Kyle Korver insisted the Bucks made the right call in resting some of their starters despite slipping to a third successive loss on Monday.
Giannis Antetokounmpo missed the 109-95 defeat to the Nuggets as he is sidelined with a minor knee sprain, his status to be evaluated again ahead of this week's home game with the Celtics.
Eric Bledsoe is also dealing with an injury, but Milwaukee coach Mike Budenholzer did not play Khris Middleton, Donte DiVincenzo, Marvin Williams or Brook Lopez at all against the Nuggets.
With a playoff spot already secured and a healthy lead over the Raptors at the top of the Eastern Conference, Korver — who scored 23 points — understood why the decision was made to manage minutes for key players.
"Different guys are banged up," Korver told the media. "We've got a good home stretch coming up here and we want to get right. Guys have nicks and knacks and you take care of it. We've got some important games coming up, so it was definitely the right call."
Kyle dropped a season-high 23 PTS and shot 53% FG. pic.twitter.com/ngOLjBcxOa
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) March 10, 2020
Budenholzer was pleased with the performance of those who did feature against Denver, revealing he opted to go with the "freshest bodies" at the end of a three-game road trip.
"This was the group that gave us our best chance," he said. "Every night in the league you need something different. I thought we needed a lot of energy tonight going against a good Denver team. We were right there. This group put us right where we wanted to be. We just weren't quite able to get it done.
"At some point, you go with the kind of freshest bodies in certain situations. Those other guys are good, available and I told them to be ready. But we went with the group we did because we thought that was the best thing tonight."