Why Nuggets fans should be terrified despite back-to-back wins

The Denver Nuggets went into the 2024-2025 campaign with the same expectations they’ve had for a while: it’s championship or bust. They won the NBA championship in the 2022-2023 season, but lost in the second round of the playoffs last season. The high expectations for this team are why their 0-2 start has been so alarming.

They were eliminated at home against an Oklahoma City Thunder team that would have them competing at the top of the Western Conference, and then lost another home game, this time to a Los Angeles Clippers team that might not make the Play-Play. At tournament.

The Nuggets have done a good job of silencing the haters by winning two games in a row to bring their record to 2-2, but even with those wins, Nuggets fans have reason to worry.

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The Nuggets earned their first win of the season on Monday, defeating the Toronto Raptors by a final score of 127-125. The final score showed how close this match was. In fact, the Nuggets needed overtime to beat the rebuilding Raptors.

Their second win of the season was much the same. The Nuggets defeated a Brooklyn Nets team that has every incentive to lose as many games as possible this season by a final score of 144-139. For the second straight night, they needed overtime to seal the deal at a bottom feeder.

The Nuggets needed a huge effort from reigning MVP winner Nikola Jokic to get those wins. He dropped 40 points in their win in Toronto, and he had 29 points, 18 rebounds and 16 assists in Brooklyn. He was the second player in NBA history with the same stats as against the Nets.

JOKER BECOMES JOKER

29 PTS
18 REB
16 AST

Joins Oscar Robertson (2x) as the only players in NBA history to reach this statistical mark! pic.twitter.com/p9AJPLWH8I

— NBA (@NBA) October 30, 2024

Jokic Being Jokic is great, but he can’t do it alone. Aaron Gordon has had a solid start and Christian Braun has played quite well in his new role as starter, but other than that it has really been a joke or a bust.

Jamal Murray played well on Tuesday, but he’s shot just 37.9 percent from the field so far, continuing his struggles shown at the Olympic Games. Michael Porter Jr. has shot just 39.6 percent from the field and 29.6 percent from three-point range. These would be Denver’s second and third best scorers.

As alarming as Murray and Porter’s battle has been, there is reason to believe they will eventually get off the ground. They are paid the way they are paid for a reason. But does anyone really believe in this bank?

Russell Westbrook may be a future Hall of Famer, but he is nowhere near the player he once was. He had a nice game on Tuesday, but even with that he’s only scoring 9.3 points per game and shooting 27.0 percent from the field as Denver’s sixth man. That might improve some, but based on how his recent seasons have gone, someone expects him to be a big-time producer in a fighting team? With players like Julian Strawther, Dario Saric, and Peyton Watson next in the bench pecking order, Denver simply doesn’t really have a bench to rely on.

Even assuming Murray and Porter figure it out, it feels like the Nuggets don’t have enough depth to run deep enough. Do they have more than five playable rotation pieces?

The Nuggets were outscored in the only game they played against a good team so far, winning 2-1 against poor competition, with those two wins coming in overtime. It’s still early, but with a non-existent bench unit and the top two non-Jokic scorers struggling mightily, it might be time to start panicking in Denver as this season’s goal is to win the championship looks completely unrealistic at the moment.