The Denver Nuggets have split their first four games of the NBA restart, and they sit exactly where they were at the beginning of play in the bubble: in third place in the Western Conference.
One observation is that Denver squandered a chance to overtake the Los Angeles Clippers for the No. 2 seed, but the upside is the Nuggets have not lost ground despite not having three starters for three games. They also sat four of them in a 125-115 loss to Portland on Thursday.
Denver (45-24) might stay shorthanded when it faces the Utah Jazz near Orlando on Saturday afternoon.