The Denver Nuggets faced the San Antonio Spurs to end their five-game trip and were hoping to finish a perfect 5-0 in their travels. The Spurs had other ideas. In what was one of the most painful games to watch in recent memory, DeMar Derozan took San Antonio to victory and spoiled another excellent performance by Nikola Jokic. Jamal Murray and DeJounte Murray played their roles as Robins on their respective teams, but there was little else to talk about Denver, at least on the positive side. The Nuggets’ winning streak ends in five as they fall to San Antonio 119-109
The Nuggets got a head start behind Will Barton and Gary Harris, Barton was going to the basket with authority while Harris was a vintage Harris, knocking three over and cutting to the edge. Dejounte had the answer for the Spurs and kept things closed. Keldon Johnson maintained momentum for the Spurs, who took the lead in the middle of the quarter. Jamal started to get aggressive after that to quickly regain the advantage for Denver. It was a bit of a three fest with the quarter ending. Each team was taking them down and changing the lead back and forth. The Nuggets cooled off to close the quarter, while the Spurs were still on fire from all three. They got a seven point lead after one.
The Spurs bench maintained pressure to open the second quarter. Michael Porter Jr was inside, but Denver was not looking for the offensive side and he was fighting in defense. Finally, they started to catch the ball for him and, to no one’s surprise, he immediately buried two three and recovered Denver in five. Jokic checked in again, but the play was sloppy and the Spurs’ lead grew again, prompting Malone to reinsert the rest of the starting lineup. It didn’t change much in terms of sloppiness, Nuggets just couldn’t stop getting dirty. You could also say that Jokic was tired, every three took the front iron. Fortunately, San Antonio finally cooled, so the lead decreased, although the Denver game was not very good. At the end of the semester, Denver lost 61-55.
DeRozan and Jokic dueled to open the second half, while the Spurs continued to increase their advantage. Jokic took control after a timeout and triggered a 9-0 run to recover within two. San Antonio responded, finally starting to discover Denver’s defense zone and took the five-point lead to force Michael Malone to another timeout. Denver regrouped and came close again, but they just didn’t seem to be able to regain the lead. Probably because Murray and Porter kind of went to a party for a while. But it didn’t hurt from the cold San Antonio cold coming from the countryside. Finally Harris dropped a three to tie the game in 81 with two minutes to go. He came and went along the stretch with DeRozan on fire. Spurs held on to a point advantage in the finals.
The fourth period started in the same way the game had gone so far: essentially an insult to the basketball game on both ends for both teams. San Antonio kept the lead, but Jokic was keeping Denver with his score. Once again, the Nuggets played bad basketball and once again the Spurs increased their lead behind a 7-0 streak and made Malone take a break. During that time, you could see Jamal trying to keep his hips loose after a hard fall just before. Jokic hit a three, but you could tell that the Nuggets were disappearing. San Antonio made another run to push the lead to eleven with five minutes to go. Denver inexplicably decided to put Barton in fifth place and, even though it was awful, Malone stayed with him in the final stretch. That was all the Spurs needed to put the nails in the coffin. They end up winning by leaving. Nuggets lose 109 to 119.
Three things I noticed
Best Match: Murray vs Murray
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Logan Riely / NBAE photos via Getty Images
The Murrays had a good match tonight. DeJounte had a complete game, giving the Nuggets problems at both ends. He finished with twenty-six points and chased the Nuggets relentlessly in defense. Meanwhile, Jamal had a hot start and then cooled off, but still ended up with twenty points, seven assists and six rebounds. I hope Jamal’s hips don’t bother him much next week. He managed to get back into the game, but after the spill he caught, it will come as no surprise if he is quite tense in the morning.
Main point: UGLY, Denver has no alibi
Certainly the worst performance of the Nuggets season. They were sloppy, looked tired and basically gave up in the end … including Malone. Your rotations were terrible tonight. He tried to dictate the size in the first half by playing Isaiah Hartenstein alongside JaMychal Green and Porter, which essentially left MPJ covering Murray on the other side (you can guess how it went). Then he let the Spurs dictate the small ball in the room and went with Barton in the attack to close the game. You can also wave the white flag. The only good idea Malone had on Wednesday was to intentionally trick Jakob Poetl, but he waited too late to do so, so they only managed to get Jakob’s ticket to the free throw line. He missed them both, but you will never believe that, with Barton playing in four, Denver failed to guarantee a rebound. Just a terrible performance from top to bottom outside of Jokic and Murray. Oh, and Porter only shot five times, #Impressive.
Final thought: release
Once again I lost track of time and didn’t get my choice for Plea’s choices tonight, but Spurs and the over was the easiest to connect. The Nuggets are clearly satisfied with a 4-1 trip and had no interest in playing defense tonight. This loss you could see coming from a kilometer away. It was an abysmal game and I don’t think there is much to learn from it, other than not being complacent and never playing with Barton as a striker again.