After a chaotic last month that saw the Nuggets fire their head coach days before the playoffs, interim coach David Adelman has put Denver in a good spot to upset the Thunder and have plenty of Game 7 experience to lean on with Jokic and Murray.

At times during the regular season, few thought an up-and-down, notoriously thin Denver Nuggets team would have a chance to go to the Western Conference finals. Yet, here they are. For all the hand-wringing over basketball's gradual evolution into a soccer-style weak-link sport,