After beating Suns in first two games, ESPN now calling Nuggets a title favorite

Don’t look now, but just like that the Nuggets are getting some national respect.

Denver mopped the floor with Phoenix in Game 1, winning by 18 points in a contest that wasn’t even that close. In Game 2, they used an amazing second half rally to escape with another double-digit victory.

Even though the Nuggets were the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, it seemed like everyone wanted to pick the Suns. The oddsmakers pegged Phoenix as the favorites, as well as 13 of 17 ESPN “experts” picking the Suns to move on to the conference finals.

And while those were the picks before the series, the network is now changing its mind. ESPN’s Kirk Goldsberry listed the remaining eight teams in different tiers to potentially win the NBA championship. The Nuggets are now in “Tier 1: The Favorites.” They join the Boston Celtics, Golden State Warriors and Miami Heat.

Here’s part of what Goldsberry wrote about Denver:

With all due respect to the defending champions, the Nuggets have looked like the best team in the West in large part because of their depth. The other three teams left standing in the West have Curry, James and Kevin Durant, but the Nuggets have their own megastar — two-time defending MVP Nikola Jokic. More importantly, they surround him with a deeper rotation than those other teams have.

He’s not wrong. The Nuggets got huge Game 1 performances from Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon, then a big contribution from Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in Game 2. This is all while Jokic played like a superstar in each, which is the Nuggets’ best formula to win.

After that, Goldsberry lists the Suns and Lakers in “Tier 2: Very scary underdogs,” while putting the 76ers and Knicks in “Tier 3: Banged up but still alive.” Even after Philly beat Boston in Game 1 without Joel Embiid, he’s clearly still not a believer in the Sixers.

And that’s fine. Let Embiid likely win his first MVP (the vote will be revealed later Tuesday night), while Jokic and the Nuggets throw us a parade.

It’d be the first title in Nuggets history, and it looks like ESPN has finally caught up to the fact they might actually get it done.

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