The Denver Nuggets faced the San Antonio Spurs to close out their five-day trip and were hoping to score a perfect 5-0 on their travels. The Spurs had other ideas. In one of the more painful games watched in recent memories, DeMar Derozan led San Antonio to a victory and once again spoiled an excellent performance by Nikola Jokic. Jamal Murray and DeJounte Murray did their job as the Robins in their respective teams, but for Denver there was little else to talk about, at least on the positive side. Nuggets’ winning streak ends at five when they fall 119-109 against San Antonio
The Nuggets got an early lead behind Will Barton and Gary Harris. Barton drove with authority to the basket while Harris was a vintage, knocked down tries and cut to the edge. Dejounte had the answer for the Spurs and kept things close. Keldon Johnson kept the momentum going for the Spurs who took the lead around the middle of the quarter. Jamal then began to become aggressive to quickly take back the advantage for Denver. It was a bit of a three-party with the quarter twisting. Each team flattened them and swapped the lead back and forth. The Nuggets got cold to end the quarter, while the Spurs were three more red-hot. They took a seven-point lead after one.
The Spurs bench kept up the pressure to open the second quarter. Michael Porter Jr. was in, but Denver did not watch his attack and he struggled on defense. Eventually they started getting the ball for him and to no one’s surprise he immediately buried two tries and got Denver back within five. Jokic signed up again, but the game was sloppy and Spurs’ lead grew again, prompting Malone to re-insert the rest of the starter. It didn’t change much in terms of sloppiness, the Nuggets just couldn’t stop basementing. You could also see that Jokic was tired, every three caught front iron. Fortunately, San Antonio eventually got cold, so the lead diminished, despite the fact that Denver was not very good. At the end of the half, Denver was down 61-55.
DeRozan and Jokic fought a duel to open the second half, while the Spurs continued to increase their lead. Jokic took control after a time-out and incited a 9-0 run to come back within two. San Antonio responded and eventually began to find out Denver’s zone defense, bringing the lead back to five to force Michael Malone into another time lapse. Denver regrouped and came close again, but it looks like they could not regain the lead. Probably because Murray and Porter entered a bit of a chuckle party. However, it did not hurt with San Antonio’s icy cold from the field. In the end, Harris hit a try to level the game with 81 minutes. It went back and forth along the stretch with DeRozan red-hot. The Spurs held on to a one-point lead that went into the final framework.
The fourth quarter begins the same way he has so far: essentially an insult to both teams’ basketball game. San Antonio put forward, but Jokic kept Denver in it with his score. Once again the Nuggets played some terrible basketball and once again the Spurs increased their lead behind a 7-0 run and had Malone take a time-out. During that time, you could see Jamal trying to keep his hip loose after having a hard fall in the past. Jokic hit a try, but you could see the Nuggets fading. San Antonio went on to run another run to increase the lead to eleven with five minutes to go. Denver inexplicably decided to place Barton at the four, and although it was terrible, Malone held it in the piece. That was all the Spurs needed to put the nails in the coffin. They finally win it. Nuggets lost 109 to 119.
Three things I noticed
Best match: Murray vs Murray
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22269522/1230863498.jpg)
Photos by Logan Riely / NBAE via Getty Images
The Murray’s played a great game tonight. DeJounte had a full game, giving the Nuggets both sides. He finishes with twenty-six points and bothers the Nuggets in defense. Meanwhile, Jamal got off to a warm start and then cooled down, but eventually finished with an effective twenty points, seven assists and six rebounds. Hopefully Jamal’s hip doesn’t bother him too much in the coming week. He could return to the game, but after the spill he took, it will come as no surprise if he is fairly stiff in the mornings.
Main point: UGLY, Denver has no alibi
The worst performance of the Nuggets season. They were sloppy, they looked tired and basically gave up at the end … Malone included. His rotations were horrible tonight. He tried to dictate size in the first half by playing Isaiah Hartenstein alongside JaMychal Green and Porter, who actually let MPJ cover Murray on the other side (you can guess how it went). Then he let the Spurs dictate small ball in the fourth and set off with Barton to close out the game. You might as well just wave the white flag. The one good idea Malone had in the fourth was to deliberately trespass on Jakob Poetl, but he waited too long to do so so they could only drive through Jakob to the free throw line once. He missed both, but you will never believe it, with Barton playing at the four players, Denver could not achieve the setback. Just a terrible top-down performance outside of Jokic and Murray. Oh, and Porter shot the ball just five times, #Awesome.
Closing thought: flush it out
Again, I lost time and did not get my pick for Plea’s Picks tonight, but Spurs and the ear were about as easy to call. The Nuggets are clearly happy with a 4-1 away run and had no interest in playing defense tonight. You could see this loss coming from a mile away. It was an abysmal game all around, and I don’t think much can be learned from it except to become complacent and never play with Barton at Power Forward again.