At the conclusion of Monday night's game vs. the Houston Rockets, the Denver Nuggets could be eighth seed in the Western Conference, or they could be the sixth seed. Such is life in the West, where fifth through eighth seeds are separated by merely three games. The Nuggets did themselves a favor on Sunday night by defeating the Rockets 101-86, thus vaulting themselves into the No. 7 seed.
A win on Monday night would put two games of distance between them and Houston with five games remaining, and they could jump into the sixth slot if the Dallas Mavericks fall to the Utah Jazz on Monday. A loss, on the other hand, would mean that the Nuggets and Rockets would both have a 33-28 record, but the Rockets would hold the tiebreaker due to Denver's dismal conference record.
In Sunday night's game, the Nuggets put up one of their best defensive performances in weeks, holding the Rockets to just 37% shooting as a team. Denver also got a huge performance from Arron Afflalo, who scored 18 of his 20 points in the second half.
Game date/time: Monday, April 16, 6:00 p.m. MT
Location: Toyota Center, Houston, Tex.
TV: ALT
For updates, stay tuned to SB Nation Denver. For more in-depth coverage, head over to Nuggets blog Denver Stiffs. And for updates from around the league, check out SB Nation's NBA news hub.