The Denver Nuggets took a disappointing loss last night when they couldn’t score late and failed to close out their game against the San Antonio Spurs in Denver. Twenty-four hours later they get their chance for revenge, this time in San Antonio. The Spurs got a big performance from Victor Wembanyama to earn a victory and offset Nikola Jokic’s own monster evening. That makes two losses in a row against the Spurs that sting more than normal. The Nuggets get to forget quickly though, and have no rest disadvantages given their opponent is facing the exact same schedule.
The Essentials
Who: Denver Nuggets (19-14) at San Antonio Spurs (18-16)
When: 6:00PM MST
Where: I dunno, something certainly not named as cool as a name like the Alamo Dome. San Antonio, TX.
How to watch/listen: Denver Stiffs does not condone piracy…unless its the romanticized 17th century type. Altitude TV where available, Altitude+, NBA League Pass for those not in the Nuggets market, Altitude Radio 92.5FM.
Rival blog: Pounding the Rock
The Matchup
| Position | Nuggets | Spurs | Advantage |
| PG | Jamal Murray | Chris Paul | Nuggets |
| SG | Russell Westbrook | Devin Vassell | Even |
| SF | Christian Braun | Stephon Castle | Even |
| PF | Michael Porter Jr. | Harrison Barnes | Nuggets |
| C | Nikola Jokic | Victor Wembanyama | Even |
| Bench | Julian Strawther, Peyton Watson, Hunter Tyson, DeAndre Jordan | Stephon Castle, Zach Collins, Keldon Johnson, Tre Jones | Even |
Injury report: *Neither injury report was submitted at time of writing, assume it’s the same as last night’s.
The Three Things
The thing to watch for: Adjustments
It’s almost a bit like a playoff series with these two teams facing each other on back to back nights (they don’t do B2Bs in the playoffs but you get my point). The Nuggets lost last night so what adjustments will they make? In some ways I don’t think they really need to make any. The biggest adjustment is Jokic and Jamal Murray need to not shoot a combined 39% from the field. There’s some other things to look at though. How can Denver do better on the glass? How can they pull Wemby out of the lane more so they aren’t terrified to attack the basket? What will they do to maintain the defensive focus they had in the second half? A few adjustments will swing the game in Denver’s direction, but if they can’t build on some of the positives they established last night (cough defense cough) then they’ll end up staring another loss in the face.
The thing to remember: B2Bs are Denver’s forte
The Nuggets have not lost on the second night of a back to back thus far this season. This one is a bit unique in that it’s the same team for both games but for whatever reason the Nuggets seem to play their best on tired legs. It’s not a sustainable strategy and it’s somewhat silly to think they will keep winning second games of B2Bs forever but it’s a large enough sample size now to think there is something to it. Going to be interesting to see if it holds up in this unique B2B.
The thing to bet: Nikola Jokic 3+ three pointers (+175)
You can bet the over on Nikola Jokic’s 1.5 line of three pointers and get just -190 odds. Bump that up from making 2 to making 3 and suddenly the odds swing way in your favor to +175. Jokic made three three pointers last night, he attempted ten. In the six SEGABABAs the Nuggets have played this season, Jokic has made three or more three pointers in five of them (the one exception being the Nuggets first B2B of the season against the Toronto Raptors). I’m taking the chance he scores three of them tonight, though a bit worried that since he shot ten last night, one of his personal adjustments may be to shoot from outside less.
