Game Preview: San Antonio Spurs at Denver Nuggets

San Antonio Spurs @ Denver Nuggets

Pepsi Center - Denver, CO
Date: 4/8/16, Time: 8:00 PM Spurs Time
TV: FSSW  - RADIO: 1200 AM WOAI

The Spurs' three-game road trip wraps up in Denver on Friday night, a matchup sandwiched in between the somewhat higher-profile third and fourth meetings with the Warriors.

You can forgive San Antonio for taking this game as a chance to rest (especially after that injury scare), and you can also understand if the young and fervent Nuggets see tonight as a chance to play hard and take a game away from one of the league's best teams.

It's not been announced who will sit tonight, [Editor's Note: Here are the players now listed on the injury report. LaMarcus Aldridge (rest) Boris Diaw (soreness, right adductor) Manu Ginobili (rest) Danny Green (rest) Kawhi Leonard (rest) Tony Parker (rest) - jrw] but most reports state that a number of key players will be out. It'd make sense for the big three to go straight home from Oakland, and the same applies for LaMarcus Aldridge, who dislocated his finger in the loss to the Warriors.

Here's what LA had to say afterwards:

''It freaked me out,'' Aldridge said. ''I had never had it happen to me before. I looked down and it was going the other direction. It definitely caught me off guard. They popped it in, I went back in real quick, and as soon as I touched the ball it went right back out. It didn't feel right the whole night.''

The Nuggets are losers of five of their last six and will likely finish 10th in the west. Heading into a season with low expectations, they still have to be pretty happy with the promising performances put on by young guys like Nikola Jokic (who Zach Lowe touted as the third-best rookie in this year's class in a recent podcast) and Will Barton. Lottery pick Emmanuel Mudiay has had his ups and downs this year, the uppest of ups likely being this game-winner against Philly last month:

It's been a sneaky-fun year for Denver, and they'll likely be riding some good mojo into the summer and next season. A win over the Spurs (even a short-handed Spurs) would certainly add to those good spirits, and they'll have the added advantage of San Antonio being on a SEGABABA traveling from sea level into that mile high air, as well.

It feels like a potential scheduled loss in some ways, but I've underestimated the quality and resilience of our guys enough times to think that they can gut out a win, no matter who suits up (I've turned to a salsa index to indicate probability of rest). We've still got Pop, after all.

Matchup to watch: Kyle Anderson versus Jakarr Sampson? David West versus Nikola Jokic? The Coyote versus the Bat Dad? Tune in to find out!

Game prediction: Spurs by 7.

For the Nuggets fans' perspective, visit Denver Stiffs.

As always Tony must dominate Fisher.