Nuggets, Hawks are not Championship Contenders

The Denver Nuggets and Atlanta Hawks will make the playoffs this season but neither team will make it to the NBA Finals. Sorry Nuggets and Hawks fans. Although both of these teams have deep rosters filled with talented players, neither team possesses a true superstar that can carry them through a deep playoff run.

Now don’t get me wrong, quality depth is a great thing for a team to have especially during a short season like this one. The Nuggets are currently second in the Western conference despite losing three players to the Chinese Basketball Association during the offseason. The Hawks are fifth despite losing All-Star center Al Horford to injury.

Most people will cite the 2004 Detroit Pistons to dispute the notion that teams without superstars can’t win championships but that team was the exception to the rule. Besides the Pistons, name another team in recent memory that won or even made it to the Finals without a superstar talent on their team. Go ahead, I’ll wait……

It doesn’t happen very often and there’s a reason for that. The playoffs are just not the same as the regular season.

There are a lot of good teams throughout the league but there are also a lot of bad teams. The playoff-bound teams can usually pad their win records by consistently beating some of the worse teams in the league. In the playoffs all the teams are good making every game a battle which is why wins don’t come as easy in the postseason.

The game slows down in the playoffs, which adds to that battle-like atmosphere. Every possession counts and teams are a lot more careful and methodical when they have the ball. Defenses tighten up meaning less fast break points and less easy buckets than what you would see during a regular season game.

This puts a lot more emphasis on a team’s half-court game. The Nuggets in particular are a team that likes to run and push the ball before the other team can get its defense set. They like to take advantage of their deep bench, point guard Ty Lawson's super speed in the open court and the thin air in Denver but in the playoffs they will face teams that understand how to control the tempo and force the Nuggets to prove they can score consistently in the half court.

With so much at stake during each possession, teams usually shorten their rotations to seven or eight players in order to keep their best decision-makers on the floor. Some of the bench guys that are getting a lot of minutes on Denver and Atlanta’s rosters won’t see the floor much once those teams reach the postseason.

It also helps that playoff games aren’t scheduled on back-to-back nights like regular season games. There is at least one night between games giving teams more time to rest and make adjustments from game to game. Something that is almost impossible to do right now when teams are playing up to four games during a five day span.

But the biggest difference between the regular season and the postseason is the intense pressure to win. It takes a very special player to handle the pressure-filled atmosphere of the playoffs. Only the very best players are able to perform at a high level and generate offense when the defense isn’t giving up anything.

And sadly, there aren’t any players fitting that description on either the Hawks or the Nuggets teams. Sure the Hawks have a guy with superstar talent in Josh Smith and a guy receiving a superstar paycheck like Joe Johnson but neither guy has the production or credentials of the league’s most elite players.

Which is why talent-rich teams pay such a heavy price to get their hands on a Chris Paul, a Carmelo Anthony or a Dwight Howard. It’s why teams like the Boston Celtics send so many players to acquire a Kevin Garnett and why teams will slash their payrolls to make room for free agents like LeBron James. Winning in the regular season is one thing but it takes a special player to win in the postseason. 

Roosevelt Hall is an NBA Blogger for The Sport Mentalist 2 and also writes for Shatter The Backboard. He can be contacted at RHall@shatterthebackboard.com. Follow him on Twitter @sportmentalist and add him on Facebook Roosevelt Hall Thesportmentalist.