Denver Nuggets head coach Mike Malone raised some eyebrows with his decision to rest three starters and keep two more out of the fourth quarter during Sunday's 115-108 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers.

Some believe Denver wants to avoid a potential second-round playoff matchup with the Houston Rockets, but Malone was adamant that his decision was unrelated.

"We're not trying to avoid anybody," Malone told reporters, including The Athletic's Nick Kosmider. "We're not scared of anybody. We're not going to run from anybody."

"We haven’t rested anybody in four years. We had a crazy schedule. We had six games in nine nights. It was unbelievably hard. All those guys were nursing injuries."

After beating Denver on Sunday, No. 4 Portland is now 1 1/2 games behind No. 3 Houston with two contests remaining in the regular season. If the standings finish this way, the No. 2 Nuggets would play either the No. 3 or No. 6 seed if they advance to the second round.

Malone added that Nikola Jokic, Paul Millsap, and Jamal Murray will return for Tuesday's game against the Utah Jazz.

"We're playing everybody tonight," Malone said. "But for people in Houston and people in Denver to be thinking that we were resting people because we intentionally lost so we could avoid a matchup is very wrong, very erroneous reporting."

Denver (53-27) is also just a half-game game ahead of Houston for the West's second seed with a pair of contests remaining. The Nuggets will be making their first postseason appearance since the 2012-13 season.