Nuggets Overwhelmed Early By Spurs, Drop Third In A Row

With only seven games left in the season, the Denver Nuggets came into this matchup looking to beat one of the hottest teams in the NBA. The San Antonio Spurs have won 15 of their past 18 games and they are only one and a half games behind the Houston Rockets for the Southwest Division title. The Nuggets are on the last leg of a three-game road trip — losing the two previous matchups.

The Spurs exploited Denver’s largest weakness (size in the paint) early in this match up. Kawhi Leonard and Tiago Splitter score the first eleven points of the contest — mostly on dunks and layups. One thing was clear from the start, Kenneth Faried is not the answer for this team at center. Randy Foye and Danilo Gallinari provided a couple of bright spots in an otherwise dismal first quarter.

Foye started the game with two three-pointers, and Gallinari finished with nine points in the first half. The quarter ended with a bang, thanks to Jameer Nelson pulling up and hitting a deep three that circled the rim many times before finally dropping through for the buzzer beating shot. The shock of the game to that point was Boris Diaw‘s explosion for eleven points. After twelve minutes the Spurs led the Nuggets 45-25.

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The second quarter started with some sloppy basketball as both teams went through a dry spell — scoring only two points in the first two minutes of the quarter. From there, things did not get much better for either teams as they both struggled from the field. With five minutes left in the half, the Spurs only added nine points to their first quarter score, and the Nuggets only chipped in eight. However, the last five minutes saw a barrage of points from either side as the Spurs went into the half leading 67-47. Gallinari led the way for the Nuggets with 13 points, and Danny Green led the Spurs with 14 points.

The beginning of the third quarter was more of the same, with the Spurs clicking on just about every cylinder. Green picked up where he left off by scoring six of the first eight points, pushing his game total to 20. The Nuggets tried their hardest to stay in the game with contributions from Faried, Gallinari, and Nelson (all scored in double figures before the quarter was finished). Gallinari led the Nuggets with 20 points through three-quarters, but the team was losing 100-70.

By the time the fourth quarter started, the game was already over. After opening a 30-point lead, the Spurs remained firmly in control — scoring 23 points in the fourth quarter to cement their win. Thanks to their high shooting percentages (55.3-percent from the floor; 41.2-percent from three), they won the game 123-93, pushing their record to 49-26 on the year. Another loss for the Nuggets dropped them to 28-47 over this current campaign, which is almost welcomed to help improve their chances of a higher draft pick.

My final observation for the game is that Melvin Hunt needs to decide who is playing small forward. The lineup of Gallinari, Chandler, and Faried at center has not worked. Faried is getting beat up at center and he needs to get back to his power forward roots. Gallinari and Faried need to start, Chandler needs to come off the bench ,and for the love of all things basketball, please make Yusuf Nurkic the starting center. It is time to abandon this undersized lineup and embrace Nurkic as the starter and future at center.