By public-address decree, patrons of Ball Arena are prohibited from sitting down until the home team scores its first points. They were left standing and stewing in awkward silence during an early Michael Malone timeout three minutes into an unusual Nuggets game on Wednesday night.
The rest of the night wasn’t so bleak, but the ominous start did accurately forecast the result. Denver’s entire starting lineup (and then some) took a desperately needed PTO day, and the San Antonio Spurs held off what was left of the Nuggets, 113-106.
Consider it the cost of doing business after Nikola Jokic played 53 minutes and three other players logged more than 45 in a double-overtime thriller 24 hours earlier.