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NBA Denver Nuggets Jamal Murray (Photo by Abbie Parr / Getty Images)
Winners and losers of the first round of the NBA playoffs
The first round of the 2020 NBA playoffs is on the books and we’re looking at the three biggest winners and losers.
With the injuries of many of the league’s stars and players who switched teams last season, regular playoff fans like the San Antonio Spurs or the Golden State Warriors are not around for the first round of the playoffs. As a result, we are seeing a changing of the guard as younger players make their playoff debuts and teams try to build something.
Let’s get into it:
Winner: Past, present and future of the Denver Nuggets
The Denver Nuggets won an incredible Game 7 against the Utah Jazz, returning in the series after being down 3-1 (only the 12th team to do that in NBA history) and their season went from a disappointing ending to a promising one. playoff race.
On top of that, this young Nuggets team can almost be considered a Game 7 veteran with three-quarters of this era of Denver basketball playoff races reaching a win-or-go-home final game. While it might suggest they can’t get the job done, pushing their opponents away early, this team is certainly healing a stubborn identity that never gives up.
Interestingly, many were saying this in their post-trade deadline game against who else but the Jazz on February 5 of this year when they won with just seven active players after trading several rotation players and dealing with Will Barton’s injuries, Jerami Grant, Michael Porter Jr., Paul Millsap, and Mason Plumlee.
It was also something of a party out for Jamal Murray, who seemed almost unstoppable after Game 4. He seemed like he deserved the maximum contract extension that Tim Connelly and the front office gave him this past offseason and his two-man game. and Jokic looks set to be a staple of the playoffs for years to come.
No one will blame them if they lose to title contenders at the Los Angeles Clippers, but before we look outside of the playoff picture for the team that ‘has the next’, we should look at this young and proven team.
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