The Nuggets have seven games to play until the All-Star break. The outcome of these seven games will be a major indicator for how the Nuggets will likely finish out the season. As of now, they are 3.5 games out of eighth place in the Western Conference. They are also 4.5 games away from having a top five pick in the 2016 NBA Draft. As long as they are in the race for the playoffs, they will go all out for it, but if they drop five or more of these games, the team could be demoralized and slide for the rest of the season.
This pivotal stretch starts tonight in Indiana. The Nuggets beat them in a matchup at Pepsi Center two weeks ago. This is definitely a winnable game since the Pacers are not much better than the Nuggets this season and they are coming off of losing six of their last eight.
The Nuggets are finally healthy, minus Wilson Chandler of course. Nurkic and Myles Turner is an intriguing matchup since Nurkic is playing more minutes since getting healthy again. Turner has been fantastic for Indiana of late and is looking like their center of the future. Nurkic should be able to stifle him, but he needs to stay out of foul trouble, which has costed him minutes over the past few games.
These are the games that the Nuggets need to win for the rest of the season if they want to make the playoffs. Winning games against team on your level or slightly better is a good sign of improvement. However, if they lose games like these, we know that they are one more high lottery pick from being an actual playoff contender.
Thee rest of the games in this stretch include home matches against Toronto and Chicago. It's rough for the team to have their only home games before the All-Star break against tough competition, but they may be able to sneak out a win against the Bulls. They will also have road matches against Utah, New York, Brooklyn and Detroit. All of these are games that this team should win or at the very least bring the games down to the wire.
Fans should be happy about the state of the team right now. They have the best of both worlds since they can contend for a playoff spot and still have a chance for a good draft pick. Even if they do make the playoffs, they will still have two first round picks, which they might be able to swing into a better pick.
If they can end this stretch at 4-3 or 5-2, they will be in the thick of things. Then they will have two quick games against the Sacramento Kings after the All-Star break that they can use to catapult themselves even further up the standings. They could be in the playoffs within a month if all goes well or they could be competing for a top five pick.
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