LOS ANGELES — When Victor Wembanyama led the San Antonio Spurs to an astonishing comeback victory over the Denver Nuggets last week, the rookie sensation provided an unwelcome reminder to the reigning NBA champions: Title defenses are tricky business.
Rather than entering the playoffs as the Western Conference’s No. 1 seed, the loss dropped Denver into the second slot and a first-round date with the Los Angeles Lakers, who reached last year’s Western Conference finals. If the Nuggets had held off the lowly Spurs in the penultimate game of the regular season, they would have drawn the New Orleans Pelicans, who haven’t won a series since 2018 and lost Zion Williamson to a hamstring injury in Tuesday’s play-in game. Now they will open Saturday against LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the Lakers, who went 11-3 to close the season, and could face Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns, the only opponent to push them to six games in last year’s playoffs, in the second round.
