If I were in the Nuggets’ shoes after that ugly blowout against the Thunder in Game 7, I’d be thinking about two things: taking care of the ball and getting more reliable bench players. The Thunder straight up outworked them, especially with their aggressive defense forcing Denver into 22 turnovers. You can’t win playoff games giving away that many easy points.

I also noticed that when someone like Aaron Gordon isn’t 100%, Denver looks thin. I’ve found that when my team misses a starter, you gotta have someone reliable coming off the bench who can step up, especially in pressure games. The Nuggets’ bench hasn't really scared anyone, so maybe they need to get more dudes who can handle the ball and not panic when defenses ramp up.

And maybe the biggest thing is just finding a way to not fall apart mentally when games start going sideways. The Thunder were playing with a ton of energy, and Denver kinda let the pressure get to them. No one expects them to blow it all up, they still have Jokic and some talented guys, but tweaking those spots could make a huge difference next year. They’re close, for sure.