Juancho Hernangomez catches fire but Nuggets lose 12th straight in San Antonio

Make it 12 straight.

Behind 30 points from DeMar DeRozan and 27 more from LaMarcus Aldridge on an efficient 13-18 shooting night, the Spurs beat the Nuggets 111-103. It’s the 12th straight time the Spurs have bested the Nuggets in the Lone Star State, a streak that dates back to March 2012.

The Spurs, who came into the game with the league’s top-ranked offense over their last 10 matchups, flexed their muscles in the first half on that end of the floor, shooting over 50 percent from the field. But Denver stayed close due to its three-point shooting, hitting 10 of 20 from distance over the game’s first two quarters.

Doing the heavy lifting was Juancho Hernangomez, who hit six threes in the game on his way to 27 points, tying his career high. Monte Morris added three triples and 15 points off the bench. Denver finished 18-40 from three-point range on the night.

The Nuggets trailed 77-75 after three quarters, but the Spurs rattled off a 15-0 run beginning at the 9:44 mark of the fourth as Denver suffered through a three-plus minute scoreless drought. Trailing by 15 points with 3:10 remaining, Denver’s reserve unit featuring Malik Beasley, Torrey Craig, Tyler Lydon, Brandon Goodwin and Thomas Welsh battled back to trim San Antonio’s lead to five points with 40.4 seconds remaining but ran out of clock.

Nikola Jokic was bottled up by a Spurs’ defense that regularly sent double teams his way and was limited to four points on just 1-5 shooting. Jamal Murray also struggled to score, tallying just nine points on 4-19 shooting, including 1-8 from three.

Malik Beasley got going in the second half, finishing with 22 points on 8-19 shooting. He hit four threes.

The Nuggets and Spurs face off again in Denver on Friday.