Nuggets at Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs are a different team at home and again look like a team that can compete in the Western Conference. The Spurs will try to win their third straight and knock off another top team in the West when they host the Denver Nuggets on Monday.
San Antonio bridged the All-Star break by going 1-7 on its annual rodeo road trip, dropping it into eighth place in the West and putting a string of 21 straight postseason appearances in jeopardy. The return home has proven rejuvenating, and the Spurs knocked off the Detroit Pistons in their return before taking out the No. 3 team in the West on Saturday with a 116-102 victory over Oklahoma City, improving the second-best home record in the West to 24-7. The Nuggets occupy the No. 2 spot in the West but finished out their four-game homestand with losses to the Utah Jazz and New Orleans Pelicans. "We need to stay together, stay focused," All-Star center Nikola Jokic told reporters. "We need to kind of think about where we want to go, and that's it."
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, Altitude (Denver), FS Southwest (San Antonio)
ABOUT THE NUGGETS (42-20): Jokic went 5-of-15 from the floor in 32 minutes against Utah on Thursday and was limited to 22 minutes on Saturday due to foul trouble. "It's always nice if you can have your best player on the floor for more than 21 minutes," Denver coach Michael Malone told reporters of Jokic. "That's back-to-back games that he's been in foul trouble. We have to avoid that because Nikola on the bench doesn't help us in any way, shape, fashion or form." Jokic still collected 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting, nine rebounds and seven assists in his limited court time Saturday.
ABOUT THE SPURS (35-29): All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge continues to lead the way and scored 27 points on 10-of-18 shooting while adding 10 rebounds in Saturday's triumph. Aldridge scored at least 24 points in each of the last three games and got some help Saturday from small forward Rudy Gay, who bounced back from an 0-of-5 effort by scoring 22 points on 9-of-16 shooting in 26 minutes off the bench against the Thunder. Gay shot 50 percent from beyond the arc in February and continued his strong shooting from 3-point range by going 2-of-3 in the first March contest on Saturday.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Spurs SG Bryn Forbes is 8-of-11 from the floor over the last two games after finishing up the road trip 6-of-26 in the final two stops.
2. Nuggets SG Gary Harris scored in single digits in each of the last three games, shooting a combined 6-of-21 from the floor.
3. The home team took each of the last eight in the series, including San Antonio's 111-103 victory on Dec. 26.