W1L6W1L1W5L1W2L4W1L3W2L2W1L3W5L7W1
Morse Code? No, just a quick recording of a sort of roller coaster. A roller coaster helmed by your Denver Nuggets. We’ll try that series again, with some commas. And maybe a few extra letters.
Win 1, Lose 6, Win 1, Lose 1, Win 5, Lose 1, Win 2, Lose 4, Win 1, Lose 3, Win 2, Lose 2, Win 1, Lose 3, Win 5, Lose 7, Win 1.
It's been described this way far too many times, and especially by yours truly, but what a roller coaster this season has been… both in wins and losses, and in emotion. In the course of their first 46 games, the Nuggets have had a losing streak that comprised almost 15% of their season, and a winning streak that made up almost 11%. How does all of that add up to eight games below .500 at the 46 game mark? Let's compare the Nuggets highs and lows to the rest of the league. Not surprisingly, it's all still pretty middle of the road.
The Nuggets longest winning streak is five games. That ties them for the 16th longest winning streak this season. Middle of the pack. The Atlanta Hawks 17-game winning streak leads the league, with Golden State close behind at 16.
Losing streak? Denver’s seven-game losing streak is tied for ninth-longest this year. We’re a little better at losing this year, unfortunately. Fortunately, the Philadelphia 76ers and New York Knicks bring up the bottom of the Atlantic Division with 17- and 16-game losing streaks to lead this category.
Denver even finds themselves in the middle of that bumpy road via player rankings. Where do each of the individual starters rank in terms of player ratings? I used CBS' fantasy rankings to get an idea. We'll start up big, with our rookie center, as that's the most skewed result for a reason.
Jusuf Nurkic is the 41st-ranked center in the rankings, but only became a Nuggets starter in the last 10 games. The Nuggets former starting center, Timofey Mozgov, is ranked #14, and Nurkic is (hopefully) looking like the better center over the long haul. Let’s take another look at these numbers in a season.
Kenneth Faried? The Manimal signed a big contract at the start of the season, and had heaps of expectations upon him. All of that has wrought the number 19 slot amongst league power forwards for Kenneth. And that contract actually kicks in next year.
Small forward is a slightly happier place for Denver this year, with Wilson Chandler logging the 11th spot amongst league 3’s. This is even better, given that Ill Will was slated to be a backup at the beginning of the season. Still, Wilson’s hot start has been bumpier of late.
Arron Afflalo came back to Denver this year speaking of championship aspirations. Has AAA put up, or should he have shut up, in regards to player rankings? Even with an uneven season, Afflalo lands at the number 10 spot amongst all shooting guards.
What about our floor general, Ty Lawson? Can anyone amongst our Nuggets crack double digits? Thankfully, yes, as Ty comes in hot in the seventh slot. Unfortunately for Ty’s All-Star aspirations, the top three higest-rated point guards in the league all hail from the Western Conference. And even Ty’s year has had some disappearances.
We’re up, and down, and placing our lap bars in the down and locked position. A season of streaks got headed back in a positive direction with your Nuggets beating the New Orleans Pelicans at their place by eight. But the best part of a roller coaster? No matter how high it takes you, how low it plunges you, in the end you always end up right back in the middle.
Think I'm kidding? In the Nuggets 48 seasons in the NBA and ABA combined, their overall record is the picture of the middle, at 1931 wins and 1926 losses. Hope we don't hit a five-game losing streak. Five games above .500. In forever.
Are we starting another win streak, Nuggets Nation? Or are we headed for another W1?
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