3 things to watch: Denver Nuggets at Washington Wizards

The Denver Nuggets made it four-straight with a win over Boston. They’ll look to make it four against the Washington Wizards. Here are 3 things to watch.

Well, the Denver Nuggets were able to breathe easy towards the end of a game finally — even if it was for just over 50 seconds.

With the game all but in hand, the $30 million man Paul Millsap converted a four-point play to put the final nail in the coffin of the Boston Celtics.

And while it was still plenty exciting, it gave Nuggets fans at least a minute to catch their breath after last-second wins over Dallas and Indiana in the teams previous two.

Now, the schedule gives the Nuggets a bit of a break — or so it looks like at least. Denver has Washington Thursday, before heading to Madison Square Garden to face the Knicks Friday.

And while neither team is going to make the playoffs, a back-to-back is never something to overlook. And it’s been a while since Denver has played a back-to-back with their last coming Jan. 25 and 26.

So here’s 3 things to watch as the Nuggets try to take care of the first half.

How will the Nuggets look after two days off?

Though they’re looking at a back-to-back, the Nuggets at least got a nice two-day break after the win in Boston.

The last two-day break the Nuggets had came in the way of three days off from March 9-11. They reeled off four-straight wins after that — a win streak they’re still on.

Every day of rest is crucial at this point in the season. It’s a long 82-game season and it takes it out of the players

The Nuggets haven’t done much in the way of resting players yet this year— granted most got plenty of rest recovering from injuries.

But that should be something to keep an eye on moving forward. Speaking of which…

Will the Nuggets rest anybody?

This is honestly a perfect time for Michael Malone to start looking at holding players out for load management.

A back-to-back against below-.500 teams couldn’t present a better opportunity for Malone to give a couple players a night off. But who?

Nikola Jokic, Monte Morris and Malik Beasley come to mind. Jokic has missed just one game — thanks to a suspension for leaving the bench during a scuffle against the Jazz — and Morris and Beasley have both played every game so far.

Jokic — who has played 31.5 minutes per game this year — has looked a little tired lately. It hasn’t yet effected what he’s been able to do but a day off would do him well.

Morris and Beasley haven’t carried such a heavy workload, so they could get by. But if the opportunity presents itself.

Another candidate may be Jamal Murray — who did miss a few games with an ankle injury earlier in the year, but has still played 63 of 69 games this year.

Can the Nuggets slow down Bradley Beal?

The Jazz were finally able to contain Beal Monday — holding him to 15 points — after he went off for 40 in each of his previous two.

Beals scoring is especially impressive seeing as he’s creating his own shot most of the time. Since John Wall went down with a torn Achilles in December, Beal has taken on an increased workload — and rightfully so.

Beal has been just about the lone bright spot on a Wizards team that had high hopes coming into the season.

He’ll look to keep that up against the Nuggets, but the Wizards will be on the second end of a back-to-back of their own.