Nuggets emerge from 3-point shooting slump, ease past Spurs

Michael Malone had never seen one of his teams struggle to shoot the ball as much as the Nuggets had over their last six games. Coming into Denver’s matchup with San Antonio, the Nuggets had shot just 26% from three and was sporting the worst offense in the league over that span.

“I’ve never been a part of a team that has had as many players at once struggling to make shots,” Malone said.

The Nuggets aren’t out of their prolonged shooting slump by any means but for one night looked like the three-point shooting team they’ve been for most of this season. Denver finished 12-33 (36.4 percent) from three, its second-best three-point shooting night of the last seven games and beat the Spurs 113-85.

Gregg Popovich didn’t see much of Denver’s impressive effort from beyond the arc. He was ejected from the game just 63 seconds into the first quarter for arguing with an official.

Denver dominated San Antonio throughout most of Wednesday’s win, getting double-digit scoring efforts from six different players. Nikola Jokic finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists, one assist short of his 13th triple-double of the season. He also shot 9-10 from the field with his one miss coming on a three-quarter court heave to end the first half.

Malik Beasley bounced back from a tough outing in Golden State to score 19 points off the bench, his highest scoring games since March 8. Monte Morris added 19 points on 8-13 shooting. Jamal Murray (14 points, six rebounds and 11 assists), Will Barton (11 points), and Gary Harris (11 points) also finished in double-figures.

Denver finished with a season-high 41 assists.

The Nuggets host the Trail Blazers on Friday.