In the three games before Saturday, Ty Lawson logged eight minutes, 19 minutes and a “did not play/coach’s decision.” But Saturday, the backup point guard played 28 minutes, while fellow backup point guard Anthony Carter played just six. Lawson had a nice night, logging eight points, four assists and three rebounds.
Lawson played in only three games in March because of a left shoulder injury, and Carter admirably filled his role as Chauncey Billups’ backup.
Nifty 50.
Because Denver now has 50 wins, this marks its third consecutive season with 50 or more — the first time this has happened in the Nuggets’ NBA history. Denver amazingly won 50 games two seasons ago despite some of the worst defense in the conference, and last season the team won 54 games en route to the Western Conference finals. Both seasons, the Nuggets lost in the playoffs to the Lakers.
They said it.
On Renaldo Balkman, who returned Saturday from a back injury and played for the first time since March 3, acting Denver head coach Adrian Dantley said, “He looked like he was winded playing just one minute.”
Benjamin Hochman, The Denver Post
Race for No. 2
The Nuggets, Mavericks, Suns and Jazz have played a combined 308 games — a bevy of back-to-backs, bone bruises, blown leads and big comebacks — and with each team having just five games left, all four have the same record: 50-27.
The No. 1 Lakers are five games ahead of these four, so the race is on for seeds 2 through 5, meaning one of these teams won’t have home-court advantage in the first round of the eight-team Western Conference playoffs. NBA writer Benjamin Hochman breaks it down:
Denver: The powder blue has three home games (Lakers, San Antonio Spurs and Memphis Grizzlies) and two road games (Oklahoma City Thunder and Phoenix Suns). Thus four of their final five opponents are playoff-bound (the Grizzlies are not). The Nuggets have two back-to-backs, and the second games are against the defending champion Lakers at the Pepsi Center on Thursday and then at Phoenix on April 13, Denver’s final game of the regular season. Only Cleveland (34-4) and the Lakers (33-6) have better home records than Denver (32-6).
Dallas: The Mavericks have cooled off since the big trade for Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood, going 5-5 in their past 10 games. In these final five games, two are at home (Grizzlies and Spurs) and three are on the road (Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings and Los Angeles Clippers). Not only are two of those three road opponents headed for the lottery, but the Mavs have the best road record in the Western Conference (24-14). Dallas has just one back-to-back left — Friday at Portland and Saturday at Sacramento.
Phoenix: Winners of nine of their past 10, the scorching Suns play only one nonplayoff opponent in their final five games (home against Houston). Phoenix has three home games (Spurs, Rockets and Nuggets), while playing two on the road (Thunder and Utah Jazz). That last game at Utah, which completes the Suns’ only remaining back-to-back, is the April 14 season finale at 8:30 p.m., which means everyone will most likely have to wait until around 11 p.m. that night to know the playoff seedings.
Utah: Of all eight playoff teams in the West, only Denver (18-21) has a worse road record than Utah (19-19). But none of Utah’s three remaining road opponents are playoff-bound (Rockets, New Orleans Hornets and Golden State Warriors). Conversely, Utah has the third-best home record in the conference (31-8). The Jazz has two home games left (Thunder and Suns). Utah has two back-to-backs, the second back-to-back against Phoenix in that (likely) decisive game.
