The No. 2 seeded Spurs look to win their 12th straight game Saturday against a Nuggets team which has won seven straight themselves.
SAN ANTONIO — With five games left in the regular season, the San Antonio Spurs have a chance to win 60 games for the first time since the 2016-17 season. They also have a chance to win their 12th straight game against the second-hottest team in the league: the Denver Nuggets, winners of seven straight.
The 59-18 Spurs head to Denver to face the 49-28 Nuggets in a 2 p.m. Saturday game. Both teams are currently jockeying for position in the Western Conference, so it’s likely they’re both going to put up their best performances.
For the Spurs, they will finish no lower than the No. 2 seed in the conference, but could still hypothetically catch the Thunder for the No. 1 seed if OKC finishes the season cold. However, being two games back from OKC, San Antonio would need the Thunder to start losing, and that’s a hard ask for a team not taking their feet off the gas; the defending champions have won 16 of their last 17 games.
The Nuggets’ final placement in the standings is a little more up in the air. Currently sitting at the No. 4 seed, Denver is one game behind the No. 3-seeded Lakers and 1.5 games ahead of the No. 5-seeded Rockets. Fortunately for the Nuggets, the Lakers received news that Luka Doncic will miss the remainder of the season, making way for the Nuggets to possibly overtake LA.
Denver’s final five games of the season are against San Antonio, Portland (40-38), Memphis (25-51), Oklahoma City (61-16) and San Antonio again.
The Luka-less Lakers’ final games are against Dallas (24-52), Oklahoma City (61-16), Golden State (36-41), Phoenix (42-35) and Utah (21-56).
So a strong end to the season for the Nuggets could mean they could be the No. 3 seed in the conference, right behind San Antonio.
Speaking of final games, the Spurs finish the season against Denver, Philadelphia (42-34), Portland (40-38), Dallas (24-52) and Denver again.
Having records better than all those teams, it’s very possible the Spurs could finish the regular season winners of 16 in a row en route to a 64-18 record, which would be the second-best mark in franchise history (behind the 2015-16 Spurs, who finished 67-15).
But two of those games are against these Nuggets, who are almost as hot as the Spurs are.
Winners of seven straight, this Nuggets team is always dangerous. MVP candidate Nikola Jokic just became the second player in NBA history to have two straight years averaging a triple double (his teammate last year, Russell Westbrook, is the other).
The Joker is averaging 27.7 PPG, 13 RPG and 10.8 APG this season. To put it in perspective, Victor Wembanyama is averaging 24.7 PPG, 11.5 RPG and three assists a game, all worse than Jokic. However, Jokic isn’t averaging 3.1 BPG and leading the pack in the Defensive Player off the Year race.
Someone who is having his best season of his career this year for Denver is Jamal Murray. The first-time All-Star is averaging 25.6 PPG, 4.4 RPG and 7.1 APG. Those would all be career-highs for the 29-year-old.
The Spurs and Nuggets have only played twice this season, each team nabbing a win to make the series 1-1.
The first game was a 139-136 win for the Spurs on Nov. 28, a game Wemby didn’t suit up for.
Devin Vassell led the way in that game, scoring 35 points on 12-17 shooting from the field and 7-9 shooting from 3-point range. Julian Champagnie scored 25 points while grabbing 10 rebounds.
The last game was a 136-131 win for the Nuggets on March 12, another game Wemby didn’t play in.
Jamal Murray (39 points) and Nikola Jokic (31 points, 20 rebounds, 12 assists) led the way for Denver. Jokic wasn’t the only one with a 30-point triple-double; Stephon Castle had one of his own with 30 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in the loss.
The difference this time around is Wemby is slated to play, at least as of Friday night.
In his career against Jokic, Wembanyama averages 25.2 points, 14.7 rebounds, four assists and four blocks.
Jokic, on the other hand, goes off when he sees Wemby on the court, even more than he usually does. The Joker averages an absurd 36.8 points, 11.3 rebounds and 8.5 assists in six games against the French superstar in his career, being one of the only people in the league to outperform Wemby when they face off.
With two of their last five games being between these two teams, as well as possibly a future meeting in the playoffs, Wembanyama has all the opportunity in the world to show Jokic who’s the better center as the season draws to a close.
How to watch
The game will be nationally televised on Prime Video at 2 p.m. CST as well as available to watch on FanDuel Southwest. You can also listen to game action on WOAI 1200 and KXTN 1350.
Team stats leaders
- POINTS: Victor Wembanyama (24.7), De’Aaron Fox (18.5), Stephon Castle (16.7)
- REBOUNDS: Wembanyama (11.5), Luke Kornet (6.2), Julian Champagnie (5.8)
- ASSISTS: Castle (7.2), Fox (6.2), Dylan Harper (3.9)
- BLOCKS: Wembanyama (3.1), Kornet (1.0), Champagnie (0.4)
- POINTS: Nikola Jokic (27.7), Jamal Murray (25.6), Aaron Gordon (16.3)
- REBOUNDS: Jokic (13.0), Gordon (5.8), Peyton Watson* (4.9)
- ASSISTS: Jokic (10.8), Murray (7.1), Christian Braun (2.8)
- BLOCKS: Watson* (1.1), Jokic (0.8), Jonas Valanciunas (0.5)
Injury report
As of Friday night, here’s where the team’s respective injury reports stack up:
- Peyton Watson – Out (hamstring)
- Spencer Jones – Out (hamstring)
- Zeke Nnaji – Out (hip)
- Tim Hardaway Jr. (knee)
Five more things to know
- The Nuggets have the best offense in the league, averaging 121.4 PPG. The Spurs have the sixth-best scoring defense, allowing 111.1 PPG.
- Denver shoots the best from 3-point range percentage-wise, shooting a sizzling 39.5% and hitting 14.1 a game.
- The Nuggets turn the ball over the third-least of any team, only giving it up 12.2 times. The Spurs are the fourth-best, only turning it over 12.8 times.
- Denver hits the second-most free throws a game at 21.1 a game, getting to the charity stripe 26.2 times a game.
- Jamal Murray against the Spurs this season: 38 PPG, 7 APG and 3 RPG in two games. This includes 58.5% shooting from the field and 50% from 3-point range.