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Denver held a three-point lead at 57-54 heading into the final 10 minutes of action, but watched as San Antonio knotted up the game three times before taking the lead for good at the 73-71 juncture. The teams scored five points apiece down the stretch towards the 78-76 final.
San Antonio jumped out of the gates quickly storming out to a 16-6 lead 6:42 into the first quarter. Denver turned its game up in the final 2:22 with a jump start from a Cedric Simmons layup en route to an 8-1 run. The quarter ended with the Spurs clinging to a three-point edge at 17-14.
The Nuggets turned things around in the second quarter, as Coby Karl’s hot shooting sparked the rally. Denver knotted the score at 20-20 nearly three minutes into the stanza and took its first lead with 6:58 remaining on the clock off a layup by Karl, which gave him four of his 10 second-quarter points. The ultimately reached a seven-point advantage at 34-27 before ending the first 20 minutes of action with a 39-33 lead.
The third period featured some see-saw basketball with two lead changes and two ties occurring. The Spurs tied things up at 41 just 3:11 into the quarter and took a lead that pushed out to as much as three points on two occasions for 2:13. The Nuggets rebounded to the first 30 minutes up 57-52.
San Antonio was paced by 17 points from Malik Hairston. Hill and Romel Beck collected 16 and 14, respectively. Ian Mahinmi was the only player to register a double-double with 12 points and 16 boards.
Karl was the game’s high-scorer with 19, as he shot 6-of-7 from the field and 4-of-5 from the line. Ronald Dupree trailed Karl’s output with 13 and Richard Hendrix had 11.
Denver will play the 7:00 pm game Wednesday night in the Thomas & Mack Center against the Washington Wizards, while Spurs follow in the same building Thursday night vs. the Thunder at 5:30 pm.
