Hamstrings pull. And reality bites.
Game 7 set up as The Joker vs. The Kings of Floppers.
Then, news broke Friday night that Aaron Gordon, as feared, strained his left hamstring and is doubtful to play. The Nuggets, on paper, are royally flushed.
Denver is now an 8.5-point underdog at Oklahoma City. Time to change the postseason slogan from “We Believe” to “We Have Serious Doubts.”
Three indispensable players emerged for the Nuggets this postseason, with Gordon and Jamal Murray toggling between second and third behind MVP candidate Nikola Jokic.
If the Nuggets somehow win their second straight Game 7, unseating the favorites to win the NBA championship, it will draw comparisons to Lake Placid and the Americans vs. the Soviets. Or at least it feels like that.
But a narrow path remains for an upset.
It starts with Jokic. The Nuggets typically lose when he gorges, posting a 5-7 record this season when he scores 40 or more points. They are 1-1 in this series.
Along with LeBron James, Jokic is the only player who averages 25 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists in elimination games, per ESPN. Those stats are his sweet spot and why he owns a 10-5 record in knockout contests.
A healthy Gordon set up a storyline where Jokic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander canceled each other out, leaving someone else as the difference. Not now. Jokic has to go off. Think of 40 as a baseline to cover for Gordon’s absence or compromised status.
And in that way, Sunday is delicious. The theory has been floated that Gilgeous-Alexander will receive the MVP award before the game, creating a spicy element as the guard attempts to affirm his worth, while Jokic disputes it with a legacy performance.
That will not happen.
A league source told The Post that there will be no MVP announcement on Sunday. There is nothing nefarious at work, it has just not worked out yet. The trophy is typically presented during the second round, but only one window opened that made sense: the Monday before Game 5, when the series was tied. However, the award must be presented on TNT and the broadcast partner did not have a game that night.
So we wait.
Regardless of the hardware, Jokic and Gilgeous-Alexander will figure prominently in the outcome. Jokic has already established himself as the best player in the world. This game is about who moves on.
SGA has received his SAG card for foul-baiting. And Lu Dort should expect a call from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his best actor nomination. Even Jokic has been incentivized to throw his head back and arms in the air enough to get a Daytime Emmy.
Simply put, the Nuggets need a fair whistle. That means no ticky-tack stuff on Gilgeous-Alexander, and no WWE arm bars and atomic knee drops against Jokic. If Jokic outscores SGA from the foul line, Denver has a chance.
The Nuggets also have Murray. There are few players more reliable in do-or-die situations than the Nuggets guard. He averages 27.3 points and, with an extra day of rest for the first time in the series, he should be able to log 40-plus minutes and make a variety of difficult shots.
Frankly, he has no other choice given Gordon’s status, especially given the myriad of defensive issues his absence would create.
Peyton Watson, you got next. Watson must keep Jalen Williams trapped in his slump. Outside of his 32-point explosion in Game 3, Williams has been awful in this series, averaging 13.4 points on 28.3 % shooting and 11.5 % from the 3-point line (3-for-26).
And, as with Game 6, an unlikely contributor must tiptoe out of the shadows. Julian Strawther became the Straw that stirs the drink on Thursday, scoring 15 points with two fourth-quarter 3-pointers.
Between Strawther, Christian Braun and Michael Porter Jr., two of the three have to play in a way that has us talking about this game for years.
What’s the probability of that? Let’s not do the math. It’s depressing.
You know where this is going, right?
In this dissection of Game 7, where MVPs trade haymakers, Murray and Williams go eye for an eye, it will come down to this: Russell Westbrook.
He is the wild card, not The Joker or the Floppers.
Booed for the first time in OKC since the Thunder traded him to the Rockets in July 2019, Westbrook is poised for a breakout after averaging 6.5 points (9-for-35 shooting) and two turnovers over the past four games.
He is a blender of outcomes — from exhilarating to infuriating. But Westbrook is talented enough to put OKC in a vice, reminding them with every evil grin that home teams are only 5-9 in Game 7s since the 2021 playoffs.
When compared to OKC, the Nuggets are not as deep. They are not as healthy. And they are not at home.
But Westbrook, in so many ways, is.
All other things being equal, the only way the Nuggets vanquish the Thunder is with lightning. Westbrook might strike his own bench first or get tossed for two technicals.
But he is the one player in this environment who can assure the Nuggets weather the storm without Gordon. Pass the Tums.
Want more Nuggets news? Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis.
