San Antonio vs. Denver, Final Score: Spurs pull away from Nuggets, 122-100

The Spurs offense lit up the scoreboard against the visitors Sunday afternoon.

The Spurs Sunday matinee matchup with the Denver Nuggets saw some heavy scoring early, as the silver and black put up 66 first half points and boasted a 12 point lead at the half. The offense looked much more fluid despite first and second lineups that I expect will share close to zero minutes on the floor together once the regular season begins.

The Nuggets countered the hot shooting and closed the gap to just 1 by the end of the 3rd. Nikola Jokic and Paul Millsap combined for 16 points in the quarter. The Spurs responded with a late 4th quarter surge by Lamarcus Aldridge and a barrage of threes put the good guys back in front for good.

Observations:

Rudy Gay seems to be gelling. Known for forcing looks during his days in Memphis and Sacramento, it was promising to see the 11 year veteran play within the offense Sunday afternoon. It’s been a small sample size, but I’m very intrigued by what #22 could bring to the table this season.
It was refreshing to see a confident Bryan Forbes on the floor. The second year sharpshooter was plagued by a severe cold streak shooting the ball in the NBA last season, which significantly hampered him. It will be very interesting to see if he can play his way into a supporting role early in the year while Parker is rehabbing.
It looks like Bertans has put in some work this summer. The lativian sharpshooter clearly put a lot of focus on putting the ball on the ground this offseason. It didn’t quite show on the stat sheet today, but you can tell he is much more comfortable being chased off of the 3 point line, as there were a couple of possessions in the first half which saw the big man pump fake and get to the rim. Oh, and that shooting stroke of his didn’t disappear over the 5 month hiatus either. The 6’10 sniper went 2-3 from deep Sunday afternoon.
Murray is continuing to grow as a point guard. The 20 year old out of Washington appears to be focusing on running the offense this preseason rather than his lay making ability that he flashed in the conference finals last year. It appears that Pop and his staff want to develop the young guard’s game slowly after thrusting him into action late in the playoffs last season.

Next up the Spurs will finish up their two game home stand Tuesday night against the Orlando Magic.

Source: Pounding The Rock