Favorable Matchups: These are three(3) of the most important circumstances that Denver needs to be present for them to repeat as champions, Having Nikola Jokic on your team will allow you to get out of some tricky scenarios that….

These three(3) circumstances must be present for Nikola Jokic’s Denver to go back-to-back this season.

The NBA regular season has finally concluded for the 2023-24 season, and the Denver Nuggets know exactly what their road to repeating as champions looks like. In an ultra-competitive Western Conference, the Nuggets secured the second seed and will potentially have multiple favorable matchups on their way to what they hope is a second straight NBA Finals.

While there are a lot of talented teams in the West, Denver can rest in the fact that they still employ the best basketball player on the planet at the moment. Having Nikola Jokic on your team will allow you to get out of some tricky scenarios that other teams might falter in.

For the Nuggets to go back-to-back this year, a few specific things will need to happen. These are three of the most important circumstances that Denver needs to be present for them to repeat as champions.

1. Good injury luck throughout the playoffs

As we know, injury luck is always one of the main determining factors in who ends up holding the Larry O’Brien trophy at the end of the season. This year will be no different. The best team that can stay healthy the longest will emerge as champions come June.

Winning the first championship in franchise history last year involved a lot of positive injury luck on the Nuggets’ part. Their main core of players went through the playoffs without any major injuries, and that consistency led to an incredible 16-4 postseason record, culminating in a title.

Denver is admittedly not the deepest team in the league, so their top six to seven players are all extremely vital to their championship efforts. If they can keep all their main guys healthy throughout April, May and June, it will go a long way toward the Nuggets being able to call themselves 2024 NBA champions.

2. Continue excellent clutch performance

The Nuggets had their ups and downs over the course of the regular season, with thankfully far more ups. But one area where they consistently excelled was performing down the stretch of close games. It seemed like all year long, when the stakes were highest, Denver turned up the tenacity and found a way to make plays at both ends of the floor.

The numbers support the eye test on their clutch factor as well. For the entire 82-game regular season, the Nuggets ranked third in clutch time offensive rating and second for clutch time defensive rating. For overall net rating in the clutch, they led the league.

Out of all 30 teams in the association, Denver had the second-most wins in clutch situations, trailing only the Chicago Bulls. The stats consistently point to the Nuggets being a high-level performer, and that bodes very well for their chances of going back-to-back.

3. Avoid the Timberwolves matchup

As the defending NBA champions, the Nuggets have earned the right to be favorites in the Western Conference. At this time last year, many were doubting whether Denver was even a true contender and questioning if they could even beat a team like the Phoenix Suns in the 2023 semifinals.

Of course, the Nuggets puts those talks to bed with swiftness, denying many of the haters in the process. As a result of last year’s performance in the playoffs combined with their dominance in the regular season this year, they should be justified in feeling like they can take on and beat anyone in the postseason this time around as well.

But if there is one team Denver may want to try to avoid as much as possible, it is the Minnesota Timberwolves. The main reason being that the Wolves are one of the few teams that combine the level of size, physicality and star power necessary to challenge the defending champions.

We saw Bruce Brown say publicly last summer that he believed the Timberwolves were the Nuggets’ toughest series in the 2023 playoffs, and that team has only improved in the time since then. As of right now, Denver and Minnesota could face each other in round two, should they each take care of business in the opening series. Again, the Nuggets should feel comfortable facing anyone, but the Wolves are simply a tougher matchup than the Suns.