 during the regular season. They trailed 78-59 late in the third quarter before closing the game on a 55-27 run.''We gave up 38 points (actually, 39) in the fourth quarter. End of story,'' fumed Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who drew a technical foul during the Nuggets' comeback.Nuggets coach Michael Malone said he never considered benching Murray because he didn't want to crush his confidence. He said he took him aside at halftime and told him to take a deep breath and trust his shots would start falling.''Never once did I think about pulling him from the lineup,'' Malone said.Good thing, too, because Murray, the goat in Game 1 after missing an open jumper and turning the ball over in the closing seconds, might have salvaged the Nuggets' season while going 8 for 9 in the fourth quarter.The series shifts to San Antonio, where the Nuggets haven't won since 2012, for Game 3 on Thursday night.Paul Millsap added 20 points for Denver and Nikola Jokic just missed his second triple-double of the series, scoring 21 points, pulling down 13 rebounds and dishing out eight assists.The Spurs got 31 points from DeMar DeRozan, 24 from LaMarcus Aldridge and 17 from Derrick White.San Antonio led 78-59 with 4 1/2 minutes left in the third quarter before the Nuggets started their comeback, cutting it to seven points entering the fourth quarter.They tied it at 95 on Murray's jumper midway through the period, then took their first lead since the first quarter when Murray sank two free throws with 4:50 remaining for a 99-97 lead.TIP-INS:San Antonio: The Spurs fell to 21-7 against Denver in the playoffs. They had won seven of their last 12 games in Denver, including the regular season.Denver: The Nuggets finally found their offensive rhythm but not before falling behind by 19 in the first half and hitting the locker room trailing 59-49 at halftime. ... The Nuggets ended a seven-game home losing streak to San Antonio in the playoffs.UP NEXTThe series shifts to San Antonio for Game 3 Thursday night.---Follow Arnie Melendrez Stapleton on Twitter: http://twitter.com/arniestapleton---More NBA: https://apnews.com/tag/NBA and https://twitter.com/-Sports)
Apr 15, 2019Minutes after missing an open shot that could have changed the outcome of his first career playoff game, Jamal Murray climbed the stairs from the Denver Nuggets locker room and started shooting on the practice court.For about an hour, the young point guard tried to erase the 8-for-23 shooting night in a 101-96 loss to the San Antonio Spurs in Game 1 of the Western Conference quarterfinal series."I just didn't go into my shot like I normally do," Murray said Monday about his miss. "I rushed it a little bit, so next game I'll calm my shot down a little bit more and be more relaxed. Not be too excited, not be too anxious." Murray and the Nuggets get their chance Tuesday night at home in Game 2. It's as close to a must-win game for Denver as it can be; a loss drops the No. 2 seed in an 0-2 hole heading back to San Antonio for two games."I don't think we're in panic mode. We don't feel like we have to make a whole lot of adjustments," Nuggets guard Will Barton said. "We have to make a few adjustments and we have to make shots." The veteran Spurs held Denver to 42 percent shooting and led for most of the game. The Nuggets were down five with 2:24 left and had a chance to take the lead, but Murray misfired on an 18-footer with 9.4 seconds left.After two days of analyzing and breaking down the film, both teams are ready for Game 2."They're going to be more aggressive, defensively, offensively, and we've got to be prepared for that," Spurs guard DeMar DeRozan said. "We've got to be better, we've got expect it. It's going to be even more of a dogfight this time around." Denver didn't score a point in transition and San Antonio held center Nikola Jokic to 10 points by double-teaming the All-Star center when he was in the low post. Jokic did have 14 rebounds and 14 assists, but he could have had nearly 20 assists if his teammates hit open shots."I thought Denver had a lot of great shots that they missed," San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. "Our defense could have been better and we were fortunate they missed some of those shots." The Nuggets did miss shots, but the Spurs' top scorers weren't doing much better.DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge scored 18 and 15 points, respectively, and missed 24 of their 36 shot attempts. Bryn Forbes (15 points), Derrick White (16 points) and Rudy Gay (14 points) picked up the slack and shot a combined 19 of 28."We lost that game because, yes, we couldn't make shots but you have to give a ton of credit to Forbes, White and Rudy Gay," Nuggets coach Michael Malone said.The Nuggets vowed to play better, and the Spurs, a playoff-tested team, are ready for that. They're also not satisfied going home with a split."It's not about one game, it's about the series," Aldridge said. "We didn't play great and we got the win." --Field Level Media
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