The Nuggets are now in a three-way tie for the no. 1 seed.
The Denver Nuggets‘ path to the first seed in the Western Conference was laid out perfectly. With a monster win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on April 10th, all the Nuggets had to do was win their final two games of the season against the San Antonio Spurs and Memphis Grizzlies and the first seed would be theirs. Unfortunately, the Spurs would play spoiler. Thanks to a converted floater by Devonte’ Graham with 0.9 seconds remaining, the Spurs would beat the Nuggets 121-120.
The loss was incredibly disappointing, as they were the heavy favorites to win the game. At one point, Denver even had a 23-point lead. It even looked like the Nuggets offense was toying with the Spurs. But Nikola Jokic and Co. would get complacent and allowed the Spurs to score a whopping 71 points in the second half.
“We didn’t defend at all,” Nuggets head coach Michael Malone said, via The Denver Post’s Bennett Durando. “… The very few times they did miss in the fourth quarter, we gave up eight offensive rebounds for 13 points. So give San Antonio a ton of credit. They stayed with it. We were up by 23 at one point, and just, too many blow-bys, too many 3s, too many leaving our feet on shot fakes. Just a lot of things that I would say did not go our way down the stretch.”
Jamal Murray did his best to power the Nuggets offense with a team-leading 35 points. Jokic had 22 points, but he also had some uncharacteristic missed shots in the waning minutes of the game.
“We had our chances,” Jokic added. “I missed an open look on the last shot. It’s something that I need to make. I missed, and they had a fast break.”
Nuggets playoff seeding in limbo
On the same night the Nuggets lost, both the Timberwolves and Oklahoma City Thunder won their respective games. Now, it’s a vicious battle for the top seed in the West between Denver, Minnesota and OKC.
With the Nuggets’ loss, they fall into a three-way tie with the Timberwolves and Thunder. While Denver’s hopes of landing the first seed are now slim, it’s not necessarily impossible. First and foremost, they will have to win their game against the Memphis Grizzlies. If the Dallas Mavericks beat the Thunder, and the Phoenix Suns beat the Timberwolves, the Nuggets will get their first seed back.
Sorry, MIN does not control destiny. Hilariously, NO ONE at the top of the West controls destiny.
If Wolves win and Thunder win and Nuggets win,
1. OKC
2. MIN
3. DENIf Wolves win and Thunder win and Nuggets lose
1. MIN
2. OKC
3. DENif Wolves win and Thunder lose and…
— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) April 13, 2024
Last season, the Nuggets were able to somewhat cruise through the final weeks of the regular season as they had the first seed locked down. Despite having command of the West, the Nuggets would still lose some games as they closed their regular season out.
“If you remember last year, we did a kind of similar thing. We lost to a couple teams (at the end of the regular season),” Jokic said. “So it seems like we didn’t learn our lesson. But maybe the year needs to be repeated, the same thing happens and hopefully we’re gonna win a championship again.”
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