Before the Nuggets faced the Rockets a month ago in Houston, first-year head coach David Adelman tried to drive home the importance of the occasion to his players by widening the lens.
“This is a chance to go up 1-0 in a three-game series,” he remembers telling them. “This is a huge game.”
In the back of his mind, a separate train of thought was interrupting.
“Well,” he thought, “unless we don’t make the Cup. Or maybe we’ll play them (again) in the Cup.”
One year ago, Denver’s original regular-season schedule included three meetings with the Clippers.