Season 48, Game 61
San Antonio 120, Denver 111
38-23, 7th in the West
It became clear pretty early on that this was going to be a game of offense, and the first team to string together any run of successful defense would prevail.
To be fair to the Spurs, this Nuggets team is a bit rejuvenated (at least offensively) since the firing of Brian Shaw. Under interim coach Melvin Hunt (who was there during the George Karl years), the team has returned to a more uptempo and unpredictable offense. They also are utilizing their players’ strengths better. Plus, the team just seems to be happy, fairly or unfairly, to be out from under Shaw’s leash.
So Denver basically was able to get whatever it wanted on offense, spearheaded by the play of their two PGs, Lawson and Jameer Nelson. Hell, even Kawhi couldn’t stop Lawson after Pop moved Parker off of him to start the 2nd half. Lawson is too tiny and too quick for Kawhi, and he still managed the offense well.
Denver presents many other problems on that side of the ball, as well. They have size and speed at most positions, and crash the offensive glass. While they don’t really have a traditional center to play, they start 3 players that can all play power forward, so it made for some interesting match-ups. Splitter guarding Wilson Chandler is a mismatch, but the other option was Gallinari, which wouldn’t end well, either.
So we couldn’t stop them. But they couldn’t stop us, either. So the game would come down to whichever team blinked first, whichever team played a modicum of defense first (and for any extended period of time), and whichever team could execute better in the clutch. Whatever transpired for the first 44, I’ll take the Spurs to prevail in all three of those categories in the final 4 minutes against this Nuggets team.
The Spurs played just enough defense, executed and trusted their offense just a little bit more, and didn’t get overwhelmed by the moment. Despite how it might have looked, it was a good win. I wouldn’t worry too much about the defense. Some night just turn into 120-111 games. For tonight, we should focus no the 120, not the 111.
A few more thoughts from the game:
–Tony Parker looked great. After three horrible performances, he has shown growth and flashes in each of the subsequent games. Those 3 horrible games followed a great one, so it’s still cautious optimism. But this game he showed more reason for optimism than just his numbers. Namely, he looked like Tony. That old burst was there, as he easily got to the rim (and finished!) whenever he wanted. He even threw in the old spin move in transition, a sure sign he’s healthy and confident. And that jump shot was there. He looked like the Parker we know and trust to be the engine of this offense. More games like this, please.
–Kawhi also continues to impress. He had another stat-stuffing game, with 25 points on 10-17 shooting, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, and 3 blocks. More importantly, he was the best and most impactful player on the floor for either team. Most importantly, he looks more and more comfortable each game being a primary offensive weapon, if not the primary offensive weapon. He’s also finding his offense more and more in the flow of the team game, which is a critical development closing out the regular season and heading towards the playoffs.
–With Splitter starting (and playing well again), the rotation is starting to come together. Right now Pop is going 10-11 deep, with almost 2 distinct units (though he staggers the playing time). Manu spells Green, Boris spells Tiago, Baynes spells Duncan, Belinelli spells Kawhi, and Patty spells Tony. As we saw tonight, if Patty doesn’t perform in the first half, Cory gets the call in the second half. (Cory played great to start the 4th quarter, and gave the team some much needed tenacity on both ends of the floor.) Bonner is dispatched for long range shooting or if any big gets in foul trouble. That leaves Ayres as the emergency back-up to the emergency back-up. There’s also flexibility between Green, Manu, Kawhi, and Marco for the 2 and 3 position. Kawhi will lead the team in minutes, so Marco will see some time at the 2 if the team needs more offense, Green is struggling, or both.
With the win, the Spurs are now only 1/2 game back from the Mavs with a great chance to overtake them in the next few games and climb to the 6-seed. Baby steps.
The Bulls come to town Sunday afternoon for the ABC PrimeTime Matinee.
