NUGGETS

Next two Nuggets games are biggest tests of the year, could decide MVP

Mar 24, 2023, 2:34 PM

The NBA MVP talk never cools off but this week it’s jumping right back into hyperdrive as all three of the top candidates will go head-to-head in short succession.

The stretch starts on Saturday when two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Milwaukee Bucks visit the Denver Nuggets in a matchup between the best in the west and the top of the east. Currently, oddsmakers have Antetokounmpo and back-to-back MVP winner Nikola Jokic as the top two runner-ups to Joel Embiid in this year’s NBA’s MVP race.

Embiid’s 76ers are in the Mile High City just two days later on Monday. Then Embiid takes on Antetokounmpo on the following Saturday. So within a week stretch the basketball world will basically get a round-robin tournament with the MVP trophy on the line.

More important to the Nuggets is the chance to wrap up their regular season on a high note. First place in the west is all but locked up and the magic number sits at six at the time of writing this on Thursday afternoon. Denver could very well clinch the west’s top spot with three wins and some help during Thursday’s matchup in Denver against the Pelicans. The Nuggets are then on the road to face the Suns the next day before coming home for a matchup with the Warriors.

Denver could very well clinch the regular season in the next 10 days with another 10 days to rest and tune up for the playoffs.

So what a better way to finish one of the best season’s in Nuggets history than to take it to two of the top teams in the East, who just so happen to have a player that is competing for the MVP with Denver’s top guy.

The Bucks have won seven of their last 10, the 76ers are 9-1 in that span while the Nuggets are rebounding from a blimp. Now they’ve won three of their last four and have had plenty of rest this week after a five-game east coast trip.

The Nuggets played the Bucks and 76ers in consecutive games in the same order back in January and Denver dropped both games. Michael Malone rested most of his team in the Bucks game, coming as the second half of a back-to-back. While a full strength Nuggets team fell apart in Philly.

We’ll see if Milwaukee and Philly go full strength against Denver, with the Bucks on the second half of a back-to-back with the Jazz and the 76ers playing their third game in four nights as part of a four-game road trip.

Denver’s test in this game could end up being an incomplete but it would be nice if Malone showed his hands and we got to see how the Nuggets matched up with a possible NBA Finals foe.

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