The Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat played a hard fought game Monday night that needed two additional periods of basketball to be decided. In the end, it was Miami that came out with the victory, 149-141. It was the highest-scoring game in Heat history, and it couldn’t have come at a better time for the team.
Heat vs. Nuggets was such a crucial game, it needed 2 OTs to be decided
One team was competing for playoff positioning. The other was fighting for a playoff spot.
Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
The Nuggets-Heat double-overtime thriller was a fitting end to a game with huge playoff implications for both teams. One team was battling for a playoff spot; the other was battling for playoff position. The outcome was a dagger for Denver and a boon for Miami.
Here’s why.
Denver really couldn’t afford to lose this game
The Western Conference playoff race is a wild goose hunt. Seeds No. 4 through 10 are only separated by 4.5 games. Entering Monday night, the Nuggets were the ninth seed, 1.5 games behind the Timberwolves for the eighth and final playoff spot.
Every win is critical and every loss is debilitating. Denver has had a long road to where it is now, and amid yet another incredible season from Nikola Jokic, the Nuggets have struggled. They lost Paul Millsap — their marquee free agent signing from the offseason — for 44 games to a wrist injury, and even though Jamal Murray and Gary Harris seem to be a formidable back court of the future, they haven’t quite arrived just yet.
For those reasons, they’re behind in the West standings.
The Heat were safe, but the win gave them a cushion
The Bucks lost to the Cavaliers on Monday, which moved them below the Heat in the standings. But Milwaukee’s loss made its record identical to the Heat. A Miami loss to Denver would have moved them back to eighth.
The East playoff picture is virtually solidified, so the eight teams in right now can afford to lose a handful of games before worrying about falling out. But the East’s eighth seed will be matched up with the No. 1 seed Toronto Raptors, who are playing the best basketball of the DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry era. They’re out to prove they’re not a regular-season team anymore. That’s not a team Miami wants to play.
The Heat win also moved them just 2.5 games behind the Wizards for the fifth seed, and an unlikely 3.5 games behind the Cavaliers for the third seed. The victory also helped Miami’s cause for climbing up the playoff ladder.
The funniest part of it all? The Heat and the Nuggets now have the same record, 38-33. Unfortunately, for one team, that record is damning. For the other, it could be a launchpad.
The Nuggets aren’t completely out of the West playoff hunt, and the Heat aren’t 100 percent safe from falling to the eighth seed. One team just has a small, small cushion. The other has no margin for error.
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