(Photo by Gene Sweeney Jr/Getty Images)
Ahead of the results of games in the NBA on Sunday, four teams in the Western Conference had already been knocked out of playoff contention, with the Utah Jazz, Memphis Grizzlies, Portland Trail Blazers, and San Antonio Spurs needing to start to look forward to the 2024 NBA Draft rather than the postseason.
Ironically enough, not a single team in the West had clinched a spot in the playoffs until the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets got the best of the Cleveland Cavaliers in a 29-point blowout on Sunday afternoon.
The Nuggets put on a show in an impressive performance against Donovan Mitchell and company, with Nikola Jokic showing why he’s likely to be this year’s NBA MVP.
Jokic led the charge on Sunday at Ball Arena by scoring 26 points, ripping down 18 rebounds, and dishing out 16 assists in the win over Cleveland, which officially made Denver the first team in the West to make it to punch their ticket to the playoffs, according to NBA on TNT.
PLAYOFFS CLINCHED
The @Nuggets are the first team from the Western Conference to clinch a spot in the 2024 NBA Playoffs! pic.twitter.com/nTHnjEle5b
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) March 31, 2024
With the Nuggets seemingly firing on all cylinders at once, Denver is looking like the team to beat in the West once again, but the real question moving forward is who they’ll face in the first round of the playoffs.
Denver is currently the third seed in the West but that could change as the team could move ahead of the Oklahoma City Thunder and or the Minnesota Timberwolves for the No. 2 or No. 1 seed in the conference before the start of the NBA playoffs.
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