The Denver Nuggets took to the floor against the San Antonio Spurs Wednesday night. An underachieving San Antonio squad came into Ball Arena, having beaten the Nuggets in their last meeting. However, a recent slump included dropping 7 of their last 9 games – all played at home. Due to Jamal Murray being sidelined with injury, Nuggets reserve point guard Facundo Campazzo got his second start for Denver.
Keeping things close
Both teams got off to a fast start on the offensive end, but San Antonio captured a small lead a few minutes in. After a time-out by Coach Michael Malone, the Nuggets quickly tied things up at 11. Despite some defensive lulls early, Michael Porter, Jr., woke up and provided 8 points and 7 rebounds in the first quarter alone. After a back-and-forth 12 minutes of play, San Antonio went into the quarter break leading 32-30.
A handful of runs by both teams kept this game interesting in the second. San Antonio quickly built a 7-point lead, but the Nuggets answered right back to tie the game once more at 38. Frustration due to a lack of foul calls for star center Nikola Jokic saw Coach Malone get ejected midway through the quarter.
“Physical play,” Malone said. “That’s been brewing for a while and my job as a head coach is to fight and protect all of my players, and tonight I did that.”
Multiple lead changes after Malone’s dismissal concluded with the Nuggets taking a 54-50 lead into the half.
Quarter of large runs
San Antonio went on a 12 to 0 run to start the third, snatching an 8-point lead over the Nuggets. After over 4 scoreless minutes, Aaron Gordon hit a turnaround jumper to stop the bleeding for Denver. San Antonio saw their biggest lead of the game with a 10-point cushion. However, an 11 to 0 Nuggets run maintained the up-and-down theme of the game and put them back in the driver’s seat. San Antonio’s run sparked life in the Nuggets as they continued pouring it on to earn an 81-74 lead heading into the final frame.
Turning up the energy
The Nuggets built their lead to 15 in the final frame on back-to-back monstrous dunks by JaMychal Green and JaVale McGee. San Antonio was out of runs in the fourth, as the Nuggets went up by as much as 20. With roughly 4 minutes to play, both teams let their bench players see some action.
A strong second half for the Nuggets (33-18) gave them a 106-96 victory over San Antonio (24-25) to give them 7 straight wins. San Antonio has now lost 4 in a row.
Jokic led the way for the Nuggets with an all-around performance just shy of a triple-double. The Joker posted 25 points, 10 assists, and 9 rebounds in the win. Although Porter, Jr., cooled off tremendously in the second half, he finished with 18 points and 10 boards. Will Barton struggled from the field, shooting just 3 of 13. However, he contributed 14 points and 5 assists to go with a pair of steals.
“At this point of the season we’re good,” Jokic said. “At the beginning of the season we were trying to find ourselves but right now we’re playing really well.”
Guards Derrick White and Dejounte Murray each scored 18 points to lead San Antonio. Former all-star DeMar DeRozan chipped in 14 points of his own.
For their next matchup, the Nuggets will take on San Antonio once more Friday night at 6:00 p.m. PST.
