If there’s any advantage to ending the season against a daunting schedule, itap this: The Nuggets are already playing “playoff-like” games, according to veteran forward Paul Millsap.
Denver will face Portland in consecutive games, followed by a trip to Utah and then end the season at home, on a back-to-back, against Minnesota. Of their last 11 games, nine will have come against playoff-bound teams.
The Nuggets can reduce the pressure on themselves with a win Friday night at home against the Trail Blazers, thereby locking up the Northwest division title and no worse than the No. 3 seed.
“The games that we’ve been in are being played like playoff-like games,” Millsap said Friday. “The atmosphere’s a little different. The intensity level of what teams are trying to do to us. The way Houston came out on us, the way Golden State came out on us, this is what it feels like to be in the playoffs. This is how teams are going to come at you in the playoffs.”
That conditioning is vital for a team that has a combined 121 playoff games between Millsap, Mason Plumlee and Will Barton. Itap also why securing homecourt advantage in the first round – where the Nuggets are a conference-best 32-7 at home – is so integral to a possible deep playoff run.
“Itap a big deal,” said Millsap. “I think itap a big deal. Especially with younger guys, especially for a team thatap played really well at home all year, one of the best home records in the league.”
Take Malik Beasley, for example. Beasley is shooting 51 percent from the field at home compared to just 43 percent on the road. At Pepsi Center, Beasley is connecting on nearly 44 percent of his 3-point attempts compared to just 37 percent on the road.
“Itap very important just because we know what we want to do at home, we know the atmosphere, what itap like at home,” Beasley said. “We want to be in this environment, feel as comfortable as possible at home.”
Millsap owns the most playoff experience of anyone on the team, but he says there’s nothing quite like experiencing the emotion firsthand. His sage advice has already manifested multiple times this season during turbulent times. Evidently Beasley, whose locker room stall sits just a few feet from Millsap’s, has started to listen.
“We just gotta be more mentally locked in,” Beasley said. “As young people, we think that we can just come in and compete but thatap not gonna be there. We gotta know our personnel, know our gameplan, make sure we get enough rest because itap going to be a battle every minute.”
