Before the Nuggets faced the Rockets a month ago in Houston, first-year head coach David Adelman tried to drive home the importance of the occasion to his players by widening the lens.

“This is a chance to go up 1-0 in a three-game series,” he remembers telling them. “This is a huge game.”

In the back of his mind, a separate train of thought was interrupting.

“Well,” he thought, “unless we don’t make the Cup. Or maybe we’ll play them (again) in the Cup.”

One year ago, Denver’s original regular-season schedule included three meetings with the Clippers. The Nuggets lost the first two in November, quickly clinching the season series for Los Angeles. But when both teams were among the 22 eliminated from the NBA Cup in its group stage, a fourth head-to-head matchup was added.

The leagu

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