Denver's Depth Determines the Nuggets' Play, Continues Winning Ways

The Nuggets are sitting a mile high coming into April, the final month of the regular season, and beginning of the playoffs. Denver went 10-6 in the month of March, and have positioned themselves nicely with second place overall in the Western conference and first in the Northwest Division.

The Nuggets are currently half a game ahead of the Spurs, and hold a full-game lead over the Rockets.

Denver, due in part to this present four-game winning-streak, now hold a relatively strong home-court advantage in the playoffs.

A couple of weeks ago, the Nuggets were in fifth, and even seventh for a few days, but have now jumped to second in an extremely tight Western conference.

The Denver Nuggets have won nine of their past 10 games, including Dallas and New Orleans, and are easily the hottest team in the West. A few simple concepts have led this team to winning ways.

First of all, the Nuggets are deeper this year than any other since Carmelo Anthony graced Denver with his presence, fulfilling what George Karl thought at the start of the season. 

The bench has really come into its own this year, at times outplaying the starting five.

J.R. Smith has matured, at least a bit, and has played with better control. He drives more, and passes the ball effectively.

Junior is finally tapping into his seemingly endless amount of potential, and has made a case to be the starting shooting guard.

Chris "The Birdman" Andersen has played out of his mind this season, ranking second in blocks per game, despite averaging only 20 minutes.

Birdman is a crowd favorite and can effect any contest he enters. His infectious play ensures defensive intensity rises for the whole team when he enters the game.

Anthony Carter, last year's starting point guard, now occupies the backup role.

Carter, a veteran, is considerably solid, and rarely turns the ball over. In addition to his great passing skills, Karl considers Carter Denver's best perimeter defender, and consistently has him in during crunch time.

Also, since being moved to backup, A.C. has gelled with fellow bench players Birdman, J.R., and Renaldo Balkman.

Recently, Carter and Andersen have been performing an inbounds alley-oop play that catches teams off guard, and scores an easy bucket in the process.

Along with the great bench production, Carmelo Anthony has been on a tear.

'Melo has averaged 33 points per game in the past four games, including 43 in a close win over Dallas on Mar. 27. His field goal average over the winning streak is a proficient 53.2 percent, also adding 6.25 rebounds per game.

Carmelo punished would-be defenders Jared Jeffries of the Knicks and Dirk Nowitzki of the Mavs among others. In what was possibly Melo's best play of the year, he stole the ball, then dribbled around Dirk like they were outside during recess in sixth grade. It was truly amazing.

Overall, the Nuggets are on top of their game and playing the best basketball in the West at this point.

Looming on Thursday night is a prime-time matchup versus division rivals Utah.

Denver holds a two and a half game lead over the Jazz, but this game could be key for another reason; this may be a preview of the Nuggets' first round playoff opponents. If the season were to end today, it would be a Denver-Utah series.

Denver though, has a relatively easy schedule from here out, with Utah, L.A. Lakers, and Portland the last three playoff teams they face.

The other four teams are basement dwellers, and should be manageable wins. If the Nuggets can win five of eight, they will tie their best record ever, at 54-28.

The Nuggets control their own destiny, and this will prove to be a good test of whether or not they will finally be a different team come playoff time.