The Spurs fell to the Nuggets again on Friday night in an up-and-down game that saw the Silver and Black drag themselves back from the edge to blow out several times before finally giving in to the buzzer to a relentless attack in Denver. In the end, despite multiple chances to level the game in the final seconds, the Spurs scored just a much-needed victory against one of the best teams in the West.
Derrick White overtook the Spurs by 25 points, while DeMar gave DeRozan 24 points and 10 assists and Jakob Poeltl added 13 points and 10 rebounds. Nikola Jokic led all scorers with 26 points en route to a low dominant triple double (14 strokes and 13 rebounds) and Michael Porter Jr. scored 22 points of his own.
Observations
- The biggest difference for most of the game was three-point accuracy. Both teams took 27 attempts from the depths, but the Nuggets made 14 to the Spurs 9. For much of the game, however, the gap was much larger, while the Spurs’ 3rd and 4th quarter revived, both in part due to the good guys eventually finding the scope from outside the arc.
- The Spurs also struggled early in the game with unforced errors. In the end, they won the turnover battle 18-9, but in the first half alone there were several inexcusable crimes. ‘Rudy Gay grabs a rebound and immediately has the ball bounced off his leg, Derrick White accidentally takes a charge from Keldon Johnson in the backfield, causing the ball to tumble out of bounds, and Devin Vassell coming too close’ a bad Nuggets ’miss that bounced over the finish line and Michael Porter Jr. had it thrown from him and out of bounds.
- Jakob Poeltl is a great defender, but defending Nikola Jokic is a nightmare. Defending him one on one is hard enough, but the Nuggets also use Jokic to make simple actions more dangerous. How often should Jacob defend a ball handler using a slider at the top of the key? And how often should he worry about defending a curl over one of the league’s best players who can then immediately jump to the three-point line where he has scored more than 42% this season? Of course not often, but he managed the challenge just as you might hope. Drew Eubanks, on the other hand, shared just one short while with Jokic in the 2nd quarter and it went exactly as you would expect.
- In his first appearance after a 9-match dismissal to nurse a wrist injury, Lonnie Walker IV put together some breathtaking plays. His first touch was a bit tentative, but he settled down and shortly afterwards drilled a try with a hand in his face and then climbed into the open court for a crooked ride and quickly sank down to Jacob for a dunk. He also had the chance to play Porter Jr. but he lost the ball on the way up, for another ‘no, which might be a moment.
- The Spurs almost pulled this game out while the clock was ticking. The Spurs sent Porter Jr., with ten seconds left, with 1 second left. He misses the 2nd freestyle, and Keldon Johnson grabs the rebound and rushes up the floor. He drove and missed a difficult, controversial layout, but DeJounte Murray got his fingers on the ball as it cared from the edge. His tip was not good, but it fell into DeMar’s hands that got it on the edge. However, the ball just does not want to fall. If it had fallen through, the game would of course have gone to OT, so it was no guarantee of a win, but it certainly felt.
- Single game plus minus, yada yada yada, but it was pretty clear that the Spurs’ reserves on the track were lightning, and that the numbers were comparing it. Patty Mills was a -11, Rudy Gay was -12, and in Lonnie’s first action in weeks, he scored a -19 in just over 17 minutes. These numbers mean almost nothing about the value of the players for the team, but it was definitely an accurate summary of how the game went on the floor tonight.
Feel free to visit for the Nuggets fans Denver Stiffs.
The Spurs are now on their way back to Texas for a game on Sunday night with the Mavericks in Dallas. Tip is at 19:00.