The San Antonio Spurs entered the 2019 playoffs as an underdog. The Western Conference's seventh seed is matched up with the second-seed Denver Nuggets in the first round, a very tough opponent. Very few picked San Antonio to move on.

But so far, the Spurs have held their own. The series is currently tied at one game apiece. And San Antonio head coach Gregg Popovich is impressed with the hard defense the Nuggets have played against his team so far.

Via Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News:

Pop on what Nuggets have done well defensively, “I think they've done a good job covering LaMarcus, causing some confusion for us. I think they've done a good job there.”

Popovich was referring to Spurs forward LaMarcus Aldridge, whom the Nuggets have kept in check thus far. The seven-time All-Star scored just 15 points in the Spurs' Game 1 victory. But Denver almost let the veteran beat them in Game 2, as he tallied 24 points and eight rebounds.

In the 2018-19 regular season, San Antonio averaged 111.7 points per game. But Denver's defense has proven tough. The Spurs scored just 101 points in Game 1 and 105 in Game 2.

Aldridge and the Spurs will have to break that defense to pull of an upset and move on to the second round. The Nuggets are very talented and won't go down easy. Game 3 between the two teams will begin at 9:00 P.M. EST on Thursday night in San Antonio.

All pressure is on the Nuggets, who can't afford to go down 2-1 on the road.