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Nuggets Power Rankings Review: Excitement for second half of NBA season

The All-Star break gave NBA teams a chance to relax after a grueling 55-game first half and the Nuggets were certainly among one of the standouts of that stretch. Thirty-eight wins puts the team one win ahead of where it was last season and Denver is on pace to win 57 games, which would match the team’s all-time NBA record set by the 2012-13 group. The national media is understandably excited about the 2019-20 team’s chances to progress in the second half of the season and postseason. Here is what they had to say: ESPN: No. 4What they said: “Michael Malone's focus is pretty simple: Spend the next six weeks finding the eight or nine players he trusts most. Denver is solid as one of the West's top four seeds, but preparing for the postseason will be important.” Bleacher Report: No. 5What they said: “A stumble against the Lakers on Wednesday in one of the best games of the year sent Denver into the break on a losing note, but there's no shame in that defeat.The Nuggets came back from a 23-point deficit to beat the Spurs on Monday and have won six of their last eight games. Jamal Murray averaged 31.3 points in his last four outings before the break, Paul Millsap is back after nearly a month on the shelf, and Nikola Jokic continues to play some of the best ball of his career.”The Athletic: No. 5 What they said: “What are you playing for? The Western Conference Finals. I’ve gone back and forth on this one, trying to decide if the WCF or the NBA Finals are what the Denver Nuggets are actually playing for this season. A logical step in the right direction for them is making the conference finals. Regardless of how good you think this team is, that should be what they’re playing for at bare minimum. They damn near made it last year when they lost Game 7 at home to Portland. I don’t know if they’re definitely better this season compared to last, but I think their ceiling should be higher. Jerami Grant is huge for them and Michael Porter Jr. keeps plugging along as he figures this league out.”NBA.com: No. 5What they said: “For a team that's been as good as the Nuggets have been, there are still some rotation questions to be answered in the next eight weeks. Their game in Oklahoma City on Friday is a potential playoff preview and just the second of their four meetings with the Thunder.”Yahoo.com: No. 4What they said: “The Nuggets enter the second half with a one-game lead over the third-place Clippers out West.”