After a lackluster regular season finale, Denver has the second seed in the Western Conference.

Three things may be learned from Denver’s 126-111 victory over Memphis on Sunday:

1. Dallas eliminated all of the day’s drama. Locked into the fifth slot, the Mavericks rested the most of their best players, so giving Oklahoma City a crucial victory. The Thunder had an 82-41 lead at the break and increased that lead to 51 points after three quarters. 

That dashed Denver’s hopes of reclaiming the top spot. Due to the tiebreaker victory over Denver, Oklahoma City is now the top seed; Minnesota, which suffered a loss to Phoenix, is now ranked third.

2. Denver seems to be in a somewhat advantageous position as the number two seed. It really helps against the top seed that the Nuggets won’t have to wait until Friday to find out who they will play in the first round. 

When New Orleans, the seventh-seeded team, plays Los Angeles, the eighth, on Tuesday, Michael Malone and his staff will be able to zone in and begin concentrating on either the Pelicans or the Lakers. It’s not like Denver is losing out on much time to prepare, as the Nuggets will probably be idle for the next several days.

3. Although Nikola Jokic’s final statistics in the MVP discussion weren’t particularly noteworthy, he was still able to dominate the court with 15 points, 7 of his 11 shots made, 15 rebounds, 5 assists, and 4 steals on Sunday. 

Dallas was without Luka Doncic, and Oklahoma City had a commanding lead over them. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 15 points, six assists, and one rebound in his restricted minutes. Before Sunday’s final regular-season game, the award was all but certain, but Jokic stood out among the rest.

Grizzlies 111, Nuggets 126

What transpired: Denver had a sluggish start but ended the regular season with their 57th victory. In addition to moving Michael Malone beyond George Karl for second place on the all-time list of regular-season victories in team history, it tied the record for wins in a regular season.

Up to Denver’s 13-4 surge to conclude the second quarter, the game was close; at the half, the Nuggets lead 66-54. Early in the fourth quarter, the Nuggets increased their lead to 20, and they used the end-of-bench to finish the last few minutes of the regular season.

What went well: Denver’s five starters scored in double figures even though they only participated in the first three quarters, with Nikola Jokic being the only one to play longer than thirty minutes. The Nuggets had eight players with 11 or more points thanks to the extra minutes played by reserves Christian Braun, Reggie Jackson, and Peyton Watson.

What went wrong: The Nuggets gave up 13 offensive boards in the first half, which allowed a depleted Memphis team to stick around. Before the half, the Grizzlies converted those into 12 second-chance points. Late in the second quarter, Jamal Murray also seemed to tweak his left ankle, but he continued to play.

Highlight of the game: Christian Braun kept up his scoring and rebounding early in the fourth quarter. After taking advantage of a careless pass from Jake LaRavia, the Nuggets guard had clear access to the hoop. Braun took full advantage of the chance and elevated for a forceful one-handed slam.

Next up: The Nuggets will begin the first round at home on Saturday after learning their opponent on Tuesday.