Finis Aerae
The end of an era and the brutal decisions ahead
Denver’s season is over in the worst possible way.
You can lose because of injuries and wonder “what if?” But at least then you have the comfort of believing you were better than you were able to show.
You can get smashed by a superior opponent and have to deal with how far away you are. You can argue this is what happened to Denver, but I’ll explain why that isn’t the case. At least in this case, you can really focus in on how to build on what you have.
You can lose in a heartbreaker, coming so close, but at least then you get the thrill of being so close.
But this?
I don’t think the Wolves, especially with their injuries, were the better team in terms of roster, tactics, and construction. But they played better and that’s what matters. They found everything they needed in this series: tactical answers, motivation, effort and execution, flow state, and mental edge to win the games and the series.
Denver didn’t just choke this series away. They surrendered it. They full on gave up at multiple points in this series, building a deficit they couldn’t climb out of.
Jaden McDaniels punked this team worse than any team ever has. Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Draymond Green, no one has ever punked the Nuggets this bad in my memory.
The Nuggets didn’t just lose, and didn’t just lose to an inferior opponent. They were embarrassed. Nuggets fans are embarrassed of their team. That is a miserable place to be.
And so it demands change.
