Must‑watch: Denver at San Antonio
Broadcasters singled out nine games that will shape seeding on the final day, and called Denver at San Antonio the matchup with the biggest bracket implications. (NBC Sports: nine must‑watch games; Denver at San Antonio highlighted) (nbcsports.com)
Denver’s regular-season finale in San Antonio will decide whether the Nuggets open the playoffs as the West’s No. 3 seed or slide to No. 4. (nba.com) The Nuggets enter Sunday at 53-28 on an 11-game winning streak, one game ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers at 52-29. San Antonio is 62-19, already locked into the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. (espn.com) The game tips at 5:30 p.m. Eastern at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio and is listed on ESPN, Altitude Sports and NBA League Pass. ESPN’s game page listed Victor Wembanyama, Devin Vassell and Stephon Castle as game-time decisions Sunday morning. (espn.com) NBA.com’s playoff tracker said the West’s No. 3 and No. 4 seeds were still unsettled as of 5:06 a.m. Sunday, with the SoFi Play-In Tournament starting April 14 and the playoffs opening April 18. NBC Sports called Denver at San Antonio the day’s biggest bracket game. (nba.com) (nbcsports.com) If Denver wins, it keeps No. 3. If Denver loses and the Lakers beat Utah on Sunday, the Lakers move up to No. 3 and Denver falls to No. 4. (cbssports.com) (espn.com) That shift changes the first-round bracket immediately. NBA.com’s Sunday morning bracket showed Denver lined up with Minnesota as the No. 3 seed and the Lakers lined up with Houston as the No. 4 seed before the final games. (nba.com) It also changes the likely second-round path. NBC Sports said San Antonio could help avoid seeing Denver in the conference semifinals by beating the Nuggets and pushing them onto the other side of the bracket. (nbcsports.com) Denver and San Antonio just played on April 4, when the Nuggets won 136-134 in overtime. Denver then beat Oklahoma City 127-107 on April 10, while San Antonio beat Dallas 139-120 the same night. (espn.com) The league’s tiebreaker rules make head-to-head results the first separator for a two-team tie in record. That matters because multiple outlets reported the Lakers hold the tiebreaker over Denver, which is why a Nuggets loss paired with a Lakers win flips the seeds. (nba.com) (cbssports.com) By Sunday night, this game will either confirm Denver’s climb into the West’s top three or reroute both sides of the bracket before the playoffs begin six days later. (nba.com)
