Short-handed Spurs hang with Nuggets
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.
prima donas. ship their asses now!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.’”
Translation: "I have 4 rings. I'll do what the I want, when I want."“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.”
That #21 guy just causes to much . Trade him more Mihm and Ariza!!!!
Updated.
Spurs – Big Three = defeat
Jeff McDonald
DENVER — It was by a strange confluence of cir stances that Kurt Thomas found himself in the half-court circle in the seconds before the opening tap Tuesday night, staring at a 6-foot-11 Brazilian pogo stick named Nenê.
Thomas, 36-years-old and 6-9, was supposed to win a jump ball with this guy? Really?
Well, no. Not really.
“I lost that thing,” said Thomas, the Spurs’ surprise starter at power forward against Denver. “As expected.”
That sums up the Spurs’ latest trip to the Pepsi Center. They lost, 104-96, to a Nuggets team that has taken up residence at the top of the Northwest Division. But, thanks to the aforementioned confluence of cir stances, it became a game they weren’t expected to win anyway.
In fact, by night’s end, it became a game they were proud to have kept close.
The list of Spurs players who did not play was comprised of every All-Star, past and present, on the roster: Tim Duncan, out. Tony Parker, resting. Manu Ginobili, sidelined with a sore hip. Michael Finley, night off.
Despite it all, the Spurs (33-15) weathered 35 points from Carmelo Anthony, the only superstar left on the court by game’s end, to find themselves within two points in the fourth quarter. Denver (32-16) eventually held on for the victory, but by the tenor of each coach’s postgame remarks, it was difficult to tell.
“I thought our guys gave it a fine shot, hanging in the game, never giving in,” said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, whose team ended a four-game win streak.
George Karl, meanwhile, used the words “disappointing” and “immature” to describe the Nuggets’ performance.
“San Antonio played with a lot of heart and hustle,” Karl said. “They scared the out of us.”
Playing less than 24 hours after his players emptied their tanks to fend off Golden State in overtime, Popovich opted to give four of his five top scorers the night off.
Asked about that decision, Popovich first went for a laugh.
Ginobili, he said, was “legitimately banged up” after suffering a left hip contusion against the Warriors. As for the others?
“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 variety of reasons, I don’t think Timmy and Tony should play tonight,” he said.
Before the game, Karl was effusive in his praise of the Spurs’ Big Three, labeling Duncan an MVP candidate, Ginobili “spectacular” and Parker a bona fide superstar.
“If I had one wish tonight, it would be to control his penetration,” Karl said of Parker.
Karl might as well have stumbled upon a pregame genie. He got his first three wishes.
No Parker. No Duncan. No Ginobili. It almost didn’t matter.
The Nuggets did their best to level the playing field early. Already without one starter — the tonsillitis-stricken Kenyon Martin — Denver had All-Star point guard Chauncey Billups leave with a sprained ankle in the second quarter.
Denver led by as many as 17 points in the second half before the patchwork Spurs came roaring back. How patchwork? The Spurs’ second-leading scorer was Malik Hairston, a rookie playing in his third NBA game.
Spurs guard Roger Mason Jr. had 18 of his team-leading 26 points after halftime, and when Jacque Vaughn buried a jumper with 8:58 to play, the Spurs were within 90-88.
Denver soon stretched its lead back to 11, but still the Spurs kept coming. Mason’s 3-pointer with two minutes to go narrowed the gap to 98-94, though the Spurs could get no closer.
“We knew without the Big Three it would be a different game for us,” Mason said. “If we could get stops, we knew we’d have a chance.”
In the end, it was all the Spurs could ask for.
Featuring a b2b road trip playing team on Fans Night is not a good idea.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
