It came down to their final shot, but it was our effort throughout the game that earned the basketball gods’ favour.
This was a noticeably quick game, with both teams exchanging makes early on. I liked our fight from the outset given that we’ve been a bit sluggish to start games. But trying to win by trading points isn’t ideal, especially against a team that can hit 3s as well as the Nuggets can (they’re 9th in attempts at 30.1 and 18th in makes at 35.9% or 10.8 made 3s per game up to this point in the season). It can also trap us into playing their style, rather than imposing ours. To those ends, we left them wide open too often (not our game) on too many shots early (like their first two made 3s of the game, though we shadowed them on D to force a clock violation on another attempt) while hitting three 3s of our own. In the first quarter, we had 13 assists on 13 made FGs. There was some beautiful team basketball like the quick passes that opened up a lane for a Bertans layup early in the quarter and Manu’s behind the back pass to Pau for a reverse layup towards the end of it. We finished the game with a season high 33 assists, many from the opportunities we generated for our 4-5 tandem.
Our bigs were the offensive focal point, and we succeeded in getting them great looks. By the end of the first half, Pau was 5-11 (including 2-2 from 3 and 2-2FTs) for 14 points, 6 rebounds (5 on O) and an assist in only 12 minutes – this for a player who averages 10.7 points on 8.5 attempts per game. He finished with 18 points (shooting just 2-3 in the second half, but adding 2 more rebounds and 3 assists in 10 minutes). LMA was on an even more torrid pace, getting 20 points (just below his 22.4 PPG average) on 10-13, with a rebound, an assist and a block in his first 19 minutes. He finished with yet another team-high 30 points (4-10, with 2-2FTs, adding 4 rebounds - 3 on O, an assist and a block in the second half). He did also have 3 turnovers per half for 6 of the team’s 16 (on which we gave up 18 points, something to clean up), unusually high as he averages 1.5 TOs per game. His usage was about 5% above his 28.6% average, but more opportunities for LMA meant a greater focus for opponent D, so how he dealt with double teams, and how we helped him were also factors.
LMA and Pau had 24 shots combined, making 15 for 62.5%, while the rest of the team had 25, hitting 11 for 44%. While going shot-for-shot against a high scoring team (they’re eighth right now at 108.2PPG) is tough to maintain, we held our own despite the 14-5FT discrepancy. There were 18 lead changes, the final one with just under six minutes left. As has been our need all season, more players had to step up to make up for the season-long carousel of missing players. To that end, Kyle joined the starters with a stellar overall game scoring 18 points on 9-12 and adding 4 rebounds, 5 assists, a steal, and 2 blocks. Murray (0-4) and Green (3-11 for 6 points) may not have added to the score, but they did to the team’s success on both ends: Murray grabbed team highs in rebounds (13) and assists (7), and 2 blocks; Green had 5 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal, and 2 blocks. Danny played through some tough coaching love. When LMA got doubled and turned it over early in the third, it was Danny who got an earful from Pop. He was standing around watching LMA struggle with two defenders draped on him rather than moving to a different position to afford LMA a better angle to pass out to instead of being forced to throw it away. Then Danny fouled Jamal Murray. Too much ‘room for improvement’ that needed immediate attention. He handled it with poise; a great vet example for the younger players.
Leading the bench was Manu not just in minutes (23) and scoring (14 points on 5-12 with 3-6 from 3, along with 4 assists, a rebound, and a block), but as always, in leadership and a steady presence. Bertans’s 3 has flat out abandoned him the last few games. His 7 points came on 2 layups and a 3 (1-3), but on the other end he grabbed 3 rebounds, and played very solid help D. Bryn and Tony each played 17 minutes. Bryn, like Davis, is having trouble with offensive consistency; for a guy signed based on his shot, he needs to find it (2 points on 1-3, 0-2 from 3 with 2 rebounds and a steal). He has been more reliable defensively, so credit to him for not allowing his sputtering offense to affect his effort on the other end. Tony only had 4 shots, making a layup and a 3, and added a rebound a 3 assists. Patty hit two 3s (including a key one late in the game), got a rebound, a steal, and a bench-high 5 assists, bringing our PG trio’s assist/TO ratio to 15/4 for the night.
In such a close game, every play and every point mattered all the more. With just under three minutes left in the game and up just 98-97, Manu then Patty hit 3s, leading to Manu’s final clutch jumper with 36 seconds left to put us ahead 106-104. I couldn’t believe that Denver tempted fate and passed up a layup and jump shot to tie it in favour of a last-second 3 attempt, but breathed a sigh of relief at the favourable rim bounce. We made our own luck for the win.
Noteworthy team and individual achievements:Spurs:
Manu:
Manu Ginobili joined Sacramento's Vince Carter as the only 40-and-older players with 40 3-pointers in a season.
LMA:
Aldridge has scored 20-plus points in 33 of 50 games this season. His previous best for 20-point games was 31 in 74 games during his inaugural season with the Spurs in 2016.
http://www.espn.com/nba/recap?gameId=400975496I love out team. GO SPURS GO!
