"2025-02-14T16:42:00","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T21:42:00","slug":"nuggets-cruising-into-all-star-break","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/02\/14\/nuggets-cruising-into-all-star-break\/","title":{"rendered":"The Denver Nuggets are Cruising into the All-Star Break"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Denver Nuggets are in cruise control heading into this season’s All-Star break. They are winners of eight in a row<\/a> and 16 of their last 20 games. Most of their wins during that stretch came impressively, as 13 were by double-digits. Increased confidence has coincided with their winning streak, as many players are stepping up. The Nuggets have suffered injuries<\/a> but haven’t wavered. They’ve averaged a ridiculous +19.9 net rating<\/a> in their last six games, leading the league.<\/p>\n

The Denver Nuggets are Cruising into the All-Star Break<\/h2>\n

The Three-Time MVP Leading the Charge<\/h3>\n

Nikola Joki\u0107<\/a> had spearheaded the Nuggets’ recent winning trends. He is arguably playing the best basketball of his career, which is impressive for a three-time MVP. Over the Nuggets’ last 20-game stretch, Joki\u0107 has averaged 26.7 points, 11.8 rebounds, 11.2 assists, and 2.0 steals per game. His 11.2 assists lead the NBA in that span<\/a>.\u00a0He is averaging those numbers while shooting 63.4% from the field and 40.0% from the three-point line. His offensive domination has led to more open shots for his teammates.<\/p>\n

Joki\u0107 could add a fourth MVP trophy to his collection if he can continue his dominance. He is scoring at an extremely efficient rate, both from the floor and three, while opening up the floor for his teammates. His offensive prowess has vaulted the Nuggets into an offensive powerhouse. The Nuggets’ 31.3 assists per game would rank second all-time<\/a> among teams for season assists per game. They are crushing the record in games they win, averaging 32.8 assists<\/a> per game. Joki\u0107’s selfless play has spread to the rest of the roster, who are thriving by sharing the ball.<\/p>\n

A Team Effort<\/h3>\n

Although Joki\u0107 is proving himself a top-three player, the rest of the Nuggets are performing great. With the recent injuries, bench players, including Jalen Pickett<\/a> and Zeke Nnaji<\/a>, have stepped up, providing valuable minutes<\/a> off the bench. They are playing well alongside Joki\u0107 and holding their own when he is on the bench, an issue that has remained a struggle for the Nuggets. The Nuggets were one of a few teams who did not make a trade at the deadline, and their bench unit’s recent play is proving why.<\/p>\n

Calvin Booth constructed the Nuggets’ roster through the NBA Draft. Pickett, Christian Braun<\/a>, and Julian Strawther<\/a> prove why Booth’s plan of building through the draft is paying off for the Nuggets. Braun is a candidate for Most Improved Player<\/a> with his stark increase in stats and production. He is averaging<\/a> 17.0 points per game on 61.4% from the field in the Nuggets’ last 20 games. Strawther is heading to the NBA’s Rising Stars team during the All-Star break as a deadly shooter.<\/p>\n

Braun is just one of the starters providing a spark of energy heading into the All-Star break. Jamal Murray<\/a> and Michael Porter Jr.<\/a> have given the Nuggets energy and effort. Murray is coming off a career-high 55 points against the Portland Trail Blazers. After his slow start to the season, Murray has returned to form<\/a>. His averages align more with last season, where he put up career highs in several categories. Porter Jr. is coming off three straight 30-point performances with great efficiency.<\/p>\n

Porter Jr. and Murray perform at levels that raise the Nuggets’ ceiling to championship hopeful. If the Nuggets can continue to receive consistency from them while getting help from their bench unit, they will be in a great state with less than 30 games until the playoffs.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Photo credit: \u00a9 Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Denver Nuggets are in cruise control heading into this season’s All-Star break. They are winners of eight in a row and 16 of their last 20 games. Most of their wins during that stretch came impressively, as 13 were by double-digits. Increased confidence has coincided with their winning streak, as many players are stepping […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5342,"featured_media":123739,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,20,62],"tags":[4524,109,1223,72],"class_list":["post-123713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-nuggets","category-nba","tag-christian-braun","tag-jamal-murray","tag-michael-porter-jr","tag-nikola-jokic"],"modified_by":"Eamon Cassels, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5342"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123713"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":123740,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123713\/revisions\/123740"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}