SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio Spurs closed out a home-and-home set with the Denver Nuggets, falling 122-111 in overtime at the Frost Bank Center on Saturday night.
The loss snaps a brief two-game win streak for San Antonio, who dropped to ninth in the Western Conference but are still in good position to earn a spot in the NBA Play-in.
Here are three takeaways from the Spurs’ loss to Denver on Saturday:
Too much Joker
In his second straight game against the Spurs, Nikola Jokic poured in 40 points and the Spurs had no answer to stop him in overtime as he led Denver to a win and weekend split.
Jokic had 46 points and 10 rebounds, including nine points in the extra period. Michael Porter Jr. added 28 points and 10 rebounds for Denver.
“I mean it’s always Joker being Joker,” Spurs Acting Head Coach Mitch Johnson said. “I think when you aren’t aggressive to at least force his hand at something, then you are just at his mercy, when you give him multiple options or things to choose off the menu. For the most part, we still made him work pretty hard.”
“Frustrating loss, especially when you felt like you had some control late in the game, like we did in the fourth quarter,” Johnson added.
Offensive woes
Victor Wembanyama poured in 20 points and 23 rebounds on his 21st birthday but he struggled down the stretch when doubled by Jokic and Russell Westbrook. Harrison Barnes led San Antonio with 22 points, hitting three consecutive threes and shot 57 percent from the floor.
“We have to limit our mistakes,” Wembanyama said of the Spurs offensive woes. “We had too many turnovers and missed opprotunities. Credit to them and their scouting.”
Outside of that, San Antonio struggled offensively to begin the fourth quarter and to begin overtime. Denver began the final period of regulation on an 11-2 run to get within three points and in overtime, the Spurs were outscored 14-3.
“I think we’ve got to continue our pace,” said Barnes of the Spurs’ offense in the fourth and overtime. “We got out in transition, make or miss, we’re running up the floor, not settling as much in sets. I thought that was when we were at our best. To their credit, I think they slowed us down. I think they took us out of a little bit of our flow. I think that’s when our offense got bogged down.”
Part of the growth
Despite the loss, San Antonio has a lot of to be proud of and happy about as they look at the bigger picture. They went 1-1 against one of the top team’s in the league with the best player in the world. They earned a tough, gritty road win and nearly won on Saturday.
If anything, San Antonio is going into the upcoming four game road trip with major confidence.
“You don’t play a team of that caliber two nights in a row as well as we did without saying you’re doing some good things. So it’s that never ending battle,” Johnson said.
“We have a lot of belief in our locker room,” Barnes said. “We go out there to win every game… it’s something to watch as we head to Chicago.”
Up next
The Spurs are now 18-17 on the season and will return to the court on Monday when they open a four-game road trip in Chicago against the Bulls at 7 p.m. from the United Center.
