Spurs vs Nuggets Previews

Game is Wednesday, 7:30 CST.

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Denver (16-10) at San Antonio (24-3)
Tipoff: 8:30 pm EST Wed Dec 22, 2010
TV: ALT, FSSW
By Kate Hedlin

Carmelo Anthony thought he hit a winning shot to deny the San Antonio Spurs a sixth straight victory last week.

Instead, San Antonio won on a fortuitous call, and it’s added two more victories since then.

The Spurs now look to push their winning streak to double digits Wednesday night when they host Anthony and a Denver Nuggets team that could have some key players back in the lineup.

San Antonio’s longest win streak of the season was a 12-game run Nov. 1-24. The Spurs (24-3) are drawing closer to it because of a break they got in a 113-112 victory at Denver on Thursday.

Anthony hit a shot at the buzzer, but it was waved off for an offensive foul when Manu Ginobili stepped in front to draw a charge. Coach George Karl’s comments about the play led to a $25,000 fine from the NBA.

“It’s a play that I think goes either way a lot,” Karl said. “It seemed like the referees, they like to hit us with tough calls.”

Denver might have better luck ending a three-game losing streak to San Antonio if several key players return. Point guard Chauncey Billups, big man Chris Andersen and forward Kenyon Martin practiced Monday and could play when the Nuggets try for their fourth straight victory at the AT&T Center.

Martin has not played this season due to knee surgery while Billups has missed the last three games with a torn ligament in his right wrist. Andersen has been out with a fracture in his lower back.

Karl said Anderson and Martin will be game-time decisions while he was confident Billups would play. Denver will take all the help it can get as it seeks some revenge against surging San Antonio.

“We owe them a lot of payback,” guard Ty Lawson told the Nuggets’ official website.

Denver didn’t seem to lack for inspiration in its last game at San Antonio, either. Martin had 27 points and 11 rebounds, Billups added 25 points, 11 assists and six rebounds and Andersen chipped in 18 points as the Nuggets won 103-89 without Anthony on Jan. 31.

That gave Denver three straight road victories in the series for the first time.

San Antonio knocked off Phoenix 118-110 on Monday, its fourth straight game decided by eight points or fewer.

“We feel pretty good about ourselves right now. But I think we still have a lot to build on, honestly,” said forward Tim Duncan, who had 20 points and 15 rebounds. “Our record is really good, and that’s a great situation to be in, but we got a lot of things we can clean up.”

Duncan, averaging just 14.1 points and 9.7 rebounds this season, has averaged 20.3 and 13.6 over the last three games.

The Spurs haven’t had two winning streaks of at least 10 games in a season since 2003-04, when they had a 13-game run and an 11-game run.

The Nuggets (16-10) bounced back from the loss to the Spurs with a 115-113 win over Minnesota on Saturday. It wasn’t pretty as Denver blew a 20-point lead, but Anthony had 24 points and a key late block while Lawson added 23 points and nine assists to help the Nuggets hang on.

Lawson has started the last three games in place of Billups and averaged 18.0 points and 8.0 assists.

Denver has been inconsistent since a seven-game winning streak, going 3-4.

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Team Stat Leaders

Points
Carmelo Anthony Den 24.0
Manu Ginobili SA 19.7

Rebounds
Carmelo Anthony Den 8.3
Tim Duncan SA 9.7

Assists
Chauncey Billups Den 5.4
Tony Parker SA 7.1

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http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/preview?gid=2010122224

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Nuggets' Billups, K-Mart, Birdman could return Wednesday vs. Spurs
By Ryan Casey
The Denver Post

Nuggets coach George Karl may soon have the full use of his roster for the first time all season.

Karl said Monday that Chauncey Billups, Kenyon Martin and Chris Andersen should be back from injury in time to play against San Antonio on Wednesday. All three practiced Monday, though at varying degrees of intensity.

"Our team's very confident that we can be really good, but I don't know if we can be really good until we get everybody out there," Karl said after practice.

The big question mark remains Martin, a veteran forward who hasn't played this season while recovering from offseason knee surgery. He participated in the majority of practice Monday.

Keep Reading...

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...Carmelo Anthony didn't practice Monday because of a strained right elbow, which he injured earlier this season, but the high-scoring forward is expected to play against the Spurs.

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http://www.denverpost.com/nuggets/ci_16907763

Should be a Spurs victory. Let's just say Nuggets aren't so good on the road this season. ;)

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Wednesday: Nuggets (16-10) at Spurs (24-3)
Jeff McDonald

...Manu prefers not to take another ‘Melo charge: “He’s strong, and it hurts.”

...Road team has won six straight in the series. … Martin, Billups and Andersen did not play for Nuggets in previous meeting but could return tonight.

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http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursna...at-spurs-24-3/

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Monroe with a nice piece on Karl. Wish him the best, nice to see him fighting. :toast

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Mike Monroe: Karl bites back at cancer with more delegating

...These days, not even the toughest loss of the season can prevent a double cancer survivor from enjoying simple pleasures.

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http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursna...re-delegating/

Spurs will win. We have a solid team. Go Spurs Go

be intersting to see if spurs feel disrepectfully against the nuggets because of the way the end of the game went and
nuggets crying about it
if spurs just go out to crush them

with himself?

I am taken
I have been married to the same person for 12 years and have 2 kids
HELLO

This is not going to be all that easy. They are getting healthy, while we wont have Hill, Anderson & maybe Splitter. We have a rough schedule starting tomorrow, so it would be nice to begin it with the W. The Nugg's will be out for revenge after the last game, but if we stay focused we should be able to pull out another W.

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Originally Posted by guitardude27

I thought they banned gay marriage and gay adoption in Texas. Did Bill White win?

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I married a woman and do not live in texas
you wrong again:lol:lol:lol:lol

:lmao @ gray Spurs fan regulating ducks. Amazing how fast reputations spread around here.

Will be a tough game.

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Originally Posted by guitardude27

So you married a post-op tranny and you live in California? Sounds about right.

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wrong againt

They will come mad.... real mad. JR and Melo will have so many techs. We pull this one off by 6 points... all tech free throws.

i expect a 15pt win

Hit the link for the whole piece.

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Nuggets carrying chip on shoulders
Mike Monroe

...“I like scaring the hell out of (the Spurs),” Nuggets coach George Karl said. “I like beating them even better.”

Tonight, Karl brings a team to the AT&T Center which he believes is still miffed about Thursday’s loss, which turned on a charge call that wiped out Carmelo Anthony’s buzzer-beating basket.

“That’s a loss that lingers with you a little bit longer than most,” Karl said.

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http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursna...-on-shoulders/

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Originally Posted by duncan228

Hit the link for the whole piece.



http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursna...-on-shoulders/

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:wakeup

Nuggets win by 10

Mavs beat Nuggets in Denver by 1 on a missed buzzer beater by Melo, and then the Nuggets went into Dallas a couple nights later and owned them

This game will be a repeat of that.

Enjoy the game, will be another tough one :toast

Nuggets by 20

Louis! How them Rockets doing? :)

Would be incredible to be 25-3.

Let me say this, if Neal and Bonner his 5 3pt between them, we'll win. If not, we could still win but a loss is a possibility, but not really.

Thanks Duncan228

Should be an interesting game and a good test for the Spurs, marred somewhat by Hill's absence. His aggressive play is crucial against a young team like the Nuggets IMO. But as we've seen so far, folks just keep stepping up night after night.

Of course Denver is short-handed as well. I smell another barn-burner.

I can't believe the Nuggets feel they should have won the previous game...

I mean had they won WE could have felt "robbed" by the refs! (ie Hill offensive fault less than 1 min remaining and many other "strange" calls...)

Unbelievable...

The same old nuggets. Still whining about calls and officials days later. This certainly typifies the Nuggets losing attitude. :whine

Almost glad Billups is back - he's struggled this year. Any minutes he takes away from Lawson/Affalo/Smith (all 3 gave the Spurs fits last week) will be welcomed.

I actually think this game could be a blowout for the Spurs..I think if a point were to be made by the Spurs this season, it would be during this week as they prepare to go against the NBA's best. Additionally the nuggets have had our number when playing in SA, so I'm sure the Spurs will want to see that streak come to an end..

Orlando road game tomorrow. Tonight is a trap game. :p

http://www.nba.com/news/referee.html
Referee Assignments
Wed. Dec. 22
Denver @ San Antonio: Marc Davis; Tommy Nunez Jr.; Tom Washington

Advanced Scouting: Denver Nuggets at San Antonio Spurs
by Scott Sereday
48 Minutes of Hell

http://www.48minutesofhell.com/advan...spurs-12-22-10

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Originally Posted by K-State Spur

Almost glad Billups is back - he's struggled this year. Any minutes he takes away from Lawson/Affalo/Smith (xall 3 gave the Spurs fits last week) will be welcomed.

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Exactly what I was thinking. Afflalo was hurting us the most last game, id much rather see a rusty c billups than that dude

Melo will not play tonight ... this makes the game even tougher

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Spurs expecting test from Denver’s retooled roster, even without ‘Melo
Tim Griffin

...But George Karl’s team will likely have starters Kenyon Martin and Chauncey Billups back in the lineup when they visit the AT&T Center. Both did not play in the earlier game between the two teams.

“They have a completely different look,” Spurs forward Richard Jefferson said. “They’re a talented team that has been in the playoffs the last six or seven years. It’s a good test for us.”

Spurs center DeJuan Blair expects that the Nuggets haven’t forgotten the finish of their most recent game against the Spurs. Anthony was whistled for a charging foul into Manu Ginobili on the final Denver possession to ice a 113-112 victory.

“You know they will come back with a vengenance,” Blair said. “They will come back hard and ready to play. We’ve got to stay ready and come out and take the first hit tonight.”

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http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursna...-without-melo/

I don't see any value in streaks, how the last game went, all those bullshit talking points... The Spurs either come out and attack or they lay back and wait for it to come to them. These other things are just fan chatroom talk. They have nothing to do with how the game plays out.

It was good to see Neal being productive, he's been solid all year. It will be good to get all the guys going again, injuries suck. Then again, the Nuggets are down their biggest gun. We can beat these guys. Their remaining team is sub .500 without Melo.

Blair wants to take the first hit or the first shot? Just wondering because they are two different things.

This is going to be a tough game. Even without Anthony, the Nuggets still have a lot of guys who can fill it up and they'll be playing with a chip on their shoulder.

As always at the start of a tough back-to-back, I'd like to see Pop try to pull the first one out at all costs. If it takes playing key guys more minutes than he'd planned or prefers to, so be it. Just make sure to do everything possible (within' reason, I'm not suggesting play someone 42 minutes) to get this one, then take their chances with tomorrow's game.

I suspect we'll see Splitter over McDyess tonight. The Spurs somewhat struggled with Nene's mobility last week and with the Spurs needing McDyess to wrestle with Howard tomorrow for stretches, Pop will probably try to avoid using him tonight.

Hopefully the Nuggets start Williams again. Since he's a non threat, Duncan is free to focus on being a weak side shot blocker on Nene, like he was at the start of the last meeting. Reminded me of the old days.

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Originally Posted by spurs1990

Would be incredible to be 25-3.

Let me say this, if Neal and Bonner his 5 3pt between them, we'll win. If not, we could still win but a loss is a possibility, but not really.

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In all of our losses this year those two didn't hit more than 2 three's.

All three of our losses.