S7S

STREAK BROKEN: Nuggets stave off Spurs, 110-100.

The Nuggets kept the heat on the Spurs, ending the win streak.




Patty Mills tried his best in far from his best-looking performance, scoring 23 points on 5/16 overall. The young, hungry Nuggets made contested layups, witnessing a serious struggle by the Spurs to fire back with scoring. Kawhi Leonard had just 18 points on 6/20 shooting, going 2/9 from long range despite having 5 steals. Dejounte Murray turned in another strong game with 20 points in the loss.

Snapping the win streak, Denver was led by Devin Harris (19 points), Nikola Jokic (18 points) and Jamal Murray (16 points)--all three making tough shots late to quell the comeback chances--with Will Barton scoring 12 points, Wilson Chandler scoring 11 points with 8 rebounds and 5 assists and Paul Millsap grabbing 13 rebounds for 9 points with 3 blocks. Kenneth Faried also had a monstrous throw-down for 8 points.

Pau Gasol had just 9 points with 9 rebounds; Jeremy Lamb had 9 points on 4/10 shooting. Bryn Forbes was chilly from the perimeter on 1/6 shooting as the Nuggets led 74-57 at one point. A late rally made the margin of defeat more respectable, winning the 4th Quarter 30-23 but it was over. Denver blitzed into the lead after a 32-20 win in the 3rd, following up nicely out of haltime which had them winning the 2nd 31-23. The Spurs only led after quarter one, shooting 36% overall and 22% from long range whereas the Nuggets feasted on them for 57% shooting, dominating the rebounds 42-25 with four more assists and 4 blocks to call their own.

The Spurs now move to 46-7 on the season after this streak-snapping defeat.