San Antonio Spurs @ Denver Nuggets
Following a tight victory against the Dallas Mavericks, the San Antonio Spurs are set to take on the Denver Nuggets.
In their win versus the Mavs, the Spurs relied on their defense, as they have all season. Their offense, however was slowed down by Dallas. They'll look to pick up the offensive production on Friday, but it will be more difficult to do so as they will be without both Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili (both were left home to rest).
Duncan's offensive usage has been low this year, but they will miss his passing as well as his ability to keep possessions alive with offensive rebounds. But, David West has started to find himself within the Spurs' system, so there may not be that big of a drop off in production there.
The real offensive loss lies in Manu Ginobili's absence. He has had a throwback year so far this season, and has yet again been the catalyst for San Antonio's bench. Without him there, Patty Mills will need to step up and be aggressive on offense, pushing the tempo as needed.
In San Antonio's first game versus Denver on November 18, the Nuggets got great production out of their first-year center, Nikola Jokic. The 20-year old Serbian had 23 points on 8-13 shooting, 12 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 2 steals. To keep Jokic at bay in this game, the Spurs will have to focus on keeping Jokic off the glass. In that first game, Jokic made his living by crashing the offensive glass late following a shot, sneaking in to get a long offensive board and either get a putback, or get Denver back in it's offense.
While a lot of the focus for this game will be on Emmanuel Mudiay and Kenneth Faried, another impact player to keep an eye on is Will Barton. The 24-year old out of Memphis thrives in transition, often playing as chaos incarnate. Barton plays at a frenetic pace, often bordering the line between being playing hard for quick baskets, and being completely out of control. He is having the best scoring year of his career, averaging 13.5 points on 47.7% from the field, including a wonderful 39.5% from deep, all of which is quietly setting him up for a solid Sixth Man of the Year campaign. Whenever San Antonio puts a shot up, someone will need to hurry back on defense to keep Barton at bay.
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San Antonio Spurs (8-2) |
Denver Nuggets (6-5) |
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November 27, 2015 |
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Pepsi Center, Denver, CO |
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8:00 PM CST |
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TV: FSSW |
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Starters |
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Tony Parker |
PG |
Emmanuel Mudiay |
Danny Green |
SG |
Gary Harris |
Kawhi Leonard |
SF |
Danilo Gallinari |
David West |
PF |
Kenneth Faried |
LaMarcus Aldridge |
C |
J.J. Hickson |
Game prediction: Spurs by 12.
For the Nuggets fans' perspective, visit Denver Stiffs.
As always Tony must dominate Fisher.