duncan228
02-03-2009, 11:52 PM
Short-handed Spurs hang with Nuggets (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Short-handed_Spurs_hang_with_Nuggets.html)
Jeff McDonald
DENVER – Not long before tipoff Tuesday night, Denver coach George Karl stood before a gaggle of reporters with a confession to make. Playing the Spurs, he said, always makes him nervous.
“The butterflies are bigger,” Karl said. “You feel them today.”
And it doesn’t seem to matter who is wearing the Spurs silver and black uniforms.
Playing without their four of their top five scorers – one of them banged up, the others taking a Gregg Popovich-prescribed health day – the Spurs played the Nuggets within two points in the fourth quarter before falling 104-96 at the Pepsi Center.
Carmelo Anthony scored 35 points to lead the Nuggets, who also got 17 points and 11 rebounds from Nene.
The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Spurs, but comes with a Tim Duncan-sized asterisk.
Manu Ginobili did not play with what was called a left hip contusion, suffered in a spill a night earlier in the Spurs’ overtime victory at Golden State. Neither did Duncan or Tony Parker, the team’s two All-Stars, presumably to recharge after the taxing – and late – win in Oakland. Ditto for veteran Michael Finley, who missed only his sixth game since joining the team.
When initially asked about his decision to trot out a preseason lineup in February, Popovich went for a laugh.
Ginobili, Popovich said, was “legitimately banged up.” As for his other two sidelined stars?
“Parker makes the All-Star team and becomes hard to deal with, so we’re going to sit him and teach him a lesson,” Popovich joked. “Duncan says he wants to renegotiate his contract, so I said, ‘Sit, I’m not talking to you.’”
Pressed further, Popovich played coy.
“For a different variety of reasons, I don’t think Timmy and Tony should play tonight,” Popovich said before the game. “I think they need a break.”
Roger Mason paced the Spurs with 26 points, his highest-scoring outing since Nov. 21, and very nearly helped bring the Spurs back from a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter.
It was a battle of division leaders in name only.
The Nuggets had looked to Tuesday’s game as a measuring stick for a team that was leading the Northwest Division, but didn’t own many signature victories. Narrowly defeating Spurs Lite won’t count.
Still, the Nuggets tried hard to level the playing field as the game went along.
Already without one starter – the tonsillitis-stricken Kenyon Martin – the Nuggets saw All-Star point guard Chauncey Billups leave the game with a sprained ankle in the second quarter.
Billups’ exit allowed the Spurs, down 12 at the half and 10 at the end of three quarters, to make a last run at the Nuggets. They made seven of their first eight shots in the fourth quarter, and when Jacque Vaughn threw in a jumper with 8:58 to play, the Spurs were within 80-78.
Denver answered, with J.R. Smith throwing in a 3-pointer, and then Linas Kleiza, to get the lead back to 11.
Pesky, the Spurs rallied back to within four on a Mason 3-pointer with two minutes to go, but could get no closer.
Jeff McDonald
DENVER – Not long before tipoff Tuesday night, Denver coach George Karl stood before a gaggle of reporters with a confession to make. Playing the Spurs, he said, always makes him nervous.
“The butterflies are bigger,” Karl said. “You feel them today.”
And it doesn’t seem to matter who is wearing the Spurs silver and black uniforms.
Playing without their four of their top five scorers – one of them banged up, the others taking a Gregg Popovich-prescribed health day – the Spurs played the Nuggets within two points in the fourth quarter before falling 104-96 at the Pepsi Center.
Carmelo Anthony scored 35 points to lead the Nuggets, who also got 17 points and 11 rebounds from Nene.
The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Spurs, but comes with a Tim Duncan-sized asterisk.
Manu Ginobili did not play with what was called a left hip contusion, suffered in a spill a night earlier in the Spurs’ overtime victory at Golden State. Neither did Duncan or Tony Parker, the team’s two All-Stars, presumably to recharge after the taxing – and late – win in Oakland. Ditto for veteran Michael Finley, who missed only his sixth game since joining the team.
When initially asked about his decision to trot out a preseason lineup in February, Popovich went for a laugh.
Ginobili, Popovich said, was “legitimately banged up.” As for his other two sidelined stars?
“Parker makes the All-Star team and becomes hard to deal with, so we’re going to sit him and teach him a lesson,” Popovich joked. “Duncan says he wants to renegotiate his contract, so I said, ‘Sit, I’m not talking to you.’”
Pressed further, Popovich played coy.
“For a different variety of reasons, I don’t think Timmy and Tony should play tonight,” Popovich said before the game. “I think they need a break.”
Roger Mason paced the Spurs with 26 points, his highest-scoring outing since Nov. 21, and very nearly helped bring the Spurs back from a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter.
It was a battle of division leaders in name only.
The Nuggets had looked to Tuesday’s game as a measuring stick for a team that was leading the Northwest Division, but didn’t own many signature victories. Narrowly defeating Spurs Lite won’t count.
Still, the Nuggets tried hard to level the playing field as the game went along.
Already without one starter – the tonsillitis-stricken Kenyon Martin – the Nuggets saw All-Star point guard Chauncey Billups leave the game with a sprained ankle in the second quarter.
Billups’ exit allowed the Spurs, down 12 at the half and 10 at the end of three quarters, to make a last run at the Nuggets. They made seven of their first eight shots in the fourth quarter, and when Jacque Vaughn threw in a jumper with 8:58 to play, the Spurs were within 80-78.
Denver answered, with J.R. Smith throwing in a 3-pointer, and then Linas Kleiza, to get the lead back to 11.
Pesky, the Spurs rallied back to within four on a Mason 3-pointer with two minutes to go, but could get no closer.