Denver has yet to beat a 50 win team in a playoff series in the Jokic era.
I saw this. This can't be true, can it?
So last year. They had the 42 win T'Wolves who were without Towns for almost all the season. The 45 win Suns. The 43 win Lakers. The 44 win Heat.
In 2021, Jokic beat a 42 win Blazers team. Went out in the 2nd round but was without J Murray.
So 2020, they win two series and lose in the WCF to the Lakers in the bubble. Last time Murray was healthy for the playoffs prior to last year's title run. They beat a 44-28 Jazz team and a 49-23 Clippers team. So this was a shortened year. The Clippers were 1 win away from 50 and had 10 more games to play in a normal season (56 win pace). They would have been a 50 win team. The Jazz maybe as well (50 win pace). They needed to 6 out of 10. So only a technicality that they did not beat a 50 win team that season.
In 2019, Jokic beat a 48 win Spurs team led by DeRozan and L Aldridge.
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Still, that is quite amazing. That Clippers team is really the only high level team Jokic has played against. Kawhi and PG13 played in that series. That was the year all their offensive minded supporting cast doomed them with selfishness. Montrez Harrell, Lou Williams, Marcus Morris.
The 2023 Suns were injury hit. They were better than a 45 win team when healthy but CP3 was injured during that series so they were not full strength in the playoffs.