The field is set. The Denver Nuggets will play the winner of Atlanta-Miami in the second round of the single-elimination Las Vegas NBA Summer League tournament, which begins Wednesday, July 15. The 3-0 Nuggets will play Thursday against the winner of the Hawks-Heat game, teams that Denver has already beat during warm-up games prior to the tournament.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Nuggets tweeted out pictures of practice for the tournament.
Preparing for the tourney!#Nuggets pic.twitter.com/O3oSwdRP3p
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) July 15, 2015
The first round tipped off Wednesday with eight games, but because the third-seeded Nuggets went undefeated in summer league, they earned a first-round bye.
Denver is coming off a 3-point win against the Heat that concluded their warmup games. The backcourt ruled as Ian Clark led with 19 points off the bench and Emmanuel Mudiay and Gary Harris scored 10 and 12 points respectively. Guard Erick Green also pitched in with his own 11 points. The game was capped off by a Mudiay assist to Clark for a go-ahead 3-pointer.
The Nuggets also beat the Hawks in game one of summer league play, 86-71. Harris led the blue and gold with a team-high 15 points. The Michigan State alum shot 6-for-11 from the field and added four rebounds and three assists while Mudiay scored 11 in his premier game as a Nugget.
As for the tournament field itself, the teams that lose a game on either Wednesday or Thursday will play on Friday, July 17 in a consolation round. The single-elimination championship tournament resumes for Thursday’s winners on Saturday, July 18 with a champion being crowned on Monday, July 20.
Mike Tolbert, a Mile High Sports intern and MSU-Denver student, contributed to this report