MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Nuggets are playing all five regular starters in their regular-season finale Sunday against the Grizzlies despite the possibility that a win wouldn’t benefit their seeding.
“We’re trying to win a game,” coach Michael Malone said in his pregame news conference. “We’ve got everybody healthy, so I think everybody is good to go.”
The Nuggets (56-25) need a win combined with Minnesota and Oklahoma City losses to climb back to the No. 1 seed in the West after their blown lead Friday in San Antonio. But they can at least move up one position to the No. 2 seed if they win and Minnesota loses to the Phoenix Suns. Based on one answer in his pregame presser, Malone showed an understanding that Oklahoma City is unlikely to lose its game against an intentionally undermanned Mavericks squad.
“If we’re able to win and OKC wins and Minnesota wins, we know we’re third,” Malone said. “We’re gonna know who we’re playing, which is different than last year. We didn’t know until Friday night who we were playing. So now on one hand if you finish third which is a likely outcome, then turn the page, and my attention’s gonna go to who are we playing? Is it New Orleans or is it Phoenix? If we win and Minnesota loses and OKC wins, we know we’re two. And now you have to wait until Tuesday night to figure out who you’re playing.”
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Entering this 82nd game, the Nuggets also had the ability to manipulate the Western Conference bracket to their liking without moving seeds themselves. If Oklahoma City, Minnesota and Denver all won, Minnesota would be the No. 2 seed, on the same side of the bracket as Denver. But if Oklahoma City and Minnesota won but Denver lost, the No. 2 seed would switch to Oklahoma City — giving the Nuggets a certain degree of power to decide who their potential second-round opponent is.
Malone squashed that type of thinking by pointing out how talented the West is from top to bottom.
“I go back to when I was in New Orleans and we were getting ready to play in the playoffs, and going into the last game, we could have controlled our destiny: Alright, do we play the Lakers in the first round, or do we play San Antonio? I remember talking with (then-New Orleans head coach) Monty Williams about it, and I really loved his answer, and I kind of agree with it. You can get into that, but now you start messing with the game. The basketball gods are finicky gods.”
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