{"id":93245,"date":"2024-08-29T13:46:50","date_gmt":"2024-08-29T17:46:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=93245"},"modified":"2024-08-29T15:34:31","modified_gmt":"2024-08-29T19:34:31","slug":"will-loaded-celtics-break-the-kd-repeat-curse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/08\/29\/will-loaded-celtics-break-the-kd-repeat-curse\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Loaded Celtics Break The KD Repeat Curse?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The loaded Boston Celtics have retained their championship roster and added new depth<\/a>\u00a0in the form of Lonnie Walker IV<\/a>, but will they repeat? The last team to win back-to-back championships was the Kevin Durant<\/a> version of the Golden State Warriors in 2016-17 and 2017-18. Since then, the same team hasn’t even won more than once, let alone back-to-back. Unless you count the Warriors winning again in 2021-22, of course.<\/p>\n

Will Loaded Celtics Break The KD Repeat Curse?<\/h2>\n

What happened to those other teams that have won it all following Golden State\u2019s back-to-back? Is it the case that after the problematic dominance of the KD Warriors, the league has managed to correct course? And can Boston avoid the same fate of falling foul of the KD curse?<\/p>\n

Nuggets: What Can Be Learned From This Failed Repeat?<\/h3>\n

The first team to look at might as well be the one who most recently faced an abrupt end to their title defense. Much of the NBA media was willing to declare the Denver Nuggets a dynasty in the making. Nikola Jokic<\/a> may not be a superstar in the LeBron James<\/a> mold, but he is the best player in the league. The Nuggets have him, and then they have a player who plays like a superstar in the playoffs. Or at least one who did in the 2023 postseason as well as the 2020 bubble.<\/p>\n

The Nuggets had more than one issue in their title defense. They lost a significant amount of depth, losing out on retaining two of their seven playoff mainstay rotation players. Perhaps there could have been more effective ways<\/a> to remedy that than relying on a youth movement.<\/p>\n

But the Nuggets’ biggest problem was really that Jamal Murray<\/a> didn’t play very well. That is, compared with how he played the year before. Murray went from 58.6% true shooting in the 2023 playoffs to 47.4% in the next. And disconcertingly for the Nuggets, Murray also looked in poor form during Canada’s recent Olympic campaign. But they’ll hope that it’s a temporary ailment that he’ll be fully recovered from in time for the 24-25 playoffs. Murray showed in the Lakers series that he still has ice in his veins.<\/p>\n