Denver Nuggets catch great breaks in season finale, clinch 2 seed
Apr 14, 2024, 3:56 PM | Updated: 4:35 pm
The Denver Nuggets blew their chance at the No. 1 seed with a shocking loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Friday but the Mile High City crew still ended the season in a strong position on Sunday.
Denver’s 57-25 record earned the Nuggets the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. They will meet the winner of the first play-in game between the New Orleans Pelicans and Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. That first game will tip this coming Saturday (April, 20.) Because of Sunday’s results around the league, not only did the Nuggets move up in the standings, they guaranteed themselves home-court advantage in the second round of the playoffs.
Sunday was unprecedented in NBA history, with three teams alive for the No. 1 seed in the West entering game 82 for the first time ever. On top of that, everything aside from the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds was subjected to movement.
So the Nuggets were not only playing for future games at Ball Arena but for preferred matchups. And just about everything broke Denver’s way on Sunday.
Denver was still alive for the No. 1 seed but needed just too many things to go right to get there. Still, Denver beat Memphis 126-111 and Minnesota lost to Phoenix 125-106, which pushed the Nuggets up to No. 2. Oklahoma City easily took care of a resting Dallas bunch 135-86 to clinch the top spot.
But the results at the bottom were interesting too. The Suns win meant they got to the No. 6 seed while the Pelicans lost to the Lakers, falling into the play-in. Now the Pels will host the Lake Show in the No. 7 vs. No. 8 play-in game on Tuesday, the winner will play the Nuggets and the loser will have a do-or-die second play-in game.
The 2024 Western Conference Playoffs pic.twitter.com/U3vzuotfFT
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 14, 2024
Overall, the Nuggets avoided the Oklahoma City/Dallas/Clippers side of the bracket, scored home court in the second round and are going to match up with a weaker team in the first round. Oh, and the Wolves now play the Suns, who they have not beaten this season or even had the lead against them the fourth quarter. It’s actually worse than that, Minny hasn’t been within 10 points in the second half. So Minny has their hands full and that might’ve been Denver’s toughest foe out West. The Nuggets very likely secured a first two-round path against the Pelicans and Suns—which is great for Denver.
