The Denver Nuggets will have the opportunity to play another MVP on Monday night after being denied a game with the first one.
Denver defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 111-105 on Saturday without the participation of Joel Embiid, the reigning league MVP. In a clash between two recent NBA champions, Giannis Antetokounmpo, who earned back-to-back MVP awards in 2019 and 2020, will be playing with the Milwaukee Bucks.
In 2021, Milwaukee took home the championship, while the Nuggets did so the previous year. For both teams to win the titles, their hero was essential. This season, Antetokounmpo has averaged 31 points and 11.7 rebounds for the Bucks, who are set to make their coaching debut on Monday night under the direction of Doc Rivers.
After Adrian Griffin was fired earlier this month, despite leading Milwaukee to a 30-13 record, Rivers was brought in. The Bucks are hoping that Rivers, who won a championship with the Boston Celtics in 2008 while serving as their coach, can lead them to their second title in four years.
In an attempt to win it all again, Milwaukee made off-season trades to acquire point guard Damien Lillard. Rivers was called in because the Bucks felt he needed to get things done quickly, and even before he coached a game, the locker room respected him.
Regarding Rivers, Antetokounmpo remarked, “We know that he’s (coached) in tough games.” “He has coached in two NBA Finals, as far as we know. He’s been there, sort of. We had only visited there once. We would like to return there. Additionally, sometimes it is beneficial to have experienced individuals nearby.”
After winning seven of its previous nine games, Milwaukee will travel to Denver to begin a five-game Western Conference road trip. After a lengthy trip, the Nuggets appeared to be affected by it in their first home game in thirteen days. Despite missing Embiid and two other starters, they battled to defeat the 76ers, but they tightened up in the closing minutes to secure the victory.
It helped to have the home crowd.
Jamal Murray, who scored 20 of his 23 points in the first half of Saturday’s game, said, “It’s just fun to have the energy behind you instead of going against you.” “We were able to mobilize and take advantage of that. Simply weather the storm and work to get back on track after they made a run. For three quarters, we struggled mightily on defense, but in the final twelve minutes, we were able to perform as we normally do.”
The ability of Denver to make foul shots is one area of worry. With a free-throw percentage of 74.9, the Nuggets rank 28th in the NBA, and it was clear on Saturday that this might pose a serious problem moving forward. Murray was 1 for 4 from the line, and Nikola Jokic missed six of his 16 efforts as they were 24 for 38 from the line.
Recently, Michael Malone, the coach of the Nuggets, observed, “We’re leaving a lot of points on the foul line.” “When games are close, it’s a one- or two-possession game, you don’t want to keep the opposing team in the game because of all these missed free throws.”
Denver has triumphed over winning teams five times in the last eight games, despite their recent troubles.