THE RUNDOWN: Nuggets win 102-98
First Quarter – Starters: Emmanuel Mudiay, Gary Harris, JaKarr Sampson, Nikola Jokic, Jusuf Nurkic
Stat of the quarter: Nuggets grabbed 16 rebounds to the Spurs’ 12.
The notorious twin tower lineup of Nurkic and Nikola paid dividends quickly as both Jusuf and Jokic matched the entire Spurs team early with 4 points and 4 rebounds respectively. The lineup was already making the task of keeping the Nuggets off the glass an absolute nightmare, as it’s rare that a team will have the length to stop both Balkan big men.
The future was absolutely blinding in the first as even though the twin towers were dominating, neither was Denver’s best player. Mudiay was leading the team, orchestrating the offense and attacking aggressively, pouring in a quarter-high 12 points on 5-7 shooting in the first. The next closest was David West with six.
In just a single season Emmanuel has shown not only immense promise, but promising progress as well. For the prime example, look no further than Mudiay’s jumper:
Absolutely night and day from what it was at the beginning of the season:
The form, the confidence, the aggression — they all matter and they’re all noticeably improved with just his work throughout the season.
Allow him a full offseason solely dedicated to refining his game and one can only imagine how good Mudiay will be next season.
Glad to see that the team is in great hands going forward.
End of first: Nuggets up 24-18.
Second Quarter – Starters: D.J. Augustin, Will Barton, Axel Toupane, Mike Miller, Joffrey Lauvergne
Stat of the quarter: Barton and Nurkic combined for 17 points in the second on 8-10 shooting.
Barton had his hands all over the quarter, playing the entire way and racking up a pu pu platter statline with 10 points, 2 boards, 2 dimes, and 2 steals.
Nurkic continued displaying his scoring prowess, never missing a shot in the quarter going 3-3 from the field.
Putting up as good of a fight against Father Time as anyone’s seen, Tim Duncan continued to be an absolute force despite being the second oldest player in the league behind only Andre Miller who also happens to be on the Spurs.
Duncan had a vintage 11 points in the quarter on 5-6 shooting with wily experience.and array of savvy post moves.
End of second: Spurs up 53-51.
Third Quarter – Starters: Mudiay, Harris, Sampson, Arthur, Jokic
Stat of the quarter: Nuggets grabbed 14 boards to Spurs’ nine.
Although the combination of Nurkic and Jokic was still dictating the game, the quarter was nothing other than the Sampson Show. JaKarr had his fingerprints all over the third as he scored a quarter-high 14 points on 5-6 shooting. Kevin Martin, the closest scorer, had five.
The big men were setting him up for success perfectly, and he capitalized with style. Here we can see how Nurkic’s sheer presence sucked in two defenders and allowed Jokic to make the pass to a wide open JaKarr for three:
Here we see Jokic with a steal leading to an absolutely VICIOUS Sampson slam on the fastbreak:
And here’s JaKarr simply doing it himself, using his great anticipation for the steal and throwing down another fastbreak dunk:
End of third: Nuggets up 77-72.
Fourth Quarter – Starters: Augustin, Barton, Toupane, Miller, Lauvergne
Stat of the quarter: Denver shot an abysmal 36.4 percent from the field but offset it by managing to put up 22 attempts to the Spurs’ 19.
The most encouraging thing about not only this quarter but the entire game was seeing the success of Nurkic starting. He was going right at Duncan, never backing down against one of the greatest players of all time:
He scored a new career-high 21 points on 10-18 shooting to go along with nine boards against one of the best defensive teams in the league.
Mudiay continued his dominance as well, putting away concerns of any scoring problems some may have had coming into the season. He poured in 20 points, six boards and five assists on 8-15 shooting including 3-6 from three. Great stuff from Kid Congo.
More quiet than usual in tonight’s game, Harris exploded onto the scene at the end of the game where he single-handedly took the Nuggets from a bad position to a comfortable win with two back-to-back clutch steals:
In a state with 300 days of sunshine, the future in Denver seems mighty bright.
Final: Nuggets win 102-98.
WHERE/WHEN
Pepsi Center — Denver, CO | April 8th | Regular Season Game 80 (33-47)
PLAYS OF THE GAME
Nurkic giving Duncan a taste of what he’s done to opponents his entire career:
Mudiay with a GREAT aggressive drive:
Barton with an absolutely ridiculous drive to end the first half:
BY THE NUMBERS
NBA.com
The Nuggets’ lack of shooting was absolutely glaring once again as they shot a mere 27.3 percent from three this game. Expect this issue to be a priority in the draft.
Another weakness is the lack of ball security in the team, but that is expected in the first year of not only a new offense, but a major personnel overhaul. Expect the execution to be much more refined next season as I’m sure Malone is absolutely aching to have a full training camp with this roster.
With Nurkic commanding attention down low, Jokic had the luxury of grabbing boards over the Spurs’ weaker rebounders. He gobbled up 15 boards to go along with four dimes in a quietly good game (game high +24).
WHAT’S NEXT
The Nuggets will stay in Denver and look to spoil the Jazz’s hopes of getting into the playoffs in order to try and keep their first round pick from Houston. Tip off is Sunday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. MT.
