El Conclusion: Spurs 123, Nuggets 93

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Denver Nuggets 93 FinalRecap | Box Score 123 San Antonio Spurs
Tim Duncan, PF 20 MIN | 1-1 FG | 2-2 FT | 7 REB | 4 AST | 0 STL | 2 BLK | 2 TO | 4 PTS | +20 +/-This is for being the catalyst for 50 wins 16 seasons in a row.

Kawhi Leonard, SF 22 MIN | 9-13 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 4 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 20 PTS | +27 +/-Started off hot, cooled down a little bit but overall he was brilliant again. 3-point stroke is starting to come back too.

Tiago Splitter, C 6 MIN | 3-4 FG | 1-1 FT | 2 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 7 PTS | +12 +/-We’re keeping this an incomplete until we find out how bad his calf injury is. But man did he look good while he was in there.

Tony Parker, PG 25 MIN | 2-4 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 9 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 4 PTS | +24 +/-TP9 did his best CP3 impression tonight, getting everyone involved. Didn’t force a damn thing.

Danny Green, SG 20 MIN | 7-9 FG | 1-1 FT | 1 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 2 TO | 21 PTS | +18 +/-He’s been lethal from 3 lately and hit all six attempts against the Nuggets that seemed to forget he was on the court. Definitely the Danny we’re looking for heading into the playoffs.

Jeff Ayres, PF 9 MIN | 2-3 FG | 2-2 FT | 5 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 3 TO | 6 PTS | -2 +/-50 wins.

Marco Belinelli, SF 21 MIN | 5-12 FG | 0-0 FT | 6 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 14 PTS | +8 +/-50 wins (also he’s been refreshingly aggressive lately).

Aron Baynes, C 19 MIN | 6-8 FG | 6-6 FT | 4 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 2 BLK | 1 TO | 18 PTS | +12 +/-50 wins. And tied his career high again.

Matt Bonner, C 22 MIN | 1-3 FG | 0-0 FT | 4 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 3 PTS | -1 +/-50 wins. And he’s Matt F’ing Bonner.

Boris Diaw, C 26 MIN | 5-11 FG | 2-2 FT | 4 REB | 2 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 2 TO | 13 PTS | +12 +/-50 wins. And his aggressiveness continues. And it’s awesome.

Patty Mills, PG 14 MIN | 1-7 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 4 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 2 PTS | +1 +/-50 wins (but yikes that shooting. He’s staying aggressive though).

Cory Joseph, PG 17 MIN | 3-4 FG | 1-2 FT | 2 REB | 3 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 3 TO | 7 PTS | +2 +/-50 wins. And he’s taken the backup point guard job back. Officially.

Manu Ginobili, SG 19 MIN | 2-6 FG | 0-1 FT | 6 REB | 5 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 4 PTS | +17 +/-50 wins. And he’s a wizard.

Gregg Popovich
50 wins. Again. It’s an amazing thing that we should all appreciate. Pop’s the best.

One Thing We Saw

  1. No update on Tiago tonight, but let’s hope it was a little tightness and they were already up double figures so they said screw it and sat him down.
  • brunostrange

    Curious about Tiago’s calf? Same calf that was injured earlier in the season?

  • thedrwolff

    Kawhi on his second 15 point barrage in half a quarter. His 3 ball is back shooting 42% over his last 5 games. Since the end of february he’s looked all star good. Durant is listed as a SF so Durant and Kawhi and….Rudy Gay? Batum? Ariza? Parsons? Barnes?…this list goes on but it seems pretty obvious Kawhi, if healthy, has seen his last all star weekend vacation for at least the next 7 years. It’s fun to think APEX Kawhi is still 3 seasons away. Does he get second Team ALL NBA…Lebron then who if not Kawhi. Derozen is pretty consistent on offense and yet Kawhi is getting serious consideration for DPOY. If Kawhi plays all world Sunday against Golden State and you can bet he’s guarding Curry and Thompson for the whole game…then plays well on the houston home and home…He WILL be DPOY. Draymond Green should play Sunday…then people will get a chance to see both of them. BUCKLE UP spurs fans. A win Sunday sends out the message strong and clear. It’s OURS.

  • td4life

    Maybe the national media will oversimplify things and stick with nice round numbers, but Spurs blogs should make a habit of pointing out that the teams’ record of sustained excellence is actually 18 years and running. Educating the people doesn’t even require an extra sentence.
    To wit:

    “This is for being the catalyst to 50 wins (or equivalent) 18 seasons in a row, as the Spurs have matched or surpassed that 61% regular season winning percentage every single year of Tim Duncan’s entire career.” Credit where credit is due.

  • DorieStreet

    50 wins again! Congratulations Spurs!

  • Emil E. Matula III

    It was good to see Patty Mills attempt two drives and a backdoor cut tonight. His shooting was poor, but he came into the game looking to be an offensive threat instead of deferring or circling around the perimeter.

  • Darnell Brushaud McVea

    I hate that Patty Mills is in a decline, but at least he’ll be doing some well needed towel waving, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing!

  • hoopsaf

    The top 3 SFs in the league are Lebron, Durant, Kawhi in some order and then there is the field that’s pretty far apart. Additionally, Kawhi is the best defender among SFs, and it’s not even close.

    Spurs vs Dubs are going to be epic, particularly if they meet in the playoffs. It’s a clash of teams that are equally dominating. The good news is that Spurs have two players who are antidotes to Curry/Thompson barrage. Also, Stephen Curry has really struggled against Spurs since the 2013 playoff game 1 barrage, thanks in no small part to Kawhi/Green.

    Just last year people were arguing Kawhi is no better than Paul George. It’s a non-argument now. Kawhi is the more efficient scorer, better rebounder, better defender.

  • thedrwolff

    NBA fans are witnessing TRUE defensive excellence in the NBA. Not often seen outside of Centers there are only a handful of defensive specialists that were not drafted for offense. Kawhi is 4th in the league in RPM…top 6 are ALL in the MVP conversation…except Kawhi. Defensive ignorance in the NBA is endemic. NOW, Finally there is someone to show what REAL defensive excellence looks like.

  • thedrwolff

    What makes me almost roll over laughing is it was only 2 months ago the whining out of memphis for Mark Gasol as an MVP candidate was getting loud…and then you looked at his stats…and realized PAU is having a MUCH better season and Mark is like 20th in the league in defensive RPM. Do you think Hollinger (who knows the analytics as well as anyone) was standing up and saying…NO WAY…hes good but,….nahhhh. So now Kawhi is the hands down best on ball D in the league. Scoring 20 a game and lit it for one man 15 point runs in 2 out of three games….do you hear a peep about MVP? The dude WON finals MVP last year by playing EXCELLENT and then the Paul George bull#$%# about George being better and it’s the system??? Man I can’t wait for sundays game so Kawhi has a national stage against the media darlings.