Sure, you can say the Nuggets were shorthanded, missing Christian Braun and Aaron Gordon, but that doesn’t exactly make up for the fact that the Spurs were playing without Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle. And yet, without their two best players, San Antonio rolled into Denver, handed the Nuggets their third straight home loss, and eliminated them from the NBA Cup all in one fell swoop.
Denver led by as many as 18 after recess, but they couldn’t hold onto the ball, they couldn’t defend without fouling, and they couldn’t guard the three-point line. All told, the Nuggets gave up 17 threes, 32 free throws, and 30 points off turnovers.