DENVER — The last time the Nuggets beat the San Antonio Spurs was during the final week of the 2015-16 regular season. That night the Spurs rested four of their five starters, and Denver won 102-98. Emmanuel Mudiay finished with 20 points, six rebounds and five assists. Jusuf Nurkic registered a double-double: 21 points and 10 rebounds.
The Nuggets’ last win before their April 2016 victory? April 10, 2013. Wilson Chandler scored a game-high 29 points. Corey Brewer chipped in 28 off Denver’s bench.
Denver had lost 15 of its last 16 games against San Antonio heading into Tuesday night’s matchup, and even though the Spurs were without All-Stars Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge, the Nuggets knew they couldn’t overlook Gregg Popovich’s bunch.
“I don’t care who plays for them,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said after Denver’s 117-109 win. “They have the best coach in NBA history.”
This isn’t some new or revolutionary line of thinking from Malone. The Spurs have been doing this for the better part of two decades — out-executing, out-working and out-strategizing their opposition.
“They just play the right way,” said Jamal Murray, who gutted out a memorable 17-point performance in 38 minutes while battling chest pain that made it difficult for the 20-year-old point guard to breath.
This was another classic Spurs performance — for the three-and-a-half quarters. San Antonio, which went down to the wire 24 hours earlier in Utah, hung with Denver on the league’s toughest back-to-back and limited a Nuggets offense for most of Tuesday night that had been clicking on all cylinders over the past few weeks.
The Spurs held the Nuggets to under 50 percent shooting until the fourth when Denver pieced together a 15-3 run late in the game to finally put some separation between themselves and San Antonio.
“They’ve been, I think for a long time, the best executing team in the NBA,” Malone said. “They do everything with pace, they do everything with purpose. Every cut is a scoring cut. They set screens. They never beat themselves. They’re a well-oiled machine. They have some vets there that have been there for championships and obviously as I mentioned, coach Popp is a legend.”
“They’re just so well coached. And give their players credit too. They all want an opportunity and when they do get their opportunity, they relish it and play real hard and play good,” added Will Barton who scored 20 points on 9-19 shooting in a team-high 43 minutes. “With that and how well they’re coached, you can never really take them for granted.”
San Antonio does it with former All-Stars like Pau Gasol and future Hall-of-Famers like Tony Parker but also with a hard-nosed guard in Brynn Forbes, who went undrafted out of Michigan State in 2016 and four second-round picks — Davis Bertans, Danny Green, Patty Mills and Joffrey Lauvergne — who have all been a part of the Spurs’ rotation at times this season.
Lauvergne, who played in Denver from 2014-16 under Malone beat the Nuggets up Tuesday night. He scored a career-high 26 points in 24 minutes, finished a team-high plus-18 and grabbed 11 rebounds.
“Well, we developed him. He learned all that here,” Malone joked. “I’m happy for Joffrey. I’ve always been a big fan of his he’s a hard worker.”
That’s what the Spurs do. They outwork you with unheralded blue-collar players like Lauvergne, Forbes, Bertans, Green and Mills. Denver accepted the challenge Tuesday night and won for the fifth time in its last six games and for the eighth time in its past 11.
It’s a sign of growth and maturity from a young squad that’s now a half-game out of the fifth seed in the West. The Nuggets don’t win this throwback 80’s style barfight that featured its share of hard fouls and poor officiating earlier this season.
For Denver, the reinforcements are coming. Paul Millsap has played in just 16 games this season and isn’t expected to return to the lineup until March but Mason Plumlee, one of Denver’s defensive anchors, is will be back after the All-Star break. Plumlee has missed the Nuggets’ past seven contests.
No matter who’s suiting up in the silver and black, San Antonio is always a challenge and even though the Spurs were banged-up and short-handed Denver can feel a sense of gratification about its 31st victory of the season.
Victories against Popovich and the Spurs are few and far between.
