Whoever said that the Denver Nuggets would succumb to an NBA title hangover clearly didnāt watch much of the teamās postseason opener, as Michael Maloneās squad throttled the Los Angeles Lakers at home, 114-103, and then stole Game 2 for good measure.
Now, the 57-25 Nuggets have a shot at putting the Lakers on ice come Thursday night, as they head to Tinseltown for Games 3 and 4. Accordingly, the Nuggets Championship odds are getting shorter and shorter.
In the meantime, BetColorado wanted to see how the Nuggets match up against the past NBA Champions.
Using Sports-Reference.com, BetColorado decided to investigate the past 10 NBA Champions to see what the average win-loss percentage and average points scored during the season was. Based on this, the Denver Nuggets have a higher average points scored per game than past champions but fall short in terms of win-loss percentage.
Note: We only factored in seasons with 82 regular season games, removing the 2020-21, 2019-20, and 2011-12 seasons from the data.
2023-24 Nuggets Performance
W-L % | Points Scored |
.695 | 114.9 |
This year, Denverās 57-25 record equaled out to a .695 win percentage, which is well above where the Nuggets stood when they won the clubās first championship a year ago, when Maloneās team brought home the Larry OāBrien trophy after posting a .646 mark.
Since 2010-11, the average win percentage among league champs has been .729, with the Golden State Warriors teams of 2014-15 and 2016-17 being the high water mark, at .817, while the LeBron James' Miami Heat of 2012-13 were next up at .805.
Conversely, the āworstā NBA champ since 2010-100 was the Nuggets and Warriors in 2023 and 2022, with each team posting .646 marks during the leagueās 82-game gauntlet of a regular season, while the 2010-11 Dallas Mavericks and 2015-16 Cleveland Cavaliers were the next closest at .695 each.
Average NBA Championās Performance
Avg. W-L % | Avg. Points Scored |
.729 | 109.3 |
Since 2010-11, the average win percentage of eventual NBA champs has been .729, while the average points per game total of those league winners was 109.3, which means that Denverās team this season went 1-for-2 in clearing the mean.
Thatās because Denverās win percentage of .695 this year fell just short of the first benchmark, though the Nuggetsā 114.9 PPG this season was well above the average total among recent league winners in the NBA.
For now, Malone and company are looking to continue to thwart James and the Lakers as the first round series between the defending NBA champs and L.A. heads west on Thursday night for Game 3.
Keep tabs for more on the Nuggets and the best Colorado betting apps.
USA Today photo by Ron Chenoy.
