The Denver Nuggets play basketball like a hockey team. No, it isn’t because they have a Canadian point guard, it is in the way they work collectively, share the spotlight and remain focused on the task at hand, one possession at a time.
I think it is fascinating to compare professional team sports. They each have their unique qualities. When considering basketball, as I watch this year’s super entertaining NBA Finals, the Denver Nuggets seem to be a different professional basketball team. They are tougher and more connected, like a hockey team.
Maybe the Nuggets are the best hockey team in the NBA.
In order to prove this unconventional theory, one must ask: What makes an NHL team great? What is essential?
Knowing “who you are”
Great teams and athletes understand what makes them fly and what holds them back. The Nuggets understand what sets them apart from others and what they need to do to win. Now, this doesn’t make them a hockey team, but there are a handful of NBA teams whose performance in the playoffs made us wonder if they truly understand what allows them to thrive as a team. Why might this be different in basketball versus hockey?
The margin of error in hockey is narrow compared to basketball. A couple of mistakes by any player in hockey and the team is down 2-0. A couple in basketball and all that is required to recover is to lock down on defense or go on a run on offense. I think this leads to hockey teams better understanding what they can or can’t do, in a disciplined way, in order to take full advantage of their collective talents. The consequences of individual errors are more severe.
The Nuggets seem to understand “who they are” and this has presented, more often than not, the best version of themselves during the playoffs.
Staying level
Great NHL teams (recent Lightning teams, for example) stay level. Not too high, not too low. They stay in-between the waves.
You regularly see this with the Nuggets. When their opponent goes on a run, they don’t appear to panic, and vice-versa when they are playing at their very best, as they don’t get too full of themselves. I think a great example of this was in game four as Aaron Gordon played exceptional basketball. He stayed “level” and focused on doing his job in one of the best performances of his career.
Basketball can tend to be a game of emotions. Scoring happens in abundance, as does failing to score. The Nuggets ability to keep their emotions in check allows them to stay focused on how to support each other to deliver their very best individual performances. All in the name of great team play.
This isn’t just a hockey “thing”, but the pressure to stay level for the hockey player is greater than for the basketball player, in my mind.
Sacrifice
The Nuggets appear to be a team that simply does not care who is scoring. They only care that THEY are.
They also appear to be a team that is comfortable with variable stars. One day one player leads the way, the next day it is someone else. Their superstar Nicola Jokić may win the playoff MVP award this year but he will likely express that Jamal Murray was the key to their team’s success.
Now, this isn’t unique to the Nuggets or to elite NHL teams, but I think genuine sacrifice may be more present in a sport like hockey. Players regularly sacrifice themselves to create advantages for their teammates that would not otherwise exist. The rules in the NBA are shaped to profile individual skills (part of former Commissioner David Stern’s master plan!), so there is both greater motivation as well as a need to focus on individual performance as compared to a sport like professional hockey.
Physicality
Rarely does an NHL team win the Stanley Cup without a commitment to playing a physical style (see recent Toronto Maple Leaf struggles to advance in the playoffs). The game of hockey requires that you physically impose yourself on the other team. There is simply no avoiding this.
Denver’s best player, Nikola Jokić, may be the most physical player in the NBA. He is an NHL superstar winger with elite skill. Inside of 20 feet to the basket, on offense and defense, there is rarely a possession where he doesn’t engage and batter his opponents. This wears the other team down. Weakens them as the game moves to the fourth quarter, where the Nuggets are a top 5 defensive team this past season.
Jokić is not alone on the Nuggets. With the exception of Michael Porter, Denver looks like a great NHL team who loves to forecheck! Every team tends to have one player who doesn’t like to mix it up. But, like a hockey coach, the Nuggets Head Coach, Michael Malone, reminded Porter recently that he “isn’t a specialist”. Which, when translated, means, “be more physical, more committed, more prepared to sacrifice”. At least, that is how I read it and another example of the commitment to sacrifice and being physical.
Will the best hockey team in the NBA come out on top? Interestingly, the Heat have some hockey in them! We will find out tonight!
