The Denver Nuggets enter Sunday's game against the Houston Rockets in a tie with them for the seventh and eighth spots in the Western Conference playoffs. They have identical 32-27 records with seven games to go. This home-and-home set over Sunday and Monday will be a huge test for the Nuggets.
Denver has a magic number of six to secure a playoff spot. As the Nuggets' Twitter account explains:
#Nuggets currently have a magic number of 6, meaning any combination of DEN Ws and PHX Ls equaling 6 will give them a playoff spot.
Next Saturday, the Nuggets play the Suns, which conceivably could be a game between a Denver team in the playoffs and a Phoenix team eliminated from the postseason. The Nuggets would need to win all three of their games before that and the Suns losers in their three games.
Here is the current Western Conference standings:
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