04/18/2019 NBA Western Conference First Round Series
San Antonio, Texas - The Denver Nuggets, the two seed in the Western conference have their hands full down 2-1 in the series after a 118-108 loss to the fundamentally sound San Antonio Spurs team led by the legendary coach Gregg Popovich and All- Star shooting guard Demar DeRozan. In the first half of Game 3, Derrick White is continuously showing NBA GM’s what they missed out on as he poured on 26 points and displayed great defense, as he finished with 36 points, +30. Once again, Jamal Murray continues to struggle in his first playoffs as he finished with 6 points on 2/6 shooting. San Antonio’s defensive schemes are working as Murray has struggled to get up shots this game and in eleven of the twelve quarters in the four games so far this series. If Denver wants to win a game in San Antonio, which have a 32-9 record at AT&T Center then they are going to need to defend the paint as they gave up 62 points in the paint tonight and more importantly get to the free throw line. Nikola Jokic and Paul Milsap need to demand more paint touches instead of taking long jump shots because the transition game is playing into San Antonio’s game plan. Denver is struggling on offense this series (they had one great quarter this whole series) since they are not knocking down 3 pointers at the rate they usually do but this is playoff basketball. Clearly it is time for Mike Malone to make adjustments on the defensive side of the floor as Derrick White, Demar DeRozan, and LaMarcus Aldridge are having cake walks as nobody is protecting the paint for Denver. If Denver continues to not show effort on defense and let the Spurs dictate the pace, then it could be a quick playoff series for the young Nuggets.
UP NEXT
Game 4: Saturday in San Antonio.