The Denver Nuggets Championship odds are fading fast, but there's still time. The Nuggets host Oklahoma City on Thursday in a must-win Game 6 in their best-of-seven second-round playoff series.
Oddsmakers list the Nuggets as 4.5-point underdogs as of Wednesday morning after the club dropped Game 5 to go down 3-2 in the series.
Denver, which won the 2023 title, is the sixth choice at odds of +2800 to become this year’s world champions at BetMGM Colorado, which made us curious how this year’s Nuggets squad compared to recent championship squads.
We used Basketball-Reference.com to find out what the anatomy of an NBA Championship team is. This is the average data based on the past 10 NBA Champions. So, how do the Denver Nuggets compare to the average the champion?
Category | Data |
Average Age of Team | 28.17 |
Win % During Season | .719 |
Points/Game | 113.9 |
3 Point % | 37.7% |
2 Pont % | 50.0% |
Free Throw % | 77.4% |
Total Rebounds | 3,600 |
Category | Data |
Average Age of Team | 27.58 |
Win % During Season | .610 |
Points/Game | 120.8 |
3 Point % | .376 |
2 Pont % | .578 |
Free Throw % | .770 |
Total Rebounds | 3,751 |
Side-by-side this year’s Nuggets squad compares very favorably against the last 10 champions. While they are slightly more than a half-year younger by average player age, the Nuggets average nearly seven points more per game and shoot better inside the 3-point arc.
The biggest difference, though, is in winning percentage. The NBA champs have a nearly 11 percentage point edge over Denver, which went 50-32 in the regular season. That works out about nine more wins.
That discrepancy in winning percentage may have a lot to do with defense. While we did not include that in our statistical breakdown, this year’s Denver Nuggets team gave up an average of 116.9 points per game. That was tied with the Memphis Grizzlies for the sixth-worst scoring defense in the league.
Compare that to the Thunder. OKC was fourth in the league in scoring offense. Its 120.5 points per game was just below the Nuggets’ 120.8 ppg. However, the Thunder only gave up 107.6 points a game, good enough for third in the league this season.
Of the last 10 NBA champs, six – including the 2022-23 Nuggets – had a scoring defense that ranked in the league’s top 10, and eight of the 10 were ranked 15th or better. The only championship-winning team with a defense comparable to Denver’s this year was the 2020-21 Milwaukee Bucks, whose 114.2 ppg allowed ranked 22nd in the league that season. The Bucks overcame that by having the NBA’s most potent offense, which scored 120.1 points per night.
Can Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets overcome their defensive struggles and bring home a second NBA title to Denver? BetColorado will be your source for the latest news and analysis on your favorite teams in the Centennial State.
USA Today photo by Alonzo Adams.
Author
Steve is an accomplished, award-winning reporter with more than 20 years of experience covering gaming, sports, politics and business. He has written for the Associated Press, Reuters, The Louisville Courier Journal, The Center Square and numerous other publications. Based in Louisville, Ky., Steve has covered the expansion of sports betting in the U.S. and other gaming matters.
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