Tonight’s game between the Denver Nuggets and San Antonio Spurs had a little extra juice with a trip to the NBA Cup quarterfinals on the line, Jamal Murray and Cam Johnson had big games to go with another Nikola Jokic triple double but the Spurs got great efforts from Devin Vassel and Julian Champagnie. A big lead for the Nuggets in the first half wouldn’t hold in the second and San Antonio was able to complete the comeback. The Spurs get the win and eliminate the Nuggets from NBA Cup competition.

Both teams were scoring with ease to start the game, Murray accounted for the majority of Denver’s points while the Spurs used a rounded attack on offense. They traded the lead while neither team generated separation early on. Denver was careless with the basketball, otherwise they could have built a lead with the Spurs starting to cool off on offense. As the subs started checking in the Nuggets were able to continue to score but their defense was mediocre. DeAaron Fox started to assert himself and San Antonio took the lead as the quarter was heading to a close. They pushed their advantage up to eight by the time it was over and after one the score was 41-33.

The Nuggets bench unit opened the second quarter strong and went on an 8-0 run to tie the game at 41. The Spurs guards kept the pressure on when they had the ball and stopped the run but Denver was back in the game thanks to their reserves. That group started to cool off midway through the quarter which let San Antonio maintain a small lead while Jokic stayed on the bench. He came back in with just under six minutes to play, meanwhile Johnson got a couple buckets for Denver. They worked their way back into the lead and went on a run. San Antonio took a timeout with three minutes to go in the half and trailing by seven. The Nuggets kept pushing, Jokic had some highlight moments and Denver’s lead grew down the stretch. At the end of the half they were up big, 74-59.

Murray got a couple of shots to fall to open the third but the Nuggets offense wasn’t exactly clicking early in the second half. It was fine though because Jamal started cooking and kept Denver’s lead above a dozen. Joker had another highlight pass (Spencer Jones finished it with a nice stuff) and Denver continued to be in control. The Spurs found some life midway through the quarter and started to chip away at the lead. Champagnie was getting some points and with under four minutes San Antonio was down by only six. Denver continued to struggle to find consistency on offense while the Spurs started hitting threes. A poor close capped off a terrible quarter for the Nuggets and heading into the fourth they were leading by just one, 104-103.

The bench group was once again strong to start a quarter, they went on a quick 5-0 run and put Denver up by a couple possessions but the Spurs once again had a response. Vassell got hot and knocked down a couple threes to spark an 8-0 San Antonio run. After that, Tim Hardaway Jr. hit a pair of big threes to stop the bleeding and get the lead back for Denver. They clung to a slim advantage with the quarter half over but couldn’t keep from turning the ball over. The Spurs got back in front as the quarter headed down the stretch but the Nuggets kept right with them. They couldn’t string together enough good plays to overtake San Antonio though and stayed a point behind with under two minutes to go. The Nuggets kept leaving Vassell open on three-point shots and he hit back-to-back bombs to put Denver on life support. Peyton Watson missed a corner three and that was the back breaker. Denver played the free throw game for a bit but ultimately ran out of time. A terrible second half dooms the Nuggets and eliminates them from NBA Cup competition on a 139-136 loss.