El Conclusión: San Antonio Spurs 120, Denver Nuggets 111

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Denver Nuggets 111 Final
Recap | Box Score		 120 San Antonio Spurs
Tim Duncan, PF 28 MIN | 6-8 FG | 3-6 FT | 3 REB | 3 AST | 0 STL | 3 BLK | 1 TO | 15 PTS | +14 +/-

Once again, the presence of Tiago Splitter took a lot of the rebounding burden off Duncan. Then again, nobody was missing any shots, so there weren’t many rebounds to pull down. Duncan was a matchup nightmare for the Nuggets, as his size was way too much for any of their bigs without Nurkic in the lineup. Denver’s pace was a bit much at times for Timmy, but overall a very good night. The Spurs were 28.9 points per 100 possessions better than the Nuggets when he was on the floor. Oh yeah, he passed Patrick Ewing for sixth on the all-time blocks list. So that’s decent.
Kawhi Leonard, SF 36 MIN | 10-17 FG | 4-4 FT | 8 REB | 4 AST | 1 STL | 3 BLK | 2 TO | 25 PTS | +17 +/-

Monster game from Kawhi. The 3-point shooting is still iffy, but he couldn’t miss from anywhere else on the court. I’ll get in trouble here for not going with an A+, most likely, but he can be better. Two things: Ty Lawson was giving him TROUBLE, something he does to a lot of folks in the league. But this is really about that missed dunk. Oh man… he wanted to destroy the rim, but instead sent the ball flying into the stands. Still, great game from Kawhi. He was killing whichever Nugget was defending him all night.
Tiago Splitter, C 26 MIN | 3-5 FG | 4-5 FT | 7 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 10 PTS | +6 +/-

Popovich said prior to the game that Tiago’s physical condition has returned, which was the primary reason for his return to the starting lineup a week ago. Since then there’s been an air of familiarity with both the starting and reserve units, and the Spurs have seemed closer to their old form. He’s an essential glue guy, regardless of stats.
Tony Parker, PG 36 MIN | 10-15 FG | 4-5 FT | 3 REB | 7 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 24 PTS | +16 +/-

This was the best Tony Parker’s looked in a long time. Pop said prior to tip that his point guard is fine, and it sure seemed that way against the Nuggets. All of those patented Parker shots were working, in particular that devastating spin move he dropped on Will Barton’s head in the fourth quarter. Danny Green has said previously, once we see that move again, it means TP is back. Tonight, he might’ve officially returned.
Danny Green, SG 30 MIN | 4-9 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 3 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 0 TO | 11 PTS | +10 +/-

When the Spurs’ offense is rolling, you can generally bet Green’s got the shot going. It’s been a pretty good while since we saw one of those blistering performances, but Danny made Denver pay for leaving him open on a couple of occasions in a close game. He also took his chances defending Lawson at times late in the night when Kawhi was getting beat up on all those Nuggets pick-and-rolls. Green wasn’t spectacular, but he did his job well.
Marco Belinelli, SF 16 MIN | 2-5 FG | 3-4 FT | 3 REB | 3 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 9 PTS | -5 +/-

Unless he’s lighting the nets on fire, these run-and-gun games generally expose Marco’s defense. He did well hitting a few shots when the Nuggets just wouldn’t go away, but this was a difficult matchup for him defensively.
Aron Baynes, C 11 MIN | 0-1 FG | 2-2 FT | 2 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 2 PTS | -1 +/-

After a string of very impressive games, Baynes was quiet in this one. Though it should be said, that small-ball attack for the Nuggets isn’t a great environment for the giant Australian. He’ll bounce back against a more favorable matchup.
Boris Diaw, C 23 MIN | 3-5 FG | 1-1 FT | 3 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 7 PTS | +7 +/-

Boris continues to be aggressive. We’ve got to see more, but those tricky post moves and little flip shots are starting to work again…along with everything else int he Spurs’ attack.
Patty Mills, PG 7 MIN | 2-8 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 5 PTS | -5 +/-

REEEAAALLLLY struggling to put the ball in the basket. It’s tough for jump-shooters to find their form if they aren’t really attack-oriented, especially shooters coming off freaking rotator cuff surgery. Pop opted for Cory Joseph to start the fourth quarter after he hadn’t played a second all night. Patty’s got to get his rhythm back, but he’s got time to do so.
Cory Joseph, PG 4 MIN | 1-1 FG | 1-2 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 3 PTS | -2 +/-

Solid stint off the bench in the fourth, but not much to go on here.
Manu Ginobili, SG 19 MIN | 2-5 FG | 3-4 FT | 2 REB | 2 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 9 PTS | -8 +/-

Manu wasn’t very good tonight despite shooting the ball decently well. I’m not sure how to read Manu right now, either, and the bench was the group that gave up the early lead. He’s the lynchpin there. It doesn’t help that guys like Mills and Diaw are struggling, but Ginobili just seems…off. Maybe y’all can help me out.

Gregg Popovich

Pop pulled the right string a week ago sticking Splitter back in the starting lineup, and his insistence on staying with Parker through his struggles might be starting to pay off.
  • Spurs fan in Australia

    Spurs just half a game back on Dallas now for 6th, 1.5 games back on Clippers for 5th.

    Nice to see Parker put a couple of strong games together.

  • thedrwolff5

    Kawhi answering the call. 22/8/3 and any combo of 4 blocks/steals per game. Those are all star numbers and we knew It was going to take time for him to get comfortable with that role…but like everything Kawhi does…he excels. We get to watch his offensive game mature…let’s see how he handles the next time his shooting gets cold. Will he force his way to the line or back off. Kawhi steals, Kawhi blocks shots, Kawhi sticks those intimidating mits into people’s face and they have poor games against him. We all see an amazing defensive star growing on O but I bet you don’t realize he’s only averaging ONE TO per game in his increased minutes and scoring over the last 5 games. ONLY ONE FREAKING TURN OVER PER GAME. That…people…is why his impact is so massive. Like for years Timmy blocking the ball inbounds for possession. Nobody really pays attention to that stat. Kawhi does not give away offensive possessions while forcing theirs. He doesn’t fumble the ball, make stupid passes, or dribble of his foot. He gets shots at the basket and then he robs yours.
    Patty Mills is in January form. He needs these final 20 games more then anyone. Pop is going to give Patty every opportunity for the next 10-12 games or so…if he can’t turn it around don’t be surprised if Cory starts getting tons of minutes for the playoff run. Keep shooting Patty.

  • Kristian Holvoet

    There was an article earlier this week that the East is better than the West (or is better than we think it is). With the same record, the Spurs would be in 2nd place in the East. Wow. There is some cognitive dissonance going on, and I don’t think it is on my side.

    With the injury to Matthews, I wonder when the seeding jockeying starts full blast? Does Portland fall lower than 4th? Which of Houston/Memphis/LAC would lose late season games to match up against them? Do you think the Spurs can get to 4th or higher? I wonder if Golden State is really excited about facing OKC? I wonder if Westbrook can keep this up for another 3.5 months, because if he doesn’t then OKC will flame out before the finals.

    At least the season is starting to get interesting, even as some questions are being answered (yes, the LAL are as bad as we thought they’d be).

  • brunostrange

    I saw that article too. To be fair, the headline was more absurd than the article, but it the whole thing was a bit silly nonetheless. I think, though, that we’re finally starting to see some much needed catch-up by the Eastern Conference. Cleveland and Atlanta, I’d say are legitimate title contenders. Should the Bulls get healthy (a big if), one could say they’d be the third legitimate contender. Contrast that with previous years. And they’ve got Milwaukee coming up, and a decent Washington team.

    The marquee is still the Western Conference, but the chasm between the conferences is nowhere near as large as before. Which is good for the league.

    re: OKC, I imagine Westbrook will eventually flame out. This isn’t a knock against the guy, were I voting for MVP, he’d be my choice. You can’t run that hard and not flame out, eventually. It’s what happened to him and KD last year - by the end of the WCF, it was clear they had nothing left in the tank. That’s what happens when you play in a team without a discernible offensive system, I guess.

    As far as the Spurs are concerned: Provided the team has turned the corner (I’m not quite ready to proclaim that just yet), I don’t mind a bottom-four seed. I like our odds against Memphis or the Clippers, and I like the idea of a low-key sneaking up on the marquee teams, given that much of the league and the media is focused on GS, MEM and LAC in the west. Mind you, this all depends on whether SA is playing in rhythm and getting back to the type of form they displayed last year - if the past four games are an outlier, and the Spurs look more like the team we saw in the RRT, then seeding definitely won’t matter.

  • Ginobili137

    I do agree that Manu has looked off last couple games. He looked great in the two previous games, though. In the last two games, he just hasn’t been able to create opportunities. In the game against Sacramento, this caused turnovers, and last night, he just stopped being aggressive. He did have 2 turnovers last night, but one was after he got an offensive rebound and was falling out of bounds and the other might have been Tiago’s fault. Some nights, he just has the energy and the legs, and other nights he doesn’t. I can tell if he is going to have a good game within 30 seconds of him coming on.

    I think it’s really important that the second unit gets it together. Manu needs to be more aggressive and look for his own shots before making low reward high risk passes. Patty needs to stop running pick & rolls and taking long 2s and just stick to catch & shoot open 3s. Marco needs to shoot less as well. Frankly, come playoff time, I would prefer if he didn’t get many minutes. Boris hasn’t been great but I can’t really think of how he can be better.

  • spurs10

    I believe Manu has been looking pretty good the last couple of games before last night. Patty and Marco aren’t helping him much. I expect to see a very strong showing on Sunday.

  • DorieStreet

    This is the litmus test week (sort of) for the Eastern Conference and the Spurs.
    Starting this afternoon, the three teams vying for the 2nd spot in the east make their way down to the AT&T Center. The time is now for the Spurs to move out of that 7th spot they’ve been welded to for the last 2 months.