The Nuggets have moved into shutdown mode as season winds down
Apr 6, 2023, 4:25 PM
Last night, the Nuggets clinched the No. 1 overall seed in the Western Conference. They have no chance of catching the top-two seeds in the East, which could come into play if Denver makes the NBA Finals. And they have a team that is a bit bruised and battered of late, with Nikola Jokic missing three recent games due to a calf injury and Jamal Murray exiting their most-recent game with a bad thumb.
As a result, the Nuggets have moved into shutdown mode. With three games to play in the regular season, Denver has started the process of getting players rested and ready for the playoffs.
All five starters might miss tonight’s game against the Suns. Jokic and Murray have already been declared out. Michael Porter Jr., Aaron Gordon and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope are all questionable.
The regular season ends at week’s end, with the Nuggets having tonight’s game at Phoenix, a matinee at Utah on Saturday and a home finale on Sunday afternoon against Sacramento left on the docket. It’s unknown if any of their stars and/or key players will step on the court for any of those three games.
The only reason to have them play would be to avoid rust. Next week, the NBA will have their play-in tournament, with four teams in each conference vying for the final two postseason seeds. Once those are over, the normal best-of-seven series will begin, with games getting underway on April 15. That’s a potential 11-day break between the last time certain Nuggets played, in Tuesday night’s loss at Houston, and the start of the postseason.
Will Michael Malone use any of the last three games as a tune up? That remains to be seen. But clearly, the Nuggets head coach is most interested in keeping his players healthy, which is evident by who is playing and who isn’t playing tonight in Phoenix.
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