Salt Lake City – Clinching the Northwest Division on Monday certainly beat the alternatives for the Nuggets. But that doesn’t mean life becomes simple for them over the season’s final four games.
Starting tonight against Utah, coach George Karl must weigh conflicting needs with every substitution. The team must keep fighting in order to secure home-court advantage in the first round, yet protect its weary regulars.
Andre Miller has felt extra weight on his shoulders during the 12 games fellow point guard Earl Boykins has sat with two broken bones in his left hand. Miller has averaged 36.5 minutes this season, and he admits it has worn him out.
“I probably won’t even play 25 minutes,” he said of the final four games. “I really want to rest my body and get my body right for the playoffs.
“At the same time, the season isn’t over. You want to keep pushing.”
Karl said he does not want to tire Miller, Carmelo Anthony or Marcus Camby. While his game-time predictions weren’t as drastic as Miller’s, he said he would make sure they played closer to 30 minutes than 35.
“I’m going to still try to win every game,” Karl said. “I think it’s still important. If we would win every game, we’d get home court. It’s kind of a Catch-22.”
The third-seeded Nuggets also realize home-court advantage could extend two rounds.
“There are some people who think Phoenix could get beat by Sacramento or (the) L.A. (Lakers),” Karl said of the second-seeded Suns, who would be favored to host his third-seeded Nuggets if they advanced.
Camby added: “We want to win every ballgame from here on out, just in case one of those teams upsets Phoenix and we win the first round, (because) we’d have opportunity to have home-court in the second round. A lot plays into these last few ballgames.”
Denver players took Tuesday to rest, and Karl planned a steak dinner for the team that night. But preparations already have begun for the playoffs.
The Nuggets have scouts with both likely playoff opponents, Memphis and the Los Angeles Clippers. Denver probably will send assistant coaches to watch the teams’ April 18 meeting. In their division-clinching win at Portland on Monday, Nuggets players defended Trail Blazers forward Zach Randolph in the manner they might play the Grizzlies’ Pau Gasol or the Clippers’ Elton Brand.
“My feeling is changing our faces on Brand and Gasol is really important,” Karl said. “You can’t cover them one way.”
The Clippers would appear to be Denver’s likeliest opponent because of the Grizzlies’ easy schedule and the fact that they face L.A. in Memphis. The Grizzlies also play Charlotte, a Minnesota team without Kevin Garnett or Ricky Davis and a Houston team without Yao Ming.
The Nuggets also were pleased by playoff news coming out of the NBA’s offices Tuesday. Instead of forcing teams to select 12 players for the whole postseason, teams may pick 13 players and activate 12 for each playoff game.
“We don’t know who’s going to end up healthy, and we may not know fully by the time we have to make a choice, so these are good rules,” general manager Kiki Vandeweghe said.
Still, plenty of tough choices remain for the Nuggets’ final week of the regular season.
Adam Thompson can be reached at 303-820-5447 or athompson@denverpost.com.
