Jonas Valanciunas amassed 23 points and 17 rebounds, both season highs, and Julian Strawther added 22 points as the host Denver Nuggets beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 127-107 in a matchup of benches on Friday night.
Denver (53-28) clinched at least the fourth seed in the Western Conference with its 11th straight win. The Nuggets can still capture the No. 3 seed with a win Sunday in San Antonio or a Los Angeles Lakers’ loss.
Denver rested its entire starting five and Spencer Jones and Peyton Watson, both of whom have been sidelined with hamstring strains.
Oklahoma City (64-17) has secured the top overall seed.
The only starter dressed for either team was Thunder guard Luguentz Dort, who was required to play at least 20 minutes in each of the final two games to qualify for postseason awards, according to coach Mark Daigneault.
Dort played 20:27 and scored five points.
Denver’s David Roddy scored 16 of his season-high 21 points in the fourth quarter. Jalen Pickett and Tim Hardaway Jr. had 13 points each and Bruce Brown added 10 points, eight rebounds and six assists for the Nuggets.
Branden Carlson led Oklahoma City with 23 points. Jared McCain and Kenrich Williams added 15 apiece, Nikola Topic and Brooks Barnhizer contributed 14 points each and Aaron Wiggins finished with 13 points.
The lack of star power showed in the first half when both teams struggled to make shots. Hardaway, who entered the night ninth in made 3-pointers with 221, missed all six of his attempts in the first half before making his only three attempts from deep in the second half.
Denver led 59-51 at the half and pushed the lead back to nine on Brown’s 3-pointer near the midpoint of the third quarter, but the Thunder got within 80-79 on two free throws by Barnhizer late in the third.
Denver took a 90-85 advantage into the fourth and Roddy sparked a surge, driving for a dunk and then a layup and hitting a step-back 3-pointer to give the Nuggets a 100-85 lead.
The hosts led by as much as 23 down the stretch.
The Nuggets knocked down 21-of-43 shots (48.8%) from behind the arc and 49 of 93 (50.5%) from the field.
–Field Level Media
