The NBA’s Western Conference finals will commence on Friday, not exactly with the participants everybody expected.

The Denver Nuggets, riding two stars who were groomed from scratch after the club drafted them, have crashed the LA-LA party that had been in the planning stages for the past year. The Clippers’ invitation never got delivered.

Or the Nuggets stole it.

They are an easy team to like, and not just because they beat the Clippers in the second round.

First, Denver is no mail-order team. They didn’t contrive a roster by coaxing players to bond together to form one of the so-called superteams.

They drafted smartly. They made a few under-the-radar trades. And the one key free agent they signed off the open market, Paul Millsap, was a second-tier acquisition in 2017 when Kevin Durant and Gordon Hayward were the biggest names available.

The Nuggets will go into the conference finals as heavy underdogs, but they are unlikely to care much about that. They were given very little chance against the Los Angeles Clippers in the second round, but overcame a 3-1 deficit with three consecutive wins against Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and friends.

By the way, while the Mavericks felt they were on even terms with the Clippers in the first round until injuries derailed them, the Nuggets proved that every round of the playoffs gets tougher, even if the opponent might not be who it was predicted to be.

With that in mind, here’s a look at three key questions as the NBA playoffs reach their version of the Final Four:

Should the Lakers plan the parade route?

We in Dallas know all about the pitfalls of getting ahead of yourself. In 2006, the Mavericks were up 2-0 on the Miami Heat in the finals and proceeded to lose four in a row after plans for a parade leaked out.

The Lakers aren’t likely to make that mistake. They’re built around LeBron James, who will be trying to get to the NBA finals for the 10th time in his career and is looking for his fourth championship.

He’s got too much experience to lose sight of the fact that the Nuggets are red-hot and have a deeper team than do the Lakers.

The Nuggets have the luxury of two days off between finishing off the Clippers and starting the conference finals. They won’t be completely fresh, like the Lakers who have been off for a week. But they at least got a chance to exhale.

It should be a fun series. If you’re looking for a prediction, you’ve come to the right place.

While 2020 continues to be the craziest year of our lifetimes, this series won’t provide us with any more surprises. The Lakers will survive in a very tough six-game battle.

How ‘bout them Nuggets?

If anybody doubted Denver’s pairing of Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray as their 1-2 punch, they surely have been educated by now.

Jokic plays like a bigger Luka Dončić. He sees the court very well and can pass well enough to play point-center, which he does quite often.

Murray introduced himself as a major scorer in the first round against Utah. He’s been unstoppable at times, averaging 27.1 points in the playoffs, along with 6.4 assists and 5 rebounds.

Combined, those two are hitting 47 percent of their 3-pointers in the playoffs and shooting nearly 14 of them per game.

The Nuggets also have a young, improving big man in Michael Porter, who they drafted two years ago knowing they would have to let him sit and recuperate from back trouble.

This is a franchise that has done things the right way and they are reaping the benefits.

And what about those Clippers?

They were not unlike the Miami Heat of 2011 in that most of the country didn’t particularly like them for numerous reasons. They were put together the newfangled way, with Leonard and George scheming to become teammates while they were on different teams in 2018-19.

They play with a swagger, which is not a bad thing, usually. But it belied the fact that the Clippers still have never played in a conference finals, let alone and NBA championship series.

They will return next season, probably with a bigger chip on their shoulder and perhaps with a few additional pieces to support Leonard and George. But they’ll have to wait at least another year to fulfill what were sky-high expectations this season.

Twitter: @ESefko

Share and comment

More Mavs News