In a game of runs, the Spurs outlasted the Nuggets on Thursday night 118-108 to take a 2-1 lead in the first round playoff series. San Antonio led by nine points after the first quarter and ended up winning by ten points -- but it was far from easy. In fact, the details of this game will be remembered for many moons to come.
Midway into the first quarter, the game was tied 16-16. That's when the first run commenced, as the Spurs were able to finish out the period on a 15-6 run. However, the script flipped to begin the second quarter. In the first three minutes, Denver sprinted to a 16-0 run to turn the nine-point deficit into a seven-point lead.
With a little bit more than five minutes left in the first half, San Antonio found themselves in a ten-point hole, 50-40. Thankfully, a three-minute run of their own -- a 13-2 run, to be exact -- carried the Spurs out of the hole and into the lead.
The good guys led 61-58 at halftime and the two teams traded mini-runs in the third quarter but neither squad was able to get a grasp on the proceedings.
With an 88-84 advantage entering the fourth quarter, San Antonio's lead dwindled to two points after a Malik Beasley three-pointer with 11:17 remaining. In what became the game's final meaningful run, the Spurs outscored the Nuggets 19-4 over the course of five minutes to take the game by the scruff of the neck and put it to bed.
While the Spurs had a few players who performed well, this game will always be known as Derrick White's breakout party. The second year guard dominated the action on both ends of the court to put together one of the most impressive postseason performances in this storied franchise's history, especially when you factor in his relative inexperience and his previously reached ceiling.
LaMarcus Aldridge B-
Aldridge is slowly getting better as this series progresses, however he can definitely play better than we've seen thus far. The good: His defense was intense, his rebounding on both sides of the floor was stout and he found open teammates when the Nuggets sent double-teams his way. Aldridge was aggressive enough offensively to draw a lot of attention, particularly in pick-and-pops. The bad: He scoring was inefficient, as he scored just 18 points on 17 field goal attempts. Aldridge's main issue right now on offense is he needs to be stronger going to the rim. He's having success when he drives, he just needs to do it more often -- and with more chutzpah. If he can mix in pick-and-rolls with his pick-and-pops and go up stronger under the rim, he could have a breakout performance before this series is over. Defensively, he hasn't been great but he's doing enough, as Aldridge is the team's best option to throw at Paul Millsap.
DeMar DeRozan B-
If you just look at DeRozan's statistics, one would assume that he had a solid ballgame. The truth, though, is much more complicated. In the first half, DeRozan was bad. He was just 1-for-7 from the floor with only two free throw attempts. Defensively, he was even worse, I thought. He got frustrated with the refs early on and he let his moping impact every aspect of his game, perhaps his defense most of all. DeRozan wasn't tracking his man well, gave up too easily in one-on-one situations and was disengaged from the defensive gameplan. To his credit, he settled down at halftime and came out a different player after intermission. In the third quarter, he was great on offense. DeRozan scored 19 of the team's 27 points on 7-for-9 shooting from the floor and 5-of-6 shooting from the charity stripe. The Spurs likely lose if he doesn't explode in that period. I also thought he played wisely on offense in the fourth quarter, as well. Defensively, DeRozan had a couple positive moments sprinkled in during the second half but he mostly remained a liability for the duration of the night.
Derrick White A++
Wow. What a performance by White. In the first half, he patiently found creases to the rim and relentlessly attacked the Nuggets interior. Never in a hurry, White took out his scalpel and carved Denver up to the tune of 26 first half points on 11-for-15 shooting. The Nuggets changed their strategy after halftime and White unselfishly shifted gears on the fly. He didn't take a shot in the third quarter but played smart team basketball. In the fourth, White closed out what he started. He scored ten points in the final period while displaying fantastic playmaking ability whenever the Nuggets paid him too much attention. Oh, and let's not overlook what White did on the defensive end. He was the best defender on the court for either team. White did a lot on that side of the floor, most notably shutting down Jamal Murray (six points on 2-for-6 shooting in 31 minutes). Great, great game ... I don't know what else to say.
Bryn Forbes B
Defensively, I was actually somewhat impressed by Forbes tonight. He was quickly getting around screens, stayed in front of his man well, supplied timely help and got back in transition. It was quietly one of his better defensive games of the season. Offensively, Forbes had his moments -- most of which came from behind the three-point arc -- but he also forced up a few bad shots. I usually applaud his aggression on offense but Forbes took it a step too far tonight. That said, he had an above average night by providing spacing on offense and solid defense (compared to the rest of his perimeter counterparts outside of White, that is).
Jakob Poeltl A-
In the first two games, the Spurs had difficulty dealing with Denver's muscle in the middle. To help solve that issue, Poeltl played 31 minutes -- his most playing time since the end of February. The adjustment paid immediate dividends. Poeltl's defense on Nikola Jokic was admirable, as he guarded him out to the three-point line with quick feet and in the low post with muscle. He successfully tiptoed the line between applying pressure and being overly aggressive, which helped keep his fouls at reasonable level. At the same time, he protected the basket well and was active in the passing lanes. While Poeltl didn't grab many defensive boards, he boxed out very well and the Spurs were able to grab just about every defensive board when he was on the court. Offensively, he was nuisance on the glass, made the right passes, set hardy screens and his touch around the rim was impressively deft. Overall, Poeltl's combination of mobility, basketball smarts and hustle make him a valuable piece to the puzzle going forward.
Rudy Gay C
Better. Not good ... but better. Gay is now just 6-for-21 (28.6%) from the field this series outside of the second quarter of Game 1. While his shooting was off and he was painfully loose with the ball, Gay recovered some of his offensive value by crashing the boards and getting to the free throw line. Defensively, he exhibited more toughness and was stronger when it came to boxing out and grabbing contested rebounds. Gay is out of rhythm and the Nuggets are a difficult matchup for him but his effort can't be questioned. Let's hope he can get it going because the Spurs could really use an offensive focal point for the bench unit.
Patty Mills D-
Yeesh. Mills is efforting on defense but that isn't stopping the Nuggets from roasting him. When he's on the court, it's extremely difficult for the Spurs to get a single stop. He's trying to compensate for his shortcomings with pressure but it's having little impact. Offensively, Mills aimlessly dribbled too much, didn't push the pace, made awkward and arrhythmic decisions, and was poor at running sets.
Marco Belinelli D-
As bad as Mills was on defense, Belinelli was worse. When the Nuggets ran his man off of a pick away from the ball, Belinelli was slow to react and ended up helplessly behind the play. Denver has installed specific sets to take advantage of Belinelli's D and they work almost every time. Offensively, he was okay-ish but didn't come close to negating his lack of defense. And while he hit a couple three-pointers on a trio of attempts, I wasn't too impressed with his shot-selection this evening.
Davis Bertans C
Bertans simply doesn't have the heft to deal with the bigs on Denver. Rather than watch him get pushed around, the coaches opted to use Poeltl more. I can't say I disagreed with that decision. Add in the fact that Denver's rotation is filled with players that are either big and strong or players that are exceedingly quick for their position, and it's plain to see why Bertans doesn't fit in this series.
Pop B
First of all, Pop played a key role in Denver's 16-0 run to start the second quarter by beginning the period with a lineup of Mills, Belinelli, Gay, Bertans and Poeltl. Against an athletic and rugged team like the Nuggets, that lineup is suicide. Pop also needs to do a better job of either hiding or at least separating Mills and Belinelli. The Nuggets are salivating whenever either one of those two players hit the court, so something must be done. Outside of those two glaring issues, I thought Pop coached a really good game. He put the ball in White's hands early and often to try to make the Nuggets pay for shading their defense away from him. To say that was a good decision would be an understatement. Pop also deserves credit for giving extended minutes to Poeltl and leaning on DeRozan in the third when he got it going. The coach's defensive gameplan against Jokic, which is constantly shifting within games to keep him guessing, worked well. All in all, outside of that stretch in the second period, the Spurs were the much better team and Pop is pushing a whole lot of correct buttons.
We could really use Parker right now. Mills isn't getting it done. This team goes as far as White takes him.
With their burly front-line, Gay needs to pull his weight, especially with only two legitimate bigs on the roster. Bertans is useless this series. Really need better production out of Mills and Belly, but they give up so many runs to the rim, so ugly.
Fortunately they don't have a lot of offense when Murray's not getting free. Beasley seems to roast the Spurs, but White looks like he can stymie Murray. If so, this will be hard for Denver going forward.
Thanks for the excellent analysis of the game! I just hope Gay has a better game 4 and Patty and Beli can make up for their defensive liabilities with some marksmanship. Now Game 4 is the most important game of the year. We need all our home games...obviously.
Grades are pretty much spot on.
DWHITE seems to have got his legs back. Showing alot more bounce and mobility than a month ago. No coincidence most of his points came from layups and dunks.
As always thanks for grades
As this team progresses in this first round, and hopefully advance to the next round, this team will definitely need for the second unit, as well as the role players, to really step it up! Right now, the McNuggets are exploiting the 2nd unit subs like a old rich naive and vulnerable widow, and taking advantage of her.Even our "allstars," LMA and DD10, need to play better going forward, but on a consistent basis. DW4 definitely can't carry this team on his back by himself. But I'm also hoping that this team is starting to smell blood now and want to finish off those McNuggets! Let's see how hungry they are! GSG!!!
Thanks for the grades as always!
Great win! White is a proud guy with this performance after Q4 from Murray in Game 2. Impressive on both ends!
Concerns:
1. LA is still playing worse than expected. Millsap is destroying him, fortunately they don't go to him a lot. And LA can't punish Millsap enough on the other end so far. I'm looking forward to a better performance by him.
2. Bench play. In the regular season our bench won us games. In this series the whole bench seems almost unplayable.
Finally, White is trusted on the offense more times than either Derozan and Aldridge.
Poetl needs to be on the court more often. He's that safety valve when the offense or defense breaks down. You cannot underestimate his quickness and IQ on the court. He's always there to bail out a broken play. He's the Spurs best defensive player.
Gay's lack of mobility is showing. Gay also seems to have lost a lot of Spring compared to earlier play this season. He can't seem to rise up high enough to overwelm the compe ion.
The bench is a problem agaisnst the Nuggets. Its hard to hide Mills and Belinelli against the Nuggets quick and athletic wings. I say Spurs place some trust on Walker to play bench minutes. He's athletic enough to keep up with the young Nuggets.
I wonder if we still had Pau, would he be at least serviceable against a player like Jokic.
Last edited by ceperez; 04-19-2019 at 06:36 AM.
Mills sucks
I'd welcome Cory Joseph right now....
Will Mills have an expiring contract for 2019-2020?
If that was a D- performance by Fifty last night I'd hate to see what an F would be.
I had a hard time sleeping after this game. Great win. I’ve thought all season the Nuggets were overachieving so I’m not sure if it’s them regressing to the mean or our guys elevating their play. Maybe some of both? Either way, last night was a really encouraging win. A 3-1 lead is a real possibility here if they can keep their head down, bench Mills as long as possible, and see that the Nuggets keep Jokic on the floor
There were only six games separating the Nuggets and Spurs in the standings. The Spurs coughed up games to some terrible teams this year, without which they'd be at the top of the bracket.
Cliff notes
white is awesome
mills sucks
It was more about Jokic bad conditioning which leads to him not being able to be aggressive enough on the offensive end than Poetl's defensive effectiveness against him. Whenever Jokic attacked Poetl he destroyed him and i expect that to continue. If Jokic manages to be more aggressive in game 4 Peotl's "smarts"(can't believe someone who watches bball used that word for Poetl) can't do anything to stop him and that would be an L for us. LMA has to be even better defensively if we are to have any chance in game 4.
IMO that was an A+ game from Denver too, I don't think they can play that well again
What I liked from DeRozan and Aldridge was their patience offensively, their willingness to let White take over the game. But both of them still could and hopefully will be better, especially LMA.
That was a great win against a team that played a very good game. Denver shot over 50 % from the field and from three. Sure, some of this is on the Spurs' defense, but it also is great playmaking by Jokic and great shotmaking by guys like Beasley and Craig.
Watching a guy like White growing into a damn fine player right in front of our eyes is one of the reasons I love this game so much.
Nope.Guaranteed 13.3 Mil$ for 19-20 and 20-21.Expiring in 2021.
i just got done arguing with a friend that the Spurs were the distant 3rd best western conference team. Don’t get me wrong, our guys aren’t an unbelievable team but they’re definitely better than their record suggests. So I agree. Not to mention I see a major difference in chemistry right now than earlier this season. If they stay locked in, they could at least give the Warriors or Rockets (big IF)
Huh? Murray is one of their top players and only scored 6 points. Nowhere near an A+ game for the Nuggs.
This team has performed admirably and should be a surprise to many doubters. This is a 2nd seed they are pretty much dominating. I don’t care if it’s a good matchup; that’s impressive.
The game plan is great and the only trouble has been the lineups. If pop keeps that part straight SA is in a prime spot to do what hardly any 7th seed has done; upset a 2nd seed.
Also playoff DeRozan has been very solid. Not spectacular but better than his reputation precedes.
DDR isn't half the player he was at the beginning of the season. He seems to have lost the magic dribbling skills when going to the basket that impressed us all. And he makes a lot of turnovers. He should never be the PG.Nevertheless, he made a offensive contribution in the second half that was important.
I'm one of those who want to try Walker in place of Mills or Bellinelli for a trial. Maybe the rookie can stay with the Nuggets on defense if he is mentally prepped by the coaches to play within himself and not try to go hero. I know it is a risk, but how could he do worse defensively and the other two arent giving us that much offensively this series. If he gets burned repeatedly, you can take him out quickly. On the other hand, maybe he rises to the occasion like White and becomes a valuable asset.
This has become White's series to win or lose. He may not be able to score 36 or better again, but he is controlling the game like few rookies in their first playoff role ever have. Magic Johnson's first playoff comes to mind, but Magic had so many weapons on the Lakers team that are far better than the comparable Spurs. Win or lose, White has had a great coming out party.
OTOH Murray is like a 40% shooter being defended by White, need him to shoot more
Thanks for the grades TimVP.
I think the Spurs found a formula tonight to beat the Nuggets that Denver can't counter. Attack Murray and Jokic in pick & rolls and get to the rim. White is not the only player on our roster who can do that. I'd rather see Poeltl on Millsap since he's more mobile and LA on Jokic. I think that works better, but Spurs can switch it up. Mills is now completely useless since he can't even make freethrows anymore with that thumb injury. He will now be a black hole on offense and defense. Spurs bench was awful and Rudy Gay played extremely lazy on defense. He let players blow by him without moving an inch. Some of our shooters are due to get hot otherwise that bench will get us into a hole everytime. I think Pop has now realized he can't bench White and DeRozan at the same time and will stagger their minutes from here on.
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