The San Antonio Spurs blew a golden opportunity to take a 2-0 lead in Game 2 of their first-round Western Conference playoff series against the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night, coughing up a 19-point third-quarter lead in a 114-105 loss.
If the Spurs would have held on for the win, the series would have been all but over, as it would have meant that San Antonio would have taken each of the first two games at the Pepsi Center.
But, instead, Jamal Murray went Super Saiyan down the stretch and four of the Nuggets starters scored 20 points or more in a season-saving victory.
Now, the Spurs will head back home in a 1-1 series, but they cannot dwell on the fact that they should be up 2-0 right now. In fact, San Antonio did its job, as it “stole” home-court advantage from Denver, which is all the lower seed really needs to go in the first two games.
It's not like the Spurs are a young team that is going to be rattled by the moment, either. This is a veteran group led by LaMarcus Aldridge, DeMar DeRozan and Rudy Gay, not to mention champions like Patty Mills and Marco Belinelli. Oh, and let's not forget that San Antonio may very well have the best head coach in NBA history in Gregg Popovich.
The Spurs should be able to bounce back in Game 3 and still remain in a very favorable position moving forward.
Even though San Antonio was the No. 7 seed going up against the second-seeded Nuggets heading into this series, many were picking the Spurs to come out on top.
As a matter of fact, if San Antonio does end up advancing to the second round, it probably wouldn't even be considered an upset. When was the last time you could ever say that about a 7-seed?
Let's face it: the Nuggets probably overachieved a bit this season. They really aren't a great defensive team, and their perimeter shooting has been rather inconsistent all year long. Plus, Denver is incredibly young and has virtually no playoff experience outside of Paul Millsap, so I'm not sure anyone ever really took this club all that seriously.
Also, the Spurs really could have played much better in Game 2. For example, they went just 5-of-18 from three-point range. In today's game, it is very tough to win if you make just five three-pointers, and the fact that the Nuggets doubled them up from distance basically told the story of the contest.
I think it's fairly safe to expect San Antonio to make more triples at home, especially in the case of bench players like Mills, Belinelli and Davis Bertans, all of whom combined for three treys in Game 2.
Another thing the Spurs have on their side is the fact that they have been thoroughly dominant at home all season, sporting a 32-9 record at the AT&T Center. Meanwhile, they went just 16-25 on the road, so the fact that they were able to take a game on a well-known strong home court was enormous.
And as for the Nuggets? They went 20-21 away from the confines of the Pepsi Center this season. Certainly not terrible, but can you trust a young team like Denver on the road against a veteran squad in the playoffs?
Again, all the Spurs really needed to do was take one game in the Mile High City, and they did just that. Heck, the fact that they came this close to taking both games is paramount and tells you that they may very well simply be the better team.
Throughout this series thus far, there have only been a couple of instances where the Nuggets have outplayed Popovich's group, with the fourth quarter of Game 2 representing one of them.
Overall, the Spurs have really dominated this series thus far, which bodes very well for them heading back home to Texas.
Of course, these are not the Spurs of old. Tim Duncan isn't walking through that door, and Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili are no longer there to create some postseason magic. So, obviously, this San Antonio club is not as trustworthy as the ones of years past.
However, this is still a group of guys that understands what it takes to win in the playoffs, something that is very foreign to a youthful Denver squad that wasn't even supposed to be here. Not as a 2-seed, anyway.
Make no mistake about it: the Spurs smell blood, and they know that even after blowing Game 2, they have the Nuggets right where they want them.
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