SAN ANTONIO — After his team’s 101-86 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday night, Nuggets coach Michael Malone wasn’t incensed.
He was hopeful.
“I told our team I thought we did a lot of good things tonight,” he said. “This is a very good basketball team, whether Tim (Duncan) and Manu (Ginobili) play or not. You take out that six-minute stretch in the second quarter and we did a great job of playing against these guys.”
It was more like the final seven minutes of the second quarter at the AT&T Center. Turnovers became easy baskets. The Spurs, who rested Duncan and Ginobili after playing on Christmas Day, made nearly every shot they took in that span. And the resulting separation they got from that span was the foundation that carried them to the win.
In the final seven minutes of the second quarter, the Spurs outscored the Nuggets 23-13, taking a four-point game and stretching it to 14 at halftime. They scored six points off three Nuggets turnovers and made 11-of-14 shots (78.6 percent from the field).
“We can’t afford that run … against this team,” Malone said. “You cannot beat yourself against San Antonio.”
It was a Spurs-esque production from the start — strong defense leading to opportunistic offense, and it was crisp offense, more often than not, and the ability to keep the opposition down once the Nuggets fell behind.
The Spurs had lost just six times in their history when leading by at least 14 points at home at halftime. The last time was in 1997.
Saturday, they led by, yes, 14 points.
That lead was pushed to 21 in the third quarter.
The Nuggets never recovered.
“That’s the second-best team in the NBA,” Nuggets guard Randy Foye said. “If you make one mistake, it’s over.”
The luxury Popovich has with this particular Spurs team is the ability to sit key players down and still have other high-level players on the court. Kawhi Leonard (20 points) still played, and played great. LaMarcus Aldridge (12 points, nine rebounds) still played, and played generally well. Tony Parker (13 points) was effective too.
With those three leading the way, and a big 16 points off the bench from Boris Diaw, the Spurs were never truly threatened.
The Nuggets’ issues centered on three areas: points off turnovers, free throws and second-chance points. The bookend categories represented extra possessions, whether they took the ball from the Nuggets or crashed the offensive glass to keep one alive.
The Spurs turned 15 Nuggets turnovers into 18 points. They outscored the Nuggets 16-5 from the free-throw line and had 14 second-chance points.
On top of all of that, the Nuggets shooting started to fade in the third. They started the period by making just two of their first 10 shots, and while they were missing, the Spurs were busy putting together a run that would put them up by as many as 21.
“That team is good,” Foye said. “The score might not tell fans, but to us internally, we did some good things. I know the goal is to win the game and win the game playing Nuggets basketball, but at the end of the day, there’s a lot to learn.”
Saturday’s game marked the start of four in five nights for the Nuggets, who not only are playing a bunch of games in a tight window, three of the four are against the teams that own three of the top four records in the NBA — Spurs, Thunder (on Sunday) and Cavaliers (on Tuesday). And, not to leave out the team with the best record — Golden State — the Nuggets face them next Saturday.
“This is why you play the game,” Nuggets forward Darrell Arthur said. “You’re playing against competition every night. You’re playing against somebody great every night.”
Christopher Dempsey: cdempsey@denverpost.com or @dempseypost
DENVER AT OKLAHOMA CITY
5 p.m. Sunday, ALT, 950 AM
Spotlight on Enes Kanter:
Demanding that Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant share the ball more depends on players willing to step up and be reliable shotmakers. In the past five games, Enes Kanter has made a move in that direction, averaging 11.8 points on 56.5 percent shooting. Also, he averages 9.4 rebounds and has been much more active of late.
