Nuggets visit Spurs with eyes on a fourth-straight win

The Denver Nuggets travel to Texas looking to extend their winning streak to four games and secure a statement win over the San Antonio Spurs, who are the only other team outside of the Golden State Warriors to not have double-digit losses on the season.

Regular season game No. 41 | Denver Nuggets (17-23) vs San Antonio Spurs (32-9)

AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas  | 6:30 PM MST | TV: Altitude

Keeping the offense rolling

Since Dec. 15th, a date that will continually be referenced the rest of the year, when Nikola Jokic made his triumphant return to the starting lineup, the Nuggets are second in Offensive Rating, scoring 115.5 points per 100 possessions which is second to only the San Antonio Spurs. The offense has been firing on all cylinders and the ball and player movement looks effortless. The Nuggets are averaging 27.9 assists per contest since DEC. 15th, good for second in the league to just the Golden State Warriors.

The Nuggets offense has no lack of firepower and can score with any team in the NBA, especially with the ultra-athletic Kenneth Faried alongside Jokic as the new starting power forward. Faried and Jokic complement each other perfectly. In the past two games since Faried has been starting, he has a Net Rating of +27.2 overall with an offensive rating 127.2 and an even more ludicrous effective field goal percentage of 86.4. That is not a typo and is as outlandish as it sounds. Faried has averages of 20 points, six rebounds, two assists, and a steal per game since returning to the starting lineup.

If the Nuggets hope to come away with a victory on the road against the Spurs they will need to continue this offensive tear they have been on for over a month now. In the three-game winning streak, the Nuggets are averaging 130.7 points on 57.5 percent shooting from the field and over 40 percent from three-point distance. They will need more of that to stick with the offensive unit of the Spurs. The Nuggets have not won a game in which they scored under the century mark and if they do not reach 100 points against the Spurs there is almost no feasible way to come way with a victory.

Slowing the Spurs

With Denver sporting a league-worst defensive rating of 114.7 since that infamous date of Dec. 15 of last year, they need to find a way to inject some defense into the game. Surprisingly enough, the Nuggets have a recipe to disturb the offense of the Spurs. San Antonio, since Dec. 15, are 18th in the league in turnover percentage and have turned the ball over on 14 percent of possessions while the Nuggets have been forcing an extra two steals per game. Forcing turnovers may be the one thing the Nuggets can do to keep themselves above water defensively without the services of both Wilson Chandler and Gary Harris.

The Nuggets need to find a way to elevate their defensive presence and if they can, Denver will quickly start being considered as one of the up-and-coming contenders in the Western Conference. Malone has spoken on this issue many times and the Nuggets have mixed up their lineups looking for a way to get the defense to a mediocre level.

“Now the challenge is can we become a team in the immediate future go from being below average to an average defensive team; and then from an average defensive team to an elite defensive team,” Malone said. “If we do that, that’s when it gets scary. What is out limit, what is our potential? I can’t wait to see what it is.”