You didn’t want to look at “The Final Dance” to know that NBA championship groups are sometimes rife with inside drama. For the Denver Nuggets, the wrestle between basic supervisor Calvin Sales space and head coach Mike Malone performed out within the public discussion board from the second the champagne wore off on the crew’s 2023 championship.
It was all the time going to be unimaginable for the Nuggets to maintain their roster collectively after the title with a frugal proprietor and the brand new monetary restraints from the CBA threatening each crew. Bruce Brown and Jeff Inexperienced have been the primary rotation items to go, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s departure adopted a yr later. Sales space and Malone had alternative ways of fixing this downside: Sales space wished to play the younger guys he drafted, whereas Malone had extra belief within the low cost veterans the crew signed in free company.
The strain between the 2 reportedly suffocated everybody within the group. In the long run, they each misplaced. The Nuggets fired Malone and Sales space on the identical day with simply three video games left within the 2025 common season. It was a surprising transfer within the second, however it’s change into clear that it was a call that gave Denver new life.
The Nuggets are actually off to a different Recreation 7 after beating the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder, 119-107, in Recreation 6 of their second spherical sequence within the 2025 NBA Playoffs on Thursday night time. Nikola Jokic was sensible once more with 29 factors, 14 rebounds, and eight assists, however Denver doesn’t get this win with out the younger gamers Sales space drafted stepping up.
Recreation 6 will all the time be generally known as The Julian Strawther Recreation. Strawther took over late within the third quarter with eight factors in 90 seconds as Denver went from tied to up eight to begin the fourth quarter. Strawther had solely performed 34 mixed minutes within the first 5 video games of the sequence, and hadn’t been a constant a part of Denver’s rotation since February. He gave the Nuggets the capturing and spacing they wanted, and it legitimately saved the season.
Strawther has felt just like the skeleton key to Denver’s “two timelines” method since they chose him out of Gonzaga with the No. 29 general decide in 2023. The Nuggets wanted extra capturing round Nikola Jokic, and that was one ability Strawther had. He hit 40.8 % from three as a junior at Gonzaga, together with some of the memorable March Insanity photographs of the last decade together with his emblem three to beat UCLA within the Candy 16.
For no matter cause, it by no means actually clicked beneath Malone. Strawther’s shot simply hasn’t been superb as a profession 33.2 % NBA three-point shooter. He struggled defensively like most younger offensively-slanted prospects coming into the league, and he didn’t impression the sport a lot as a rebounder or playmaker.
With Strawther floundering, the Nuggets completed dead-last in three-point charge (share of discipline objective makes an attempt from three) this season. The Nuggets make them once they take him (37.6 % on the yr, good for No. 5 within the league), however the quantity is vital, and Strawther was one in every of their few gamers able to getting them up in a significant manner.
Strawther added 4 extra free throws and another three-pointer within the fourth to assist seal the victory. Someplace, Sales space was smiling. The small samples of the playoffs can change all the things, at the least from a story perspective.
The Nuggets have confirmed their championship DNA on this sequence whilst a few of the depth items have modified. The Thunder gained 68 video games through the common season and posted by far the very best protection within the league — even with their second greatest participant Chet Holmgren solely taking part in 32 video games due to a damaged pelvis damage. Denver exhausted itself simply to get right here after surviving a troublesome seven-game sequence from the Los Angeles Clippers within the first-round. OKC figured to have an enormous benefit coming into this matchup, however the Nuggets have evened the sequence by stepping up on protection and executing their crunch-time offense completely.
The Nuggets have the very best lead engine within the NBA in Jokic. On this period of the league, although, depth and match round a famous person really feel extra vital than ever. In Recreation 6, Christian Braun and Strawther every had improbable video games to take some strain off Jokic’s shoulders. For the seventh (!) time within the Jokic-Jamal Murray period, the Nuggets are going to a Recreation 7, and so they have the heavy championship favourite firmly on the ropes.
Denver has wanted a punch of Strawther’s offensive recreation all season. He lastly delivered within the greatest spot of his NBA profession.
