At this point in the season, tanking isn’t reserved just for the NBA’s worst teams, writes Bennett Durando of The Denver Post. The Nuggets hosted the Thunder on Friday in a matchup of Western Conference powers, but most of the stars were in street clothes. Oklahoma City, which has already clinched the league’s best record, rested nine rotation players in an effort to boost Denver’s chances at holding onto the No. 3 spot and avoiding a playoff matchup until the conference finals.
Nuggets coach David Adelman responded by giving the night off to his entire starting lineup: Nikola Jokic (right wrist injury management). Jamal Murray (right shoulder impingement), Aaron Gordon (right hamstring injury management), Cameron Johnson (right ankle injury management) and Christian Braun (left ankle injury management and a right hip flexor strain). Adelman defended the move in a pre-game session with the media.
“What’s on the injury report is what they’re out with,” he said. “They’re dealing with a lot more than that physically, not to mention some of the soft tissue stuff. Scary kinds of injuries. … ‘Hey, we’re the three seed, but we don’t have three starters — it doesn’t sound like a great solution.”
The short-handed Nuggets wound up with a 20-point victory that clinched home court advantage in the first round and will face a similar situation on Sunday at San Antonio. Denver is a game ahead of the Lakers for the No. 3 seed, but L.A. holds the tiebreaker and is playing a Utah team that could use another loss to maximize its lottery odds.
The Nuggets can clinch third place and a first-round matchup with No. 6 Minnesota by beating the Spurs. If they’d rather face No. 5 Houston, they’ll need to lose tomorrow and hope for a Lakers win.
Murray, Gordon, Johnson and Braun have been declared out, along with Tim Hardaway Jr.. Spencer Jones and Peyton Watson. Jokic, who needs to play at least 15 minutes to qualify for postseason awards, is listed as questionable.
Durando adds that the Nuggets have engaged in internal discussions about the best playoff path, looking beyond the first round to a potential second-round meeting with the Thunder or Spurs. With no obvious answer, Adelman decided to prioritize making sure his players are as healthy as possible when the playoffs start next weekend.
“Us and Minnesota, it’s been a crazy back-and-forth over the years,” he said on Friday. “They swept us last year, but then we beat them three out of four this year. We always know it’s competitive with them. They’ve given us issues. We’ve given them issues. And then obviously Houston, I mean, they’re playing so well right now. … So there’s no good opponent in my opinion. I think you just have to play it out with decisions that are best for your team, and we feel like tonight, this is the best decision.”
Umm, Denver wants OKC and Wolves over Rockets obviously. spurs would be idiots not to defeat the Nuggets and face Lakers or wolves in R2. It’s obvious you want to avoid nuggets rockets in R2.
Win-win for Denver and spurs.
The Wolves are playing like crap right now, but with back to back playoff runs the last two seasons including beating Denver in Denver, I think the Nuggets would rather play Houston than the Wolves.
And I also would much rather play the Spurs than the Thunder if I was a Nuggets fan, especially with Jokic. HOU-SAS seems easier for DEN than MIN-OKC. So I disagree it’s obvious.
It can’t have that. Minny and OKC are on opposite sides of the draw.
i would want to play houston if i was denver
Yeah but that would mean OKC rd 2.
They probably have better chance against Spurs in rd2. In their case they would need to play both if they hope to get to finals. Jokic is title or bust anyways.