DeJuan Blair leads San Antonio Spurs’ charge against the Denver Nuggets 114 – 99 – NBA Recap
The San Antonio Spurs hit a bump in their last outing, which ended the current NBA season’s longest winning streak, but they got back on track Thursday with a win over the Denver Nuggets. Spurs put in a decent showing at the Pepsi Center and defied the home team for a 114 – 99 win.
Leading San Antonio’s charge was young centre DeJuan Blair, who scored a game high 28 points and grabbed 12 boards in a splendid double-double performance. Blair’s star turn didn’t go unnoticed either.
"He finds a way to score," veteran power forward Tim Duncan said. "He's like a magnet to that ball - he goes and gets it. It's just about getting his opportunities and he got a lot of opportunities tonight and he'll finish them. He'll put them in."
Duncan made his return to the team after sitting out the last game, and he made his presence felt with 18 points and 9 rebounds. Also making a return to the team was point guard Tony Parker. Parker pulled all the strings tonight as he had 12 assists and scored 16 points.
He certainly made an impression on Nuggets coach George Karl.
"The best I've ever seen Tony Parker orchestrate a game," Nuggets head coach said. "He was really great with his decisions and his passing."
The list of notable Spurs’ performance didn’t end with Tony however, as Danny Green netted 16 and grabbed 6 boards, while Richard Jefferson had 17 points to go along with 8 rebounds.
Still, for all their excellent performances, the Spurs don’t appear to be getting the attention they deserve, but that doesn’t really bother them.
"That's a question from every year. I really don't care where the radar is," Duncan said. "I don't watch radar. We just play games and we'll figure out where we are at the end of the year."
For Denver, Corey Brewer was the top scorer; 23 points. Andre Miller had a good game with 20 points and 7 assists while Arron Afflalo scored 19.
After an even start to the game, San Antonio started to gather momentum in the first quarter. A furious 19 – 1 rally put them in complete control at 26 – 7 with 2:18 left to play in the segment. The Nuggets, visibly shaken, could only end the period trailing at 31 – 15.
There were more fireworks to follow though. The Spurs scored 34 points in the next frame, Denver struggling to keep up with them. The gap was increased by ten points before the halftime break, when the scores were 65 – 39.
The game seemed over already, but the Nuggets came out fighting after the interval anyway. They started off swiftly and had two significant runs in the period, a 6 – 0 just before the halfway mark and a 9 – 0 just past the half way mark.
Spurs though were ruthless as well, and at the end of the 3rd they still had a 20 point lead, the score 92 – 72.
Therefore the final 12 minutes didn’t really matter and the sides went through the motion, ending the game 114 – 99.
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