Thursday’s sobering reality of trying to fix all that ails them defensively is the journey had to begin against the . The Nuggets could have been better and it might not have mattered against the Spurs, one of the most potent offensive teams in the NBA.
By and large that was the case.
The Nuggets’ 127-99 loss to the Spurs at the initially came draped in better cloth defensively – there was hustle and better focus. But the Spurs execute on a different level. When they got rolling, the Nuggets couldn’t stop them.
“As the game wore on, our defense started to cave amongst all their talent and all of their pressure,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said.
The roll started in the third quarter.
That was when baby steps forward became giant leaps. The Nuggets made their first 10 shots of the game and led after the first quarter. San Antonio, steady offensively all night long, took over the lead in the second quarter, but the Nuggets were down only five at the half.
But the roof caved in, in the third. Tony Parker and LaMarcus Aldridge led a charge that put the Spurs up by as many as 18. Aldridge poured in 11 points in the period, while Parker scored eight in the third. The Nuggets offense, which had been good up to that point, sputtered.
San Antonio tightened the defense even further and kept its distance in the fourth.
“That’s a good team right there,” guard said. “They do a good job moving the ball, and they came out and were making a lot of shots.”
The Nuggets have now lost four straight games, tied for their longest losing streak of the season. The Spurs were the fourth straight team to score at least 120 points against Denver and those four teams have combined for 498 points. And things don’t get any easier with a date against MVP candidate Russell Westbrook and the on Saturday.
Recently, when the defense waned the Nuggets could lean on their offense to at least keep them close. But the Spurs saw to it a Nuggets team that averaged 115.1 points per game since Dec. 15 didn’t hit the century mark. The last time that happened was the game before the lineup change that revved up the Nuggets’ offense.
“We can’t be a team that just relies on their offense to pick up our defense,” Malone said. “We have to pick up our defense every night regardless of whether we’re making shots or not.”
Malone tried to inject defense into the starting lineup by putting in the starting lineup in place of . Arthur provided offense, too, hitting his first three shots of the game. But in the end, the Nuggets needed more. led four players in double figures with 19 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. scored 15 points.
The Spurs had three players with more than 20 points: Aldridge (29), Kawhi Leonard (24) and Parker (21).
“I thought at some point we rolled over and let go of the rope,” Malone said. “In this league you can’t let go. You’ve got to bend, not break. Tonight, as that second half rolled on we kind of gave in a little bit, which is too bad. We have to get that fight back for four quarters for us to be a competitive team.”
