After a year with a target on their back, the Denver Nuggets are back to having chips on their shoulders. The Nuggets’ bid to be the NBA’s first back-to-back champions since the Warriors did so in 2017 and 2018 ended when a 20-point lead early in the third quarter in a decisive Game 7 turned into a 98-90 loss to Minnesota on May 19. It’s an ending that serves as motivation for most members of the team in September.
“Finish,” starting power forward Aaron Gordon said when asked what lessons were learned last season. “That’s the first word that comes to mind. .
.. I didn’t like our focus coming out of halftime.
” After a summer of thinking about the missed opportunity, the team reunited with a few new pieces for Thursday’s media day at Ball Arena. A short training camp in Denver follows before the team heads to Abu Dhabi for a couple of preseason games against the Celtics, who eventually became the sixth different team to lift the Larry O’Brien trophy in as many seasons. “Seeing that we could lose in a Game 7 on our home court and then have to sit on that all summer – me having to sit on that all summer - it was tough,” Michael Porter Jr.
said. “It definitely is a good motivator, going through those hard times and adversity.” In typical fashion, Nikola Jokic sees it differently.
After leading Serbia to the Olympic bronze medal over the summer, he’s using his mental energy on what’s to come. “I don’t think about something that happened three,.
