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By Matt Audilet
Contributing Sports Writer
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The San Antonio Spurs were without NBA MVP candidate Victor Wembanyama for their regular-season finale against the Denver Nuggets on Sunday night.
Wembanyama suffered a ribs injury during a 115-102 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on April 6. After a one-game absence, the 7-foot-4 Frenchman returned to the court for a 139-120 win over the Dallas Mavericks this past Friday. He had 40 points and 13 rebounds through just 26 minutes of action.
Having already reached the 65-game threshold to be eligible for postseason awards, the Spurs elected to sit Wembanyama in Sunday's loss to the Nuggets.
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San Antonio fell with a 128-118 final score.
The Spurs had already secured their No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, but a win over the Nuggets on Sunday night would've dropped Denver down to the No. 4 seed. The Los Angeles Lakers would have jumped up into the No. 3 seed following their season-finale win over the Utah Jazz.
This scenario would have put Denver on the Oklahoma City Thunder's side of the bracket, prolonging a matchup against either of these teams until the Western Conference Finals.
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The Spurs are taking some serious heat from fans and analysts over their decision to rest Wembanyama.
"If San Antonio loses to Denver in Round 2, tonight has a chance to go down as one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen an NBA team do," Jason Timpf, host of "Hoops Tonight" wrote on social media. "Resting Wemby & losing to a team sitting all of their best players when a single home win massively increases your title odds? I’m in shock…"
"Spurs gotta be the dumbest team son They coulda played wemby, won this game to avoid okc Denver till WCF but instead u sit out Wemby wtf were they thinking man," another fan added.
“I think this is a borderline catastrophe for the Spurs and I think them not playing Wemby was a catastrophic mistake," Fox Sports analyst Nick Wright said.
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The Spurs will matchup against the winner of a play-in matchup between the Phoenix Suns and Portland Trail Blazers in the first round of the NBA playoffs.
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