Spurs at Nuggets
The annual rodeo road trip isn't starting out so well for the San Antonio Spurs, who dropped the first four on the eight-game trip. The Spurs will try to snap the slide when they face another tough test at the Denver Nuggets on Monday.
San Antonio allowed the Sacramento Kings to shoot 52.3 percent from the floor and knock down 19 3-pointers in a 122-102 setback on Saturday - its second setback by 20 or more points on the trip. "We didn't execute good enough," Spurs forward LaMarcus Aldridge told reporters. "We made a lot of mistakes defensively. We didn't play hungry enough, and they won the game." The Nuggets are winners of three straight and earned a sweep of a two-game road trip by battling past Phoenix 117-108 on Saturday. "When you can defend like we did tonight and your defense travels with the depth that we have, I think we're going to be a really tough team to beat," Denver coach Michael Malone told reporters after Saturday's triumph. "There's a belief there and (winning on the road) is something we know we have to do to be a great team and get a good seed for the playoffs."
TIME: 9 p.m. ET. TV: FS Southwest, Altitude, NBA TV Canada
ABOUT THE SPURS (22-30): The frustrations are starting to add up for San Antonio, and star shooting guard DeMar DeRozan was ejected in the fourth quarter of Saturday's loss for arguing with officials. DeRozan, who averaged 26.9 points on 56.1 percent shooting in January, finished with 14 points in 30 minutes on Saturday to end a string of six straight games scoring 20 or more points. Aldridge was held to 12 points in the latest loss and is shooting 26.7 percent from beyond the arc in five games this month after knocking down 45.8 percent in January.
ABOUT THE NUGGETS (37-16): Denver has leaned heavily on All-Star center Nikola Jokic of late but point guard Jamal Murray took his turn to shine on Saturday with a team-high 36 points on 14-of-17 shooting. "For (Murray) to go 14-of-17 from the field and 6-of-8 from three, a lot of guys can score 36 but can they do it as efficiently as he did tonight?" Malone asked reporters. "That's a huge credit to him and a big, big night for him." Murray averaged 33.5 points on the two-game trip to push his season average to 18.4 points.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Spurs PG Dejounte Murray scored 17 points on Saturday - his highest total since scoring 18 against Phoenix on Dec. 14.
2. Nuggets PF Paul Millsap (knee) returned to the lineup on Saturday for the first time since Jan. 6 and delivered 12 points and 11 rebounds in 18 minutes.
3. The teams are meeting for the first time since Denver knocked off San Antonio in seven games in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs last spring.