After weeks of frustration, the Denver Nuggets might have turned a corner in their comeback win over the San Antonio Spurs last night.
Denver was on the second of a back-to-back, on the road, and against a great team.
And even after going down by 20 in the first half, they fought and clawed and found a way to win.
Denver’s been struggling in the clutch
Rewind to before Wednesday’s blowout win over the Rockets, and the Nuggets were 4-6 in their previous 10 games.
They kept finding ways to lose.
In LA against the Clippers, the Nuggets led by seven at halftime. But they sleepwalked through the third quarter and lost by one. In fact, they led by five points with 5:44 to go and let the game slip through their fingers. They were so mad they put 157 points on the board in Portland the next night, setting a new road scoring record for the franchise.
Denver couldn’t keep the momentum going, though; they were utterly humiliated by the Curry-less Warriors a few days later and could only score 16 points in the 4th in that loss.
They then knocked off the Celtics who were on the second night of a back-to-back, but then couldn’t outlast the champion Thunder in OKC and lost in overtime. They were up six points with 3:15 to play, but OKC went on an 8-0 run, and despite Cam Johnson having an open look at a 3 to win, he missed badly. And the Nuggets ran out of steam in OT.
Then they lost to the Timberwolves two days later when they took the second quarter off. And narrowly beat the sorry Jazz and took care of the Lakers with relative ease.
All before being blown out by the Knicks a week ago, and losing a last-second thriller to the rival Thunder on Monday.
The Nuggets have been anti-clutch far too often this season. Even former coach Michael Malone talked about it recently, saying “It’s been a tough year for the Nuggets in the clutch, which is something that we’re not used to seeing. And they’ve got 17 games to go to try to figure it out.”
Malone may not be the go-to guy for this analysis since he’s probably still salty he got canned with the playoffs about to start last year. But he’s not wrong.
Denver’s gone 17-17 in clutch games this year, and their -11.2 Net rating in the 4th quarter is fourth-worst in the NBA.
But last night, the Nuggets remembered how to win the clutch again.
Nuggets turned a corner with their win over the Spurs
Denver finally figured it out in the clutch again.
Riding high on their blowout win over the Rockets on Wednesday night, the Nuggets beat the Spurs in San Antonio on the second night of a back-to-back.
It definitely wasn’t easy, even though Victor Wembanyama was out. Despite Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray starting well, they trailed by 12 after one. Then, a San Antonio 8-0 run in the middle of the second quarter pushed the Spurs lead to 20.
San Antonio was rockin’. The Nuggets were done.
That’s when bench guys Julian Strawther and Spencer Jones came alive. Strawther hit a huge 3 and Jones scored seven points over the last four minutes of the half.
Still, the Spurs surged late and led by 16 at the break. And Denver entered the fourth quarter still down 12 points.
Jones, who is usually on the floor because of his great defense, found his offensive rhythm again in the early fourth quarter; he hit two 3s, and scored in the lane. Then, Cam Johnson finally came alive offensively after being a disappointment nearly all season.
Both Johnson and Jones scored 9 points each in the fourth quarter, including Johnson’s clutch 3 with 3:02 to play to put Denver up by 9.
And Jamal Murray helped salt the game away with four clutch free throw makes; he had 16 in the quarter.
Denver went +7 in the clutch against the Spurts last night. The Nuggets seemed to finally turn a corner. Not just in clutch opportunities, but possibly in the season on the whole.
They just beat two playoff teams on back-to-back nights. And won thanks to crucial depth contributions as well as Johnson finally pitching in offensively in both games. It was a great way to finish out a crazy stretch of tough games against playoff opponents.
Now, if Denver can beat a hot Lakers team in LA on Saturday, they have a chance to go on a lengthy win streak. The Nuggets have some fringe playoff teams and some opponents on the outside looking in coming up next.
It’s been a frustrating season in the Mile High City. Expectations were sky high with the many additions to the bench and the trade of MPJ for Johnson.
No doubt about it, this is a championship-or-bust season.
But every starter has been injured at some point in the year. Now, finally, they’re getting healthy again and at just the right time.
Denver’s defense is still struggling, but when they’re at their best, the No. 1 scoring team in the NBA can run teams out of the gym.
Get ready for an exciting stretch run, and hopefully, a deep playoff run from the Nuggets.
