Denver is experiencing a difficult season and that situation may not change for 82 games. Nikola Jokic is very good and last night he proved it with another triple-double, but playing without his two squires (Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr.) is proving to be too heavy a slab. Last night in San Antonio, it was.
The Serbian center signed exactly 22 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists, numbers that were accompanied by Aaron Gordon’s 25 points and Will Barton’s 19. It did not reach them, especially because the difference between the benches was remarkable (47-28 in favor of Spurs).
The Colorado defense did not work. Although they came to the clash as the third best defense in the NBA by conceding 104.5 points per night, at the AT&T Center nothing of the kind was seen and at halftime they had already conceded 74 points …
More satisfaction was on the Spurs side. Gregg Popovich’s boys bounced back after suffering two defeats in a row and remain close to the posts of play-in. Derrick White was the leading scorer with 23 points and Dejounte Murray had a complete game with 20 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists. The Texas coach ended up happy.
“It was a good competitive night. Many boys played well. We had a little period where we had a bit of carelessness, three or four turnovers, five or six possessions in a short period of time, but the defense held firm and that allowed us to carry on and play well. We avoided that losses would lead us to lose our game “, he analyzes.
The truth is that those of Texas have shown improvement in recent days. Having won five of their last seven games, they are currently 9-15, which puts them just two and a half games behind the Nuggets are 12-13 after losing seven of their last 10 games.
(Photograph by Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)
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