This is it: the final regular season contest of the year for the Denver Nuggets as they face off against the Spurs in San Antonio. Nikola Jokic may play some – he needs to log 15 minutes to qualify for NBA awards because coach David Adelman inexplicably didn’t put him in Denver’s final home game on Fan Appreciation night – but the other starters are all out for “precautionary” reasons. And considering Denver’s injury luck this year, by all means take precautions! Denver will have this little break of the last two regular season games plus the play-in break to rest and heal up. The Spurs have stars Stephon Castle and Victor Wembanyama listed as questionable, but they may play a little also if the Spurs want to make sure to win this game.
If Denver loses and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the tanking Utah Jazz, the Lakers will get the three seed over Denver due to owning the season tie-breaker. If Denver wins, they get the three seed. The Spurs can put a thumb on the scale if they would rather potentially see the Lakers in round 2 rather than Denver, but Denver has made it clear these last couple of games that they don’t have a seeding preference. Whether it’s the Oklahoma City side of the bracket or the San Antonio side, they will play whomever. Neither team today will be showing anything the other can use in a potential playoff matchup, so hang on for a lot of backup minutes and less-than-stellar execution. This is not like the overtime thriller these two teams played last week. This is a sickos game and the end of the regular season – so buckle up, because after this one the games get very real.
The Basics
Who: Denver Nuggets (53-28) at San Antonio Spurs (62-19)
When: 6:30 PM MST
Where: Frost Bank Center, San Antonio
How to watch/listen: Altitude TV / League Pass
Rival Blog: Pounding The Rock
Injury Report | Nuggets: Nikola Jokic—questionable (might need to play 15 minutes to qualify for awards season); Christian Braun—out (he’s fine); Aaron Gordon—out (he’s fine too); Tim Hardaway Jr.—out (also fine); Cameron Johnson—out (still fine); Jamal Murray—out (the finest); Spencer Jones—out (this one’s a hamstring, being cautious); Peyton Watson—out (also a hamstring, also cautious)
San Antonio Spurs: Stephon Castle—questionable (gauging how serious Denver will be); Devin Vassell—questionable (ribs are achy); Victor Wembanyama— questionable (if Jokic plays some, maybe Vic plays some); David Jones Garcia—out (foot surgery); Luke Kornet—out (shoulder);
The Three Things
The thing to watch for: Will DaRon Holmes get minutes? The Nuggets invested 4 picks (a first and three seconds) in Holmes under Calvin Booth to get Denver a stretch 4 and potential small-ball 5 who can shoot from outside and has nice paint touch, sets screens, ably passes the ball and rebounds especially against smaller lineups. After tearing his Achilles in the 2024 Summer League he lost a whole year to injury. This year he’s been healthy while Denver has not been – and still has only managed to get 200 minutes on the NBA court. He played 2 minutes against the Thunder when Denver sat all its starters and was missing 7 players in total. The Nuggets gave a giant chunk of minutes to impending-free-agent David Roddy – who played well! – and almost none to the power forward they have under contract for two more years.
Maybe Denver doesn’t need to see anything else from Holmes. Perhaps they’ve already determined his future is much like Hunter Tyson’s – not much of one. But I find that hard to believe from the glimpses we’ve been allowed to see of him, and refusing to play one of your few backup front-court players going into next season when you desperately need to take some of the weight off of Aaron Gordon in the regular season to save his legs for the playoffs is A Choice. Maybe Holmes gets a lot of run in this one, maybe he gets none. Him getting playing time doesn’t guarantee him anything for next year, but him getting very little – again, in a game played mostly with backups – would speak very loudly about Denver’s plans for the backup 4 next year not including Holmes much at all.
The thing to remember: Denver has home court for round one regardless of the outcome of this game. The Nuggets might be the four seed, they might be the three. They cannot be the five, so no matter what Denver will be hosting the first two games of a playoff series. Relax about seeding and just grind out this sickos game with the rest of us,
The thing to bet: Whatever the under is on DaRon Holmes minutes, unfortunately.
