With only a few weeks left in the regular season, playoff-bound teams have to decide whether to prioritize wins or health.
The Milwaukee Bucks and Denver Nuggets both have chosen health over potential playoff seeding as they prepare for their matchup Wednesday night in Colorado.
The Bucks (40-31) are only two games behind Indiana for the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference, but they are more concerned about navigating through injuries and absences. Center Jericho Sims (thumb surgery) likely is out until the playoffs, Damian Lillard has missed the last three games with a right calf injury and big man Bobby Portis Jr. continues to serve a 25-game suspension for violating the terms of the NBA/NBPA Anti-Drug Program.
Not having Sims and Portis puts more responsibility on Brook Lopez, who is fourth on the team in scoring at 12.8 points, but coach Doc Rivers isn’t going to burn out his roster ahead of the playoffs.
“We’re on the toughest part of our season right now, and we literally have one (center) on the roster,” Rivers told Andscape. “That’s tough. And the five we have is terrific. He’s (36) years old. And I’m just going to refuse to play him a ton of minutes. So, we’re going to have to get through this somehow. If we can get through this with our head above water, we’re going to be fine.”
Rivers does have Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is second in the NBA in scoring (30.2 ppg) and sixth in rebounding (12.0 rpg). Lillard (24.9 ppg) ranks second in scoring for Milwaukee.
The Nuggets (45-28) are currently third in the Western Conference, but just four games clear of the play-in tournament. Therefore, an extended losing streak could be costly. Denver has been able to stay in the top three in the standings despite not having MVP candidate Nikola Jokic over the last five games.
Jokic leads the Nuggets with 29.1 points, 12.8 rebounds and 10.3 assists per game — all in the top three in the NBA — but has been out with a left ankle injury and a sore right elbow. Denver is 2-3 in the games he has missed, which includes Monday’s 129-119 loss to Chicago that began a five-game homestand.
Jokic is expected to return during the homestand and Aaron Gordon, who sat out Monday to manage his right calf injury, should be in the lineup Wednesday.
Jamal Murray, second on the team with 21.7 points per game, has averaged 33.5 points over the last two games in Jokic’s stead. Peyton Watson started in place of Gordon on Monday and scored a career-high 24 points.
“I’m getting a good amount of opportunity to do what I can do and just finding a little bit more comfort,” Watson said. “My teammates are trusting me in positions to score, play-make, facilitate, do a lot more on the offensive end. So, I’m just trying to be as consistent as I can in my role and try to do what I can to help our team win.”
