Buffs historic run ends on sorrow day in Boulder

By William Satler | william.satler@colorado.edu

INDIANAPOLIS — “Some coward went in and shot up a King Soopers. And that sucks,” McKinley Wright IV said. “Life is so much bigger than basketball. Basketball is just a game. People lost their lives today.”

All the Buffs star could muster after the biggest game of his life Monday, was sorry. Colorado fell to the Florida State Seminoles in the Round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament, 71-53. But it was clear from tipoff, their heads weren’t in Indianapolis — they were back home with their home community in Boulder.

Early in the afternoon on Monday, ten people were killed at a local area King Soopers for once again is another case of a mass shooting that leaves Coloradans without words, a community that has been hurt by something like this way too many times.

The game, no matter the circumstances, would have been emotional without tragedy with a plethora of legendary Buffs playing in their final games for Colorado. Wright the leader of the charge, was joined by Maddox Daniels; Jeriah Horne; Dallas Walton; and D’Shawn Schwartz as seniors finishing their careers in Boulder.

All were key pieces in Colorado’s historic run in 2020-21, but none bigger than Wright. He managed to put up 10 points despite 4-of-12 shooting from the field, including 0-for-4 from deep. Wright was tagged by Florida State’s Scottie Barnes — a projected lottery pick when he decides to declare for the NBA Draft. 

Seniors McKinley Wright IV and Jeriah Horne take a moment to collect their thoughts following their final game for the University of Colorado Boulder, a 71-53 loss to Florida State in the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament on Monday, March 23, 2021, in Indianapolis, Ind. PHOTO: Matt Stone, IndyStar

Wright also admitted after the game he had been playing through a sprained AC joint for the past two months and was getting a shot in his arm before and during halftime of every game, a testament to his toughness during his time at Colorado. It was the same shoulder he torn his labrum on a few years ago.

“It hurts,” Wright told Neill Woelk. “Not necessarily the loss we took tonight, just the fact that I’m done. I just played my last game here at CU. I’ll never get to play with this group of guys again, and especially my recruiting class. We created so many memories over my four years … I’m sorry. I gave Colorado everything I had in me. It hurts to go out like this.”

Schwartz continued strong shooting from three as he had done all postseason long scoring a team-leading 13 points on 3-of-5 shooting from three and Evan Battey grinded out 11 points with half of them coming at the free-throw line.

But almost completely opposite to their opening round game against Georgetown on Saturday, the Buffaloes went cold. Pac-12 Freshman of the Year candidate Jabari Walker struggled, failing to score a point and Horne who entered the game as Colorado’s second-leading scorer shot 1-for-9 for 3 points — a corner three in garbage minutes at the end of the game.

Florida State advanced to the Sweet Sixteen behind 22 points from Anthony Polite but most notable for the Seminoles was their defense. Their constant pressure on the Buffs caught them off guard, forcing 19 turnovers — just one less turnover than Colorado had free throw all game.

“I did a bad job of preparing us for the pressure that was coming tonight,” Buffs coach Tad Boyle said. “We turned it over 19, we needed 11 or fewer to win it. We didn’t finish when we did get shots. FSU had a lot to do with that, they’re a good team.”

In a March Madness year where almost every bracket was busted by the end of opening weekend, CU became just the first of five Pac-12 teams to lose in the tournament. UCLA, USC, Oregon, and Oregon State — the team that crushed the Buffaloes hopes of a Pac-12 tournament championship just a week before — earned Sweet Sixteen bids, leaving the only team to be ranked in the AP top 25 from the conference as the outsiders.

Wright will make his way to the NBA, whether he is drafted or picked up by a team as an undrafted free agent this offseason thanks to his playmaking ability. But most importantly he leaves behind a legacy and a program that finished just one win short of tying the most wins in the history of Colorado. 

“The thing I’m most proud of —  every win we got, building relationships with my brothers,” Wright said. “I keep saying this: I don’t care about individual stats. I’ve built lifelong relationships with these dudes. Some people, after college, they stop talking to their teammates. We were just talking about it in the locker room, I want to be in all the group chats, Instagram, Twitter. I love every one of these guys, one through 18. We built some lifelong relationships. And that’s what I’m proud of, building relationships. I’ve made some of my best friends here at Colorado.”

On a day where Boulder mourns, the Buffaloes stood tall in ways bigger than basketball.

When Quarantine Turns To a Golf Addiction

By William Satler | wisa4456@colorado.edu

BRIGHTON — Getting into golf is hard enough on its own. But during a pandemic? Even harder.

So for Isaac Bugarin, a 22-year-old college student living in Commerce City, Colo., it would be hard to imagine that after going almost 10 years since last playing golf that in 2020, during the worst outbreak of a deadly virus known as COVID19 in the world since 1918, he would get back into it.

Despite all the odds, Bugarin has not only gotten into the game of golf but fell in love with it and is bringing others into the sport just the way he was brought in.

“My advice for anyone that wants to get into golf is really just become a student of the game,” Bugarin said. “I think it is important that you take the time to research the game, etiquette and figure it out what it is that makes you want to play golf more and more every single day.”

Bugarin, who had to choose between baseball and golf growing up because they generate two contrary swings, chose baseball. His decision forced him to abandon golf through his teen years, as did many others throughout the late 2000s and early 2010s.

The United States saw a slight decline from 2006 to 2017 in the amount of golfers six years and older, according to the National Golf Foundation (NGF).

But in 2018, those numbers started to change. A slight increase of about a million golfers —23.84 million golfers in 2017 to 24.3 million golfers in 2019 — showed an increase of popularity of the sport has the new decade started to near.

The decrease in popularity of the sport on the professional level, due in part to the decline and controversy that swirled around one of the greatest professional golfers of all time that came into the spotlight in the early 2000s, Tiger Woods, had a big effect on the amount of people who wanted to play the sport. Names like Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm, and many more litter a now competitive field of exciting golfers on the PGA Tour that have exhilarated the professional realm.

The PGA Tour will only continue to grow in popularity with its upcoming 2020-2021 season looking to host 50 tournaments, which is the most since 1975.

According to the National Golf Industry, golfers played 32% more rounds of golf in October than in the same month in 2019. The last time the game of golf experience a rise in players as stark as in October? In 1997, when Woods had his breakout year on the PGA Tour.

It wasn’t just the popularity of the sport that drove away new players. The price of golf is another major factor of the amount players wanting to play and get into the game. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the price index of golf courses and country clubs across America rose from 100.0 in December of 2005 to now 131.6, most recently of October this year.

According to the National Golf Industry though, that rising prices of golf were just an after thought in the third fiscal quarter of 2020. In the months of July, August, and September, golf equipment’s retail sales were north of $1 billion. Just like the amount of rounds played in October 2020 versus 1997, sales in 2020’s Q3 were the most since 2008 — the last major victory Woods had before his Masters win in 2019.

Golf, a predominantly white premium sport, is treated as an elitist activity not only in many places in America, but even more so around the world. According to the National Golf Foundation (NGF) in the 2019 Golf Industry Report, 72% of golfers in 2018 were white.

“In Croatia, the courses are absolutely beautiful,” John Forrest, an avid golfer in the Denver metro area who spent time living in Croatia in the early 2010s said. “But the game is something that only the elite play there. You just didn’t play it unless you were super rich.”

Another factor of the lack of interest of golf could be the location of where you live. In Colorado, golf players usually lose a few months out of the year to bad weather, particularly snow in the winter months. Comparatively to other sports like basketball which you can play year round inside a gym, golf is much harder to play when the sun isn’t shining at a reasonable temperature.

That has also changed in 2020 according to the National Golf Foundation, with decreased precipitation rates across the U.S. and an increase in the average temperature entering November at 57 degrees.

Isaac Bugarin lines up for a practice putt on the putting green at Riverdale Golf Course in Brighton, Colorado during a sunny day in October. Bugarin spends multiple hours a week at the golf course to try and refine his game. | Photo by William Satler

Bugarin credits the time disparity between sports like baseball and basketball versus a sport like golf for another important reason why golf might be a second choice for those looking to get into a sport.

“I think the biggest difference between sports like baseball and basketball versus golf is the time that you spend playing,” Bugarin said. “Baseball has innings or time limits and basketball has quarters but with golf it’s like every hole takes somewhere between 10 to 15 minutes and especially if you’re playing with other people.

“Getting through 18 [holes] or even getting through nine [holes] of golf— 18 takes about four and a half hours and 9 takes about two and a half hours — you really have to understand the time difference between the games.”

With all the odds stocked against golf though, especially during a global pandemic, it has started to grow in recent years through golfers like Bugarin. Players are finding ways through newly found time — whether from losing a job or from the increase in virtual learning/work through individual industries.

Isaac Bugarin takes a swing at the driving range at Riverdale Golf Course in Brighton, Colo. in October before he plays a round of golf. Bugarin usually hits about 50 balls at the driving range before playing a round of golf. | Photo by William Satler

Golf courses were one of the first industries to reopen after the shutdown in the spring for the coronavirus pandemic. They provide a boost to local economies across the country while not requiring the extreme regulations that many places across the world need right now to keep patrons safe.

According to the U.S Census Bureau, golf courses and country clubs in the United States are forecasted to created $22,389 of revenue and with some regions of states with somewhere in the realm of three golf courses in every city, golf can be a huge boost to an economy, especially one that is struggling.

Over 98% of golf courses in America right now are open. During the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic in early April and May, around 50% of the courses in the United States were open, according to the National Golf Foundation. In early June, no states had any restrictions on playing, although recently that has changed.

Some courses have eliminated the use of high touch point items like water access, ball washers, and flag poles on the course as well as things like the use of golf carts and access to the center clubhouse of golf courses, known as the pro shop.

Only Hawaii among the 50 states experienced a drop in golfers, mostly because of its intense COVID19 regulations that make it extremely hard for tourists to visit the island, although this may be changing with the rise in rapid testing strategies.

The industry has remained relatively in the same area of revenue though since 2008, with around $21,181 of revenue created in that year.

Even with a second wave of COVID19 pressuring the nation, golf courses are remaining open, safely, and allow business to keep flowing.

Bugarin keeps the game interesting by not only challenging himself on the golf course every time he plays, but his opponents as well. From friendly bets to those wagers that can hurt the pockets more than the player wants, Bugarin likes the competition the course can provide.

Isaac Bugarin takes a swing from the tee box during a round of golf at Coyote Creek Golf Course in Fort Lupton, Colo. in December. Bugarin has taken to golf as a new hobby after the COVID19 pandemic begun. | Photo by William Satler

“I’d love to win some money out of golf,” he said. “I think it’s always fun to hit the links with your friends and make a couple, friendly bets, friendly gambles, run them up whether it’s $5 a hole or $100 a hole, I think it’s always fun to win some money and win some friendly bets.”

Bugarin is just one of the wave of new golfers, or returning golfers, to the sport invigorating a sport that was once one of the most popular in America. As the pandemic lengthens, don’t be surprised to see the rise of golf continue.

Golf still has its major troubles — ethnicity inequality, high costs, as well as intrigue among young people and women —but is making a positive trend and in terms of American sports, a very rapid positive trend.

The world has changed dramatically in 2020 thanks to COVID19. From Zoom calls to masks and everything in between, the change has been stark and the world we live in is very different.

Golf too has changed. But it may be on the uprise.

There’s Something About Those Windows and Ceilings in Sports

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The Colorado Avalanche capitalized on a tall 2019 season pushing San Jose to seven games in round two of the NHL playoffs and may have opened a window for many years to come.

During a game of the 2019 NHL Playoffs’ second round, Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon (29) battles San Jose Sharks’ Logan Couture (39) at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif. on May 5, 2019. | Photo obtained from NHL.com

Will Satler | wsatler@msudenver.edu | May 9, 2019

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BRIGHTON, COLO. (CO) — As quickly as a window can open, a team’s window for a championship can close.

And if John Elway doesn’t believe in windows, then the Avs don’t believe in ceilings because they busted right through theirs for the 2019 season.

Enough with the odd household, sports metaphors.

Colorado’s quest for Lord Stanley came to an end Wednesday night as the San Jose Sharks swarmed early and never looked back for a 3-2 win in game seven. San Jose rode the momentum of the return of captain Joe Pavelski, who had a goal and an assist in the first period.

“Our season is over,” coach Jared Bednar said. “It’s tough. We set high expectations for ourselves, and we came up a little bit short. … Our guys worked every day to try to fulfill our expectations. It was a real good series, but they were the better team for too big a portion of tonight’s game, and they won, and they deserved to win.”

This was never Colorado’s series to win, and they never should have even smelt the playoffs, after their disappointing stretch run, losing 18 out of 20 games through February, including eight in a row.

It could have oddly been the absence of two key players, captain Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen. Phillipp Grubauer’s rise to dominating between the pipes could have been the case too.

The Avalanche would win eight out of ten to finish the season and sneak into the eighth playoff spot in the West. In the year of the Wild Card, where not a single wild card team lost in the first round, the Avs upset the top-seeded Calgary Flames in round one serving as the second biggest upset in the NHL. How’s it going over there, Columbus?

They took a Sharks team that finished 3rd in the West to seven games and had a valid argument that an overturned goal in the 2nd period on an offsides call altered their chances at a spot in the Western Conference final.

But this team had already broken through their ceiling, and they were just playing with house money now, opening a window, nice and wide for the entire NHL to see.

“I’m going to look back at it as a great season with a lot of ups and down. The way we battled the last month of the season and this playoff, I’m really proud of the group we have. We were counted out numerous times, but as a group, we believed, and it was a big step for this organization,” the Avs’ captain said after Wednesday’s game.

The time for Colorado to win a Stanley (or multiple don’t cha say?) is now, and it could never be more apparent. What better time was it for Homey Baker winner and Avalanche offensive defenseman sensation Cale Makar to break into the scene and steal the heart of the fans of the burgundy, white and blue?

Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar (8) waits for the puck to be dropped for a face off during the 2019 NHL Playoffs’ second round against the San Jose Sharks at Pepsi Center in Denver, Colo. on May 3, 2019. | Photo obtained from NHL.com

The Avs are in the NHL’s driver’s seat, coming off back-to-back playoff runs and hold a plethora of prospects as well as this year’s 4th overall pick in the entry draft.

Colorado’s core of Nathan MacKinnon, Landeskog, Grubauer, and now Makar, are locked up for years to come under relatively team-friendly deals. Tyson Jost, Samuel Girard, and Colin Wilson all showed great promise in this team’s playoff run and look to be key parts of future playoff runs.

There are some things head coach Jared Bednar and Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations, Joe Sakic need to clear up this offseason like returning restricted free-agent Mikko Rantanen and drafting at number four in the entry draft.

Another thing that could effect the Avalanche’s window is the 2020 expansion draft that looms with the addition of a NHL team in Seattle in just a season. The Vegas Golden Knights swooped their riches two years ago in the NHL’s most recent expansion draft, riding the polished players they received to the Stanley Cup Final in year one and to push their first round series in 2019 to seven games.

Sakic and Co. made a splash last offseason acquiring Grubauer for the defending-champs in Washington, so look for him to make a similar power move unlike the team down the street in Denver.

There were many storylines and questions swirling around this team before and throughout the season but none bigger than whether this team’s future is bright. They did more than answer that in the moves they made in late April and sit primed for a strong 2020 season.

Avalanche fans will come to terms and shave their playoff beards soon as their intense playoff run has ended, but there is no question that they’ll be growing their beards for many May’s to come.

Time to focus on those Nuggets, baby.

Avalanche Rush To Upset Over Flames

Nathan MacKinnon (29) celebrates with his teammates Tyson Barrie (4), Colin Wilson (22), Gabriel Landeskog (92), and Mikko Rantanen (96) after scoring a goal in game five of the first round of the Western Conference playoffs at Scotiabank Saddledome against the Calgary Flames on Friday, April 20, 2019. Photo obtained from NHL.com.

Whether its science or playoff hockey, one thing holds true; ice beats fire.

Will Satler | wsatler@msudenver.edu | April 20, 2019

BRIGHTON, COLO. — “The future is bright but the present just got much brighter.”

Those were the words of NBCSN play-by-play commentator, Gord Miller, Friday night after the Colorado Avalanche took down the top-seeded Calgary Flames 5-1 to advance to the second round.

After clinching the final playoff spot in the Western Conference with an overtime win over Winnipeg on the second-to-last game of the season, the Avs overcame a game one loss with four straight wins to win the series.

When the horn sounded in the Scotiabank Saddledome to end game one, the Flames looked like they were on the road to take care of business and ride their explosive offense into the second round.

What happened next was something that the experts could have never seen coming, as the Avs flipped the switch when they stole game two in overtime as Nathan MacKinnon soared in to tie the series at one.

Three goals and eight points later, MacKinnon earned high praise from all, and rightfully so.

“I feel comfortable saying he [Nathan MacKinnon] is the best player in hockey right now,” Barry Melrose said on ESPN Friday night after the game.

MacKinnon’s goal in game two was the turning point in the series but it was the man who assisted his overtime goal that would officially swing the series in Colorado’s favor and give the Avalanche the boost to eventually get past the Flames.

Mikko Rantanen hadn’t played since March 21 in Dallas, but after making his return to the Avalanche lineup for round one, made his impact felt. He netted five goals in the series, including the overtime winner at home in game four, as well as two in the clinching game in Calgary.

“It’s big, but we’re not done yet,” the Colorado forward told NHL.com’s Aaron Vickers after the game five win. “I think everybody’s hungry. We could see even after this game, guys were not celebrating too much. We know we’re not done yet. There’s lots of work to do. This is the first step.”

Rantanen trails only Vegas’ Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty in points in the NHL playoffs so far.

Captain Gabriel Landeskog finally put the opening score in the net Friday after missing out on a handful of scoring chances previously in the series. Colin Wilson added 2 to his previous 13 playoff goals on Friday.

Matt Nieto joined Colorado’s historic record books as he put in two short-handed goals in back-to-back games, the first Avalanche player to do that in the history of the franchise.

Games three and four were largely impacted by the home crowd at Pepsi Center and maybe a bit by the altitude. The crowd was given a boost when Cale Makar, the Homey Baker award (awarded to college hockey’s best player) joined the Avs defense after signing a professional contract with just a day between being eliminated from the NCAA national championships games and scoring his first goal in game three of the NHL playoffs.

While Calgary’s Mike Smith made flashy saves from start to finish and faced a historic amount of shots after pitching a shutout in game one, it was Phillipp Grubauer in the Colorado net that propelled the Avalanche into the second round when he made the saves when he needed to.

A left pad save in early overtime in game four made highlight reels every where and pushed the Avs over the hump to take the series.

On the flip side, Calgary was frozen by the Avalanche throughout the series from top to bottom. A former Homey Baker award winner and arguably Calgary’s best player, Johnny Gaudreau, was shutout after earning an assist in game one.

Gaudreau looked visually frustrated throughout most of the series but none more than when he had three consecutive breakaway opportunities (one was a penalty shot) and failed to score, and then was on the ice for the eventual game winning goal from Rantanen.

James Neal, arguably Calgary’s big free agent signing in 2018, was so bad in the series that he was a healthy scratch for game five. Neal, one of the impact players on Vegas’ golden run last year to the Stanley Cup final, along with captain and probable Norris Trophy winner Mark Giordano, who were impact players for the Flames that didn’t make an impact.

“We couldn’t execute properly. We couldn’t score. We couldn’t make the big plays at the big times,” the Flames captain said. “We were doing it all year. It was tough. It’s going to be a long summer, that’s for sure. It’s going to be a tough one to swallow.”

Flames assistant captain Matthew Tkachuk now enters unrestricted free agency for the Flames which joins their goaltending situation as the biggest question marks after a first round exit after being the top seed going forward.

The Avalanche now await the winner of San Jose and Vegas in the second round who will play in game six with the Golden Knights leading the series 3-2.

Colorado lost all three matchups against the Sharks during the regular season and won two out of three games against the Golden Knights. It goes without saying that this Avs team is much different than when both of these teams matched up in the regular season.

While the Sharks have split four playoff series with Avalanche in history, the Golden Knights have never matched up with Colorado.

The Denver Nuggets are primed to make their deepest playoff run since 2009

Bart Young | Getty Images

The Denver Nuggets are once again a top contender in the Western Conference and they draw glaring similarities to the 2008-2009 team that made the Western Conference Finals.

Will Satler | @WillSatler | Thursday, March 7th, 2019

DENVER, COLO. (CO)– It’s been a while since there has been something worth cheering about in the depths of Pepsi Center. Just about ten years after former head coach George Karl, Carmelo Anthony, and Co. lost in 6 games to Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers, the Denver Nuggets are set to make a run for a Western Conference title once again, in 2019.

The Nuggets currently sit just 1 GB of the Western Conference and two-time defending champion, Golden State Warriors, with 17 games to go and a primetime ESPN matchup on the horizon, Friday. Barring a historical late-season melt down (They sit 7 games ahead of the 8th seeded San Antonio Spurs), the Nuggets will return to the playoffs for the first time since 2013, when Karl engineered a Coach of the Year season with 57 wins.

Karl was later fired in the offseason following that, and the Nugs haven’t been back since. Current Nuggets’ coach, Michael Malone, is creeping incredibly close to the success of Karl as we near the end of the NBA regular season. If the NBA awards were put together like the MLB, Malone would take home the honors in 2019. Unfortunately for him, Mike Budenholzer and the Milwaukee Bucks are setting the world on fire out East as Budenholzer and MVP-candidate Antetokounmpo continue to impress.

In 43 NBA seasons, the Nuggets have reached the playoffs a little less than half the time, with 24 playoff appearances. They have failed to reach the NBA finals in their history but have reached the WCFs, three times. They haven’t tasted the top of the West since 2009, when Chauncey Billups and Anthony were tearing up the league.

Tim Rasmussen | Denver Post via Getty Images

That team would go on to lose in Game 6 against Kobe and the Lakers after putting together a 54-28 regular season, finishing first in the Northwest Division. This was a different NBA than we live in today undoubtably. Despite that, the two teams, 9 seasons apart, host glaring similarities as well as many instances that create hope for Nuggets fans in 2019.

Arguably, the 2009 Nuggets’ best player was Billups, a U of Colorado (#SkoBuffs) who was acquired the second week of the season from the Detroit Pistons in a trade that, ‘that brings guard Allen Iverson to Detroit and sends Pistons mainstays Chauncey Billups and Antonio McDyess to Denver.’ (To note: Cheikh Samb was also included in that trade but played in just 6 games and was later traded to the Los Angeles Clippers for cash and a 2015 2nd round draft pick (Nikola Radicevic was later selected).

Billups would go on to lead the team in many statistical categories, including Win Shares (WS) and Assists per Game (APG). A qualified leader with a NBA championship under his belt, Billups continued to put up gaudy numbers, despite the talent of his teammate, Melo, who was 5 years into his career at that point.

Here’s where the similarities seem to come in. Many Nugs continue to say publicly that Nikola Jokic is the leader of the locker room. The stats support that statement strongly. Jokic leads in almost every statistical category for the 2019 Nuggets, and was the first Nugget selected to the NBA all-star game since 2010, when Anthony had his last run in Denver.

Jokic and Billups both are players that hold or held incredibly important dependence on the success of the team. Both players hold identical Win Shares, with 9.9. Billups was the lone all-star that year for Denver, just like Jokic was in 2019, when he played for Team Giannis in Charlotte.

In this situation, here’s where things are looking up for Denver in 2019: Jokic, a ‘generational player in today’s NBA’ is currently averaging more APG with almost 8 assists per game while Billups led the Nuggets with 6.4 APG in 2009. A center for 100% of his minutes (He’s played in all but 1 game this season, when he was suspended by the NBA for leaving the bench for an on-court altercation against the Utah Jazz back in January.

Ron Chenoy | USA TODAY Sports

At this point in the season, the 2019 Nuggets have an almost identical Defensive Rating than the 2009 Nugs, in fact they have a better rating (108.8 vs. 106.8, respectfully). That same 2009 Denver team had a Margin of Victory (MOV) of 3.41 while this year’s team has a MOV of 5.08. Again, things are looking up for the current team.

While you can still argue that Billups was the face of the Nuggets in 2009, Carmelo Anthony was the undoubtedly best player on the Nuggets as one of the best scorers in NBA history. Melo was in his 5th year in the league, since he was drafted in the iconic 2003 draft with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, and uhm, Darko Millicic.

Melo, who had a 19.0 PER in 2009, was significantly the best player statistically on that team while Jokic currently hosts a PER of 26.9. For reference, the second best PER on the 2019 Nuggets would be lower than Anthony’s PER in 2009.

Jokic, who just signed a massive contract keeping him in Denver for at least the next 5 years, is playing in his 5th year in the NBA, after he was drafted in the 2nd round at pick 41 just 5 years ago in 2013. Jokic, now 23 years old, is just one year younger than Melo was in his 2009 season.

David Zalubowski | Associated Press

The age of the Nuggets is probably the biggest separation from the two teams. The youngest player on the 2009 Nuggets was Sonny Weems, a rookie who was just 22 years of age. Today’s Nuggets, feature 5 players who are 22 or younger, including Jamal Murray.

Despite that, both teams have 7 players that are currently averaging double digits points per game (Note: Linas Kleiza averaged 9.9 PPG, but I figured for argument sake, we could round that up).

These similarities all make things look golden, no pun intended, going forward but there still are some significant question marks for this Nuggets team here in 2019. For starters to be completely brute, they can’t stay healthy.

Their opening day lineup, often named mimicking the Warriors ‘death lineup’ has played just 4 games together since the start of the season. The biggest reason for that is injuries, minus a suspension that held Jokic out for a game.

The Nugs have toted 15 different lineups so far this year, and this alone could be their downfall. The same goes for the team by the Bay, who has dealt with a plethora of injuries to their impact players. The difference? Experience.

Andrew D. Bernstein | Getty Images

It goes without noting that the Nuggets haven’t been to the playoffs since 2013, and have a built a quality team of young guns. The downside to that is that those young guns don’t have playoff experience. Yes, Isaiah Thomas and Paul Millsap have quality playoff time and Will Barton and Mason Plumlee have seen time in late April in the NBA, but nothing worth noting.

The Warriors, who will host the Nuggets Friday and will host them one more time on April 2nd, have been to 4 straight NBA finals, coming home with 3 of them. Their stretch of playoff success came in 2013, when they knocked out the 1 seeded Nuggets.

This coming game Friday will most likely decide who will have home-court through the Western Conference Playoffs in 2019, with the Warriors holding just a 1 game lead over the Nuggets for the top spot and the Nuggets holding a 4 game lead over the Portland Trail Blazers. With the teams currently tied 1-1 in the season series, the tiebreaker lays with the Nuggets in case the teams split the two games in Oakland.

To put it in perspective, the 2009 Lakers had Kobe as well as a prime Andrew Bynum, Derek Fisher, and Pau Gasol. The 2019 Warriors, have Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, oh and yeah, Demarcus Cousins.

Aaron Ontiveroz | The Denver Post

The Nuggets road to the Finals will be beyond difficult going forward but one thing that they have done is put themselves in a great position to be successful. While the national media continues to overlook the Denver basketball team, often for a 10th place Los Angeles Laker team with an aging LeBron James, the Nuggets have put up numbers that have glaringly similarities to a very successful 2009 Nuggets team.

Whether they make the WCFs or get bounced by someone in the first round, this Nuggets team has made a step towards that ever-elusive, NBA Championship.

Yes, the WCFs may be the ceiling for this Nuggets team. I would be out of my mind if I said I expect them to make the Finals. Tim Connelly has built this team just like the successful 2009 Nuggets team and his success with that is showing. One thing is for sure; this Nuggets team is primed to go deeper than ever in the Western Conference.

Statistics and references used in this article were retrieved from Basketball-reference.com.