In the hardened western conference, the Denver Nuggets beat all odds to the Western conference finals but lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in 5 games.
Though Denver fans must be disappointed to lose to the Lakers in the western conference finals but now they have high hopes because of a new dynamic duo in their young core of players.
It is none other than Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic. Murray, listed at 6'4 is an explosive point guard who can easily drive to the rim or knock down outside jumpers. He has shown the amount of untapped potential he has going against king James and the Lakers. Murray scored a plethora of points for the team and truly gave it his all on the court during these finals. It's scary to imagine how much he'll improve his game for the next season.
A link to some of the plays by the dynamic duo -
And then the big man Nikola Jokic who is an extremely versatile bigman. He can shoot 3's at a good rate, rebound, block and pass the ball exceptionally well for a guy his size. He seems like a 7 foot Magic Johnson at times the way he threads the ball between defenders making sure his pass reaches to the right player. And as the years go by, the on-court chemistry these two guys will have is only going to get better with time.
There was a time when the Nuggets had Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony along with a prime J.R. Smith. And they were a force not to be trifled with in the western conference. Iverson was a dribble god and an excellent scorer almost every night. Along with a young athletic Carmelo Anthony who at that time must've been in his extreme prime as his career went downhill after he left the Nuggets to join the New York Knicks alongside bigman Amare Stoudamire.
But apart from that, Melo and Iverson made quite a few splashes in the play-offs but never could go all the way. Regardless, watching that Nuggets team play was always a pleasure to one's eye due to their fast paced gameplay.
The Nuggets may have lost in the 2020 NBA western conference finals but you can be sure, they'll come back even stronger next year to take on the Lakers.
