In the next round, they faced the absolute favorites, the Los Angeles Clippers. The team from California was led by the then-reigning Finals MVP, Kawhi Leonard, and the man who had finished in the top 3 for MVP and DPOY awards the year before – Paul George.
As expected, the Clippers took a 3-1 series lead, but the young Nuggets already displayed a resilient mentality. Jokic led the team in the fifth and sixth games, and Jamal Murray finished the job with 40 points in the Game 7.
The Nuggets then became the first team to come back from a 1-3 series deficit twice in a single postseason. They lost in the Western Conference Finals 4-1 to the eventual champions, the Los Angeles Lakers, but in the seasons that followed, they avenged that loss.
The situation is far from ideal now, but the Nuggets have already proven themselves masters of such situations. However, they now possess both resilience and a championship mentality, and if there’s one team in the NBA that can turn this around, it’s Nikola Jokic and his teammates.