Ryan Blackburn: I was detached from the result of this game because of the way the Nuggets approached it. Without the pressure of having to win, it was both exciting to see Denver’s reserves do well and perfectly fine to see things fall apart to close the fourth quarter. After writing the NBA Snapshot series for a few weeks, I have grown to appreciate the gamesmanship of forcing teams into certain playoff configurations. What the Nuggets did was gamesmanship for the long run, not some affront to the basketball gods.
Jeremy Poley: A win felt possible from that group.