In the immortal words of Zaza Pachulia: “Game Seven! GAME SEVOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!”.
Combine this upcoming game seven with the other game seven that is for sure happening (Sixers-Raptors) and the potential game seven that will probably happen (Warriors-Rockets) and your pal DownToBuck is not going to be a happy camper. That’s too much pressure for me. Way too much pressure. The Bucks aren’t even involved (thank god, or I would literally die, just literally die as in no more highlight videos because of my death) and I still won’t be able to handle it.
Win or go home. That phrase will be said about a million times over the weekend while these games are happening, and whenever I hear it, I get so sad. All this effort expended over the whole season by these players, all the camaraderie built up (the Celtics are eliminated so this point is valid), and it can all end just like that because of the outcome of a single game. And then it’s over. No more basketball.
This cannot be allowed to happen to the Nuggets. I don’t want to say that they’re a team of destiny, but they have a path to the finals. They can beat either the Warriors (assuming Kevin Durant is still hobbled) or the Rockets in the WCF if they get there. And then what? They’re in the finals, and anything can happen. But they have to win game seven first, and that’s no guarantee.
I would say that they need a big game from Jokic to make sure this happens, but in these playoffs, that’s an absolute given. He’s been dominant this whole time aside from a few early duds. Some players get worse as the defense tightens up in the playoffs, in fact most of them do, but Jokic has elevated (get it, because they’re in Denver, hahahaha LMAO) his game and is trying to carry the Nuggets to the promised land by himself. Jamal Murray sometimes helps, and sometimes some of the other dudes a little bit, but this is his team now. And I want to see him and Giannis duke it out in the Finals even if no one else does (seriously the ratings for such a series would be SO BAD).