SAN ANTONIO — Even locals in San Antonio would not have been able to find Nuggets interim coach Melvin Hunt the day before his team faced the defending NBA champions.
He was somewhere on nearby Canyon Lake, basking in the south Texas sun with a weary right arm after racking up about 100 fish, retaining 60 of them.
“I got sun on my face,” Hunt said playfully before Friday night’s game at the AT&T Center. “My right arm’s a little tired from catching all those crappie. It was a great time for me.”
That jovial demeanor was absent well before the end of the third quarter as the Spurs cruised to a 123-93 victory and swept their season series against the Nuggets (28-48).
Hunt joked that things went south for his team getting off the bus.
PHOTOS:
“They challenge everything you do as a group,” Hunt said. “We’re a team that tries to take away the paint and worry about the other things and play. Well, as soon as a guy hits a shot, human nature creeps in. That’s what you have to fight.”
The Spurs (50-26) got into the paint early and effectively sealed their ninth win in 10 games. San Antonio hit 19-of-24 shots in the first quarter and scored 45 points, a team high this season and the most the Nuggets have allowed since Nov. 12 against Portland.
Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard hit his first seven shots and finished with 20 points, while guard Danny Green tallied a game-high 21 and was 6-of-6 from behind the 3-point line.
Denver forward Danilo Gallinari broke out of a three-game slump and scored a team-high 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting. Veteran guard Jameer Nelson scored 14 points off the Nuggets’ bench, most of that coming after the game had been decided.
“They came out very aggressive, and they came out more aggressive than us on both sides of the floor,” Gallinari said.
Hunt still had something to fight for with 7:53 left in the third quarter and Denver down by 26.
He argued a no-call on guard Ty Lawson and walked down the court complaining to an official, until the referees had no choice but to call a technical foul. After that, Denver was down by 27.
“That’s Mel, though,” Lawson said. “I’ve known Mel for like, four, five years he’s been here. That’s the kind of guy he is. He will protect the guys he loves with us going out there playing hard for him. I respect him.”
With only six games left this season, Hunt and Lawson said they’re looking for that progress and signs of improvement before the offseason begins, when there’s plenty of time to cast fishing lines into the water.
L.A. CLIPPERS AT DENVER 7 p.m. Saturday, ALT2; 950 AM
Spotlight on Blake Griffin: Griffin’s recent comments on the lack of a home-court advantage have grabbed headlines, but his play has stood out even more. After missing 15 games because of a staph infection in his right elbow, he’s been nearly unstoppable with averages of 20.3 points, 8.2 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.0 blocks per game. He’s shooting 53 percent from the floor in that span. In two games against the Nuggets this season, Griffin is averaging 23.0 points, 10.5 rebounds and 6.5 assists.
