A Nuggets fan rooting guide for the NBA season’s final days

Thanks to a four-game losing streak and some wild nights around the NBA’s Western Conference, the Denver Nuggets can now finish anywhere between the No. 3 seed and out of playoffs depending on how the next 10 days go.

If you’re reading this, I bet that you hope the Nuggets not only get a good seed but win a second title and three seasons. This guide was made for you, entailing the best ending to the regular season for the Nuggets.

Below, you will find how the season’s final days play out, as well as a few scenarios to root for if you’re backing the Nuggets and how those situations happen.

CHAOS IN THE WEST as we enter the last week of the regular season 🔥

▪️ 6 teams battling for 4 automatic playoff spots
▪️ 2 games separate 3 through 8 seeds
▪️ 0.5 games separate 4 through 8 seeds
▪️ 5 through 8 LAC, GSW, MIN, MEM all have identical records

Drop your prediction… pic.twitter.com/ZWchpnaQ2Y

— NBA (@NBA) April 7, 2025

With nobody playing applicable to the situation on Monday night, the graphic below from the NBA showing where each team could end the regular season is still applicable for every team in the West.

It's the final week of the NBA regular season and there is still so much at stake.

19 of the 20 postseason seeds have yet to be clinched.

Check out all of the seeding possibilities entering the week ahead ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/6PjrCowICj

— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) April 7, 2025

Denver is currently a game-and-a-half back of the third-place Lakers and are unlikely to catch. But behind the fourth-place Nuggets are four teams, a half game back tied with identical records, with the same number of losses as Denver—meaning they all have a game at hand.

Key games are marked in bold below.

3. Lakers: 48-30

Games remaining: 4
Schedule: AT OKC on Tuesday, AT Dallas on Wednesday, vs Houston on Friday, AT Portland on Sunday
Tieberaker: Lakers have it via the NBA’s second division-leader tiebreaker.
What the Nuggets need: Is for the Lakers to lose at least three of their final four if Denver has a shot at catching. If the Lakers somehow lose all four, the Nuggets need to win two of their final three to rise above L.A. Three of those four teams will likely be playing for something when the Lakers meet up against them.

4. Nuggets: 47-32

Games remaining: 3
Schedule: AT Sacramento on Wednesday, vs Memphis on Friday, AT Houston on Sunday
Tieberaker: Nuggets have relevant tiebreakers over the Clippers and Warriors and can earn one against the Grizzlies on Friday.
What the Nuggets need: If the Nuggets win their final three games, they will dodge the play-in and they might still host the first round at home as a four seed. If Denver wins just two, anything is on the table—but a good guess would place them tied with somebody for the sixth spot. All three teams are headed to the postseason with various levels of stuff to play for still.

5. Clippers: 46-32

Games remaining: 4
Schedule: vs San Antonio on Tuesday, vs Houston on Wednesday, AT Sacramento on Friday, AT Golden State on Sunday
Tieberaker: Nuggets have already earned the tiebreaker on the Clips.
What the Nuggets need: to get lucky that the Rockets will likely still be playing for something Wednesday and might not be when they themselves match up on Sunday. Meanwhile, the Kings are duking it out with Dallas for hosting the second Play-In. And the Clips-Warriors game could shake up the seeding between all the teams in this mess. Denver will be rooting hard for the Clippers to lose the first three games and possibly the last one, depending on how the team below does.

6. Warriors: 46-32

Games remaining: 4
Schedule: AT Phoenix on Tuesday, vs San Antonio on Wednesday, AT Portland on Friday, vs Clippers on Sunday
Tieberaker: Nuggets have already earned the tiebreaker on the Warriors.
What the Nuggets need: The Warriors have a breeze of a schedule in the season’s dying days, with only the Clippers playing for stakes. On top of that, they’re hot at 14-4 over the past 18 games. The Clips-Warriors game could shake up the seeding between all the teams in this mess. Denver will be rooting hard for the Warriors to lose the first three games and possibly the last one, depending on how the team above does. In reality, the Nuggets are probably going to get past by the Warriors unless there are some upsets, and they might actually find themselves rooting for them to knock off Los Angeles on Sunday.

7. Timberwolves: 46-32

Games remaining: 4
Schedule: AT Milwaukee on Tuesday, AT Memphis on Thursday, vs Brooklyn on Friday, vs Utah on Sunday
Tieberaker: The Wolves swept the Nuggets this year and own the breaker.
What the Nuggets need: Nuggets fans should be rooting hard for the Bucks, who are playing for fifth in the East, to win on Tuesday. Nuggets fans will likely also want the Grizzlies to beat the Wolves since Denver does play Memphis and can hand them a loss straight-up. The Wolves are likely to beat two tanking teams to end their regular season, but it is worth noting that they’re one of two teams with three games in four nights to finish out.

8. Grizzlies: 46-32

Games remaining: 4
Schedule: AT Charlotte on Tuesday, vs Minnesota on Thursday, AT Denver on Friday, vs Dallas on Sunday
Tieberaker: The Nuggets can score the breaker by winning on Friday.
What the Nuggets need: To beat the Grizzlies on Friday night or they’re in trouble. Memphis has three games in four days against teams that should be playing for something to finish out. While they’ve now won their last two, they had lost seven of eight games going into last weekend. The Nuggets will just have to hope the bottom keeps falling out on Memphis.

Scenarios for the Nuggets

Best-case: No. 3 seed against the Grizzlies.

It’s unlikely, but the Nuggets can still score the three seed, which would mean hosting in the first round against one of the teams in the mix. It also would mean Denver would dodge the top-seeded Thunder in the second round and instead take on the winners of Rockets against the winner of the first Play-In Game. For this to happen, the Nuggets would need to win their final three games while the Lakers lose thrice. As for the Girz, they just fired their coach and have struggled in the playoffs in recent years. On top of that, the Nuggets have been strong in the Nikola Jokic era against Ja Morant and crew. Memphis would probably have to win three of their last four games, with the loss coming to Denver. Or maybe two wins, with one being against the Wolves, and a specific set of tiebreakers going their way.

Resonable win-out case: No. 4 seed against the Warriors.

As explained, the hot Warriors have a good schedule the rest of the way and could easily win out. If they do and the Nuggets win out, a tie-breaker would give Denver home-court for a matchup between the teams in the first round. The Nuggets have won nine of their last 10 against Golden State, and they don’t seem to have answered for Jokic when Jamal Murray is healthy—this could be a decent matchup for the Nuggets. However, they would meet the machine-like Thunder in Round 2. This all happens if the Nuggets and Warriors win out, the Wolves don’t and the Lakers win at least twice.

A sneaky-good and reasonable case: No. 6 seed against the Warriors

The Warriors win out, and the Nuggets meet a team they feel pretty good about in the first, but it’s on the road. Here the Nuggets win two of their final three, getting passed by a streaking Golden State, Minnesota and Memphis, who hands the Nuggets that loss. Golden State has the tiebreaker on both Minnesota and Memphis so the Grizzlies wins that game and slot in at No. 4 while Minny ties Denver and gets the five. It’s a very complex situation.

Things don’t go the Nuggets way: No. 7 seed in the Play-In against Grizzlies

Maybe the Nuggets will only win one more game, and it’s at home against Memphis. Meanwhile, the Grizz drop two more as well, one to Denver and another to Minnesota. The teams get passed by the rest of the West as each’s collapse from the No. 2 and 3 seeds where they sat for months is complete. Poetically, they tie with 48 wins after all that. The Nuggets get the tiebreaker in their final win of the season and play to avoid a win-or-go-home game.

Worst-case: No. 8 seed in the Play-In against the Lakers

Somehow, the Lakers tank the season’s end to drop four in a row, and the Nuggets’ losing streak extends to seven games. The two playoff foes from the last two seasons meet in the Play-In Tournament, with the winner playing the Rockets. After Denver scores multiple wins over Los Angeles in the greatest era of hoops, the Lakers knock the Nuggets to a win-or-go-home game, with the reward being the Thunder and the penalty being an eight-game skid that sends the Mile High crew home before the dance begins.

Advice for Nuggets fans

• Root for the Nuggets.
• Cheer hard against the Lakers, but know it’s likely hopeless.
• Hope the Clippers and the Wolves choke.
• Clap for Memphis to stay cold.
• And maybe Golden State falls asleep at the wheel.
• Watch the final three Nuggets games as well as MIN-MEM on Thursday and LAC-GSW on Sunday.