The task of taking down the Washington Wizards, owners of the third-best record in the Eastern Conference – and seventh-best in the NBA – was tough enough. The task was made exponentially harder when it was revealed two of the Nuggets’ top three scorers, Danilo Gallinari and Nikola Jokic, were out due to illness.
The Nuggets could have used the 33.6 points and 14.3 rebounds gone with Gallo and Jokic out of the lineup. They did not have enough firepower otherwise, and Washington, behind John Wall and Bradley Beal, beat the Nuggets 123-113 on Wednesday at the Pepsi Center.