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