With the San Antonio Spurs in the middle of a FIGASENI, this was one of the few times this week that they would not be at a rest disadvantage, as they took on a Denver Nuggets team that is not only missing two starters in Michael Porter, Jr. and Jamal Murray (among others), but they are also on the sixth game of a seven-game road trip AND coming off an overtime victory in New Orleans from the night before.
As a result, the Spurs had a chance to take advantage and start a new winning streak, and they did just that. While it wasn’t easy — Denver still has reigning MVP Nikola Jokic, and Aaron Gordon had himself a game — the Spurs led wire-to-wire and had a response every time the Nuggets threatened to take the lead.
It all started with the Spurs continuing their trend of starting strong by hitting 8 of their first 12 shots to get out to a 22-12 lead that they would never relinquish. The Nuggets were able to take advantage in the fast break with some long outlet passes to keep things close, but the Spurs kept attacking. They got nine extra points off seven offensive rebounds in the first quarter alone and led 37-29 to start the second.
The Spurs kept piling it with a 17-5 run that spanned across the first and second quarters. Devin Vassell returned from injury and exploded onto the scene on both ends of the court (literally), and the Spurs soon found themselves up 60-42 midway through the quarter. However, the Nuggets finally started getting some threes to fall while the Spurs had one of their cold spells, cutting the lead to four on a 16-4 run. Mike Malone then broke out the Hack-a-Poeltl on Jakob Poeltl, and he missed both free throws before quickly being pulled due picking up his 3rd foul. Jokic able to take advantage of his absence for a few easy points, but again, the Spurs responded at the end of the half as a Drew Eubanks three — his first of the season — kicked off quick 5-0 run to get the lead up to 74-65 at the break.
The third quarter was mostly a back-and-forth affair. The Spurs would get the lead just up to double digits, and the Nuggets would respond. Then the Spurs always had an answer when they got close, and so on. Perhaps the Spurs best showing of resilience came late in the quarter, when the Nuggets once again got the lead down just four off back-to-back Spurs turnovers, only for the Spurs to respond with back-to-back threes, including one off a great hustle play by Tre Jones, who skied up to tap the offensive rebound out to Dejounte Murray for a three and end third up 100-90. Although the Spurs initially failed to take advantage of Jokic being on the bench to start the fourth quarter, letting what was a 13-point lead get down to five on back-to-back threes from JaMychal Green, they continued doing what they had all night: respond. Everyone contributed as they kept attacking a tired Nuggets defense and pulled away for the relatively comfortable 123-111 win.