The grueling 82-game regular season is unforgiving. Just ask the Denver Nuggets. They're coming off a stretch where six of their last seven games were against top teams in both conferences (minus the Jazz), and after falling to SGA and the Thunder on the road on Monday, they'll be back in action at Ball Arena on Wednesday to take on the No. 4 Rockets. Less than 24 hours after that game starts, they'll tip off in San Antonio.
If that back-to-back isn't enough, the Nuggets will then travel to LA to take on the Lakers on Saturday, though they'll have a day of rest.
In other words, the hits will keep coming for Denver, which isn't ideal for a team fighting to stay in the top six, as it's just 1.5 games ahead of No. 7 Phoenix. A single game could be the deciding factor in which team has to claw its way through the play-in tournament, and which gets to enjoy a few days of rest before the playoffs begin. In case it isn't clear, the Nuggets need that rest.
You’re telling me the Nuggets play an 8pm tipoff in Denver tomorrow night against the Rockets and then immediately fly after the game to San Antonio (lose an hour, likely head to pillow around 3:30am) to play a 7pm tipoff game the next night? In this western conference economy?!?
— Katy Winge (@katywinge) March 10, 2026
Nuggets' schedule is working against them, but that's life in the NBA
Denver was sitting atop the league as the toughest remaining schedule, but has since dropped to seventh (how lucky!). Out of its remaining 17 games, four will come against tanking opponents (two against the Jazz, two against the Grizzlies, and one against the Mavericks). By no means are those automatic wins, though, certainly not for a struggling Nuggets squad.
Speaking of, Denver still has to play San Antonio three more times this season, and Oklahoma City once. If you're an optimist, you might be feeling hopeful about the Nuggets getting another crack at the Thunder before the playoffs. That contest will happen in the second-to-last game of the regular season, with the final game happening two days later against the Spurs in Texas.
It's not worth looking that "far" ahead, not with the slate of games that Denver has this week alone. Tonight's game against Houston isn't necessarily a must-win, but it's pretty close to being one. It might be too much to ask the Nuggets to finish the week 3-1, but 2-2 is more like it, and even that may not happen.
As Altitude TV's Katy Winge noted above, the upcoming travel won't be easy on Denver, but hey, that's how the NBA works. Unfortunately, for the Nuggets, the timing isn't the best (and that's an understatement), but if they can't rise to the occasion between now and the end of the regular season, they don't deserve to make a championship run.