The San Antonio Spurs closed out their 90-86 Game 7 loss to the Denver Nuggets in bizarre fashion, failing to foul on the Nuggets' final possession as time basically ran out. After Nikola Jokic grabbed a rebound with just under 26 seconds left following Torrey Craig's block of DeMar DeRozan, Jokic wound up with the ball back near the half-court line. But as Spurs coach Gregg Popovich screamed at his players to foul, nobody ever did it, with LaMarcus Aldridge never even making a move to foul Jokic despite being the player guarding him.
Pop wasn't pleased:
Gregg Popovich on the Spurs not fouling: "Well, obviously he didn't hear anybody because he didn't foul." https://t.co/8SvNgfrvHe
— Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) April 28, 2019
The possession finished with Jamal Murray chucking up a jumper with about five seconds left. While it missed, there was only a second left by the time DeMar DeRozan secured the rebound, so that was the game.
It was an incredibly disappointing way to finish out a disappointing game for San Antonio. The Spurs were awful offensively in the first half and found themselves down 17 points in the third quarter, but they scratched and clawed their way back to within two points with just under a minute to go.
However, Murray's bucket with 36.8 seconds left gave the Nuggets a little cushion, setting up the final sequence that gave them the win and a date with the Portland Trail Blazers in the second round. The Spurs, meanwhile, are out in the first round for the second consecutive season.