The Denver Nuggets lost to the San Antonio Spurs 113-106 on a night where neither team had its stars and the lineups were absolutely patched together at the last minute. After a crushing 140-139 double-overtime loss last night to the Minnesota Timberwolves, Denver’s entire starting lineup was out for this game. The Nuggets instead started Russell Westbrook, Jalen Pickett, Hunter Tyson, Zeke Nnaji and DeAndre Jordan. Westbrook had 30 points on 25 shots to go with 11 rebounds, Hunter Tyson had a career-high 18 points on 20 shots, and Jalen Pickett had his first career triple-double with 17 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, but the Nuggets were just too inefficient and made too many mistakes in the key moments to pull out the victory.
‘The Spurs featured a balanced attack that had 7 players with 13 or more points led by 20 from Harrison Barnes, and Chris Paul making the right calls down the stretch while Denver faltered in the clutch after being up 5 early in the fourth was the final difference. It was not a redemption night for Westbrook unfortunately who had some bad turnovers and misses in the final frame in a game that really hurts Denver’s chances to finish the season as a top-3 seed.
Game Flow
The Spurs won the tip and Chris Paul made a jumper. Russell Westbrook immediately turned the ball over at the rim out of bounds, and Harrison Barnes hit a turnaround over Jalen Pickett. Russ bricked a 3, then Denver turned a slow transition attempt into a missed corner 3 from Tyson, and Julian Champagnie made a 3 for San Antonio. Russ missed a layup, Pickett and Russ both missed threes, and the Stephon Castle finish put the Spurs up 9-0 early as Denver looked both slow and inept as a group that very obviously had not logged minutes together. Hunter Tyson’s layup finally ended the run, but he was blocked the next time down. Pickett turned the ball over, Tyson got blocked again, and Zeke Nnaji couldn’t handle a pass. Castle hit another 3 for the Spurs to put them back up 10, but Russ answered with a 3. Tyson finally made a three, then grabbed a rebound that finished with a Westbrook transition bucket. Harrison Barnes made a corner 3, Jordan finished a pick and roll for Denver, but Nnaji blew a shot right at the rim. CP3 hit another 3 to put the Spur up 18-12, and Vlatko had a rebound ripped away from him that turned into another 3. Russ finished a drive but Blake Wesley hit another three for the Spurs while Russ missed his, and then Champagnie made a tough euro finish. Spencer Jones missed a three but then ran in transition the next time and Russ found him for a finish. Wesley answered for the Spurts, bench point guard Trey Alexander hit a corner 3 for Denver, but Russ turned the ball over with a second left and Sandro Mamukelashvili dunked on him to punctuate the end of one, 33-21.
Dario Saric opened the scoring for Denver with two buckets at the rim and Spencer Jones had a great block for the Nuggets, but Sandro made a pair of Spurs 3s and Malaki Branham finished a drive. Pickett hit a three for Denver but Alexander got called for a charge for another turnover. It was 42-28 when Cancar missed a three and Dario Saric turned it over trying to pass to him in the paint, then Alexander also couldn’t hit an open 3. Tyson and Jones both missed threes and nobody was stopping the Spurs who pushed the lead to 48-28 as Denver took 18 threes in the early going but only made 4. Tyson and Alexander both finished layups after a timeout but Mamukelashvil answered. Alexander and Branham traded finishes, Russ made a layup and then assisted a Nnaji layup to force a Spurs timeout and cut the lead to 54-39. San Antonio immediately pushed it back to 20, Russ got free throws and Pickett hit a corner 3 but CP3 stopped that mini-run too. Nnaji hit a three, Barnes finished a traditional 3-point play to answer, and Jordan and Russ each split a pair of free throws. Pickett made another 3, Westbrook made a pair of free throws, and Denver finished the half down 66-54 playing with a little more vigor.
Both teams started the third quarter sloppy with some bad misses, but Castle and Westbrook traded jumpers and then Castle hit a 3 for the Spurs. Pickett hit free throws, Tyson made a three and DeAndre Jordan went 1-for-2 from the line to close the deficit to 71-63. Russ made a 3, Barnes had a dunk in response, but Tyson kept adding on to his career-high with another 3. Barnes answered with another one for San Antonio. Both Nnaji and Tyson failed in transition and Champagnie answered with a 3. Jordan’s free throws and Westbrook’s bank shot cut the deficit to 4, then the two squads traded buckets as Russ ramped up his effort again to keep Denver close. He finished off an offensive rebound, then traded threes with Blake Wesley. Vlatko Cancar hit a Pickett-assisted 3 at the buzzer and Denver ended the third down just 88-85.
Hunter Tyson tied the game at 88 with a putback of Jordan’s second miss to start the fourth, then Jordan stuffed Castle’s attempt at the rim. Pickett had a great spinning layup to give Denver its first lead of the night and force an early Spurs timeout. Vlatko made a great three pointer that Mamukelashvili answered with free throws, and Jordan missed the finish on an oop for Denver. CP3 hit a pull-up, Trey Alexander missed a three and a layup then got stripped, and Jordan McLaughlin hit a three to give the Spurs the lead back at 95-93. Vlatko Cancar hit a left-handed bank shot, answered by a pair of threes from CP3. Vlatko had a great block from behind to stop a score, Pickett hit a nice 10 foot jumper and then a Pickett steal turned into a Spencer Jones bank finish. Vlatko forced a turnover on the baseline but Jones and Pickett both missed threes and then Russ completely blew a transition finish while the Spurs made two buckets in a row to stretch the San Antonio lead to 105-99. Russ then threw a ball 10 feet over Hunter Tyson’s head for a turnover, but Pickett finished a layup the next time down. Vlatko had another great defensive possession, Westbrook bricked a deep 3, then refused to pass to Vlatko who had CP3 in the paint and instead drove the hoop and missed (thanks to an uncalled foul). Westbrook fumbled a rebound right to Champagnie for a finish, the Spurs had a couple of open dunks in transition as Denver couldn’t score and Denver lost 113-106.
Final Thoughts
– Denver needs more courageous hustle from its hustle players to win these sorts of games unfortunately, because there was no one to carry them. Maybe that just makes it a schedule loss, but it was winnable in the fourth despite a slow and ugly start, but the gas just ran out. Russ went 11-for-25 on his way to 30 points in a game replete with errors, but the patchwork cast started off cold and never really found their groove. It’s not their fault that they are not as skilled as the guys unavailable for the Nuggets, but 3/4 effort isn’t gonna cut it in games like this – and too often this season Denver has not had the bench effort it has needed regardless of who is starting. Hunter Tyson got blocked a couple of times early but kept shooting his shot and hustling up rebounds even when he couldn’t finish. Spencer Jones had some nice defensive possessions and a couple of blocks, but Denver struggled for much of the game to find the extra gear they needed. They weren’t sprinting, they weren’t diving for loose balls, they weren’t finishing their second-chance efforts or getting to the line. That’s always a problem when guys who are used to playing 10 minutes (or 5, or none) suddenly get 20-30, but I wanted to see guys gasping for air after giving everything and too often it wasn’t out there. Pickett was really good as a floor general but this is the part of the roster that isn’t built to function together and too often it didn’t – despite some good efforts from players like Vlatko Cancar.
If your calling card to get on the court is effort (looking at you Zeke and Hunter) then you have to give it on both ends. Hunter tried to help by taking 20 shots, Zeke took 6. In a game where there are no real shooters – Denver shot under 40% from the field and 30% from deep – maybe there just are no good answers for the hustle players to find. Most of the players in this game will not see the court in the playoffs though, so there is nothing to save the effort for. Maybe they were tentative from not playing, or having unfamiliar players next to them, but the effort needed to be better from guys who are trying to get tape out there for more minutes next year – on this team or another. If everyone played as hard as Jalen Pickett and Spencer Jones in this game the outcome might have been different.
