The Spurs’ starting backcourt burned the candle at both ends in loss to the Nuggets

In yet another tough loss to the rising Nuggets, the Spurs hung tough for most of the game only to succumb late to the Nuggets’ depth and superior talent. Dejounte Murray and Derrick White led the team with 18 points apiece while DeMar DeRozan poured in 14 of his own. The good news is that the good guys had the effort and energy against the Nuggets, but the bad news is that the good guys had the effort and energy against the Nuggets with a bad shooting percentage. Better days are ahead, and Spurs fans can only hope it started yesterday.

Out of the gate in the second half, the Spurs went out on a 10-0 run that exemplified what would happen when the team had some synergy going. This sequence that started with a Nuggets turnover, and the ball went from DeMar DeRozan to Keldon Johnson to Dejounte Murray for a finishing dunk only required one dribble by Johnson. This is the sort of beautiful basketball Spurs fans are looking for:

They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. But I say a fast break that began with Murray to White back to Murray to a cutting DeRozan is the most important type of play the Spurs need. They need more fast breaks especially with below league average shooting. I like to think Ron Swanson would wholeheartedly agree with this entire paragraph.

Exhibit A for getting the young guys out more in space. This aggro Keldon Johnson defense led to a quick bucket on the other end from the second year phenom:

Derrick White and Jakob Poeltl were playing a little high low with White going low and pump faking for an easy two:

Word of warning, the rest of the highlights are just Derrick White putting work in on defense. It’s a sight to behold. Here’s White going coast-to-coast after blocking the Joker:

As I promised, here’s more of Derrick White playing stellar defense. But the real question is, can he defend that color coordination? Does yellow submarine go with City Edition Fiesta?

Idle hands are the devil’s workshop. Active hands are Derrick White’s defensive workshop. It’s a valid question as to how the Spurs’ season might have looked if he was healthy all year.

And last but never least, the full game highlights:

Next up, the Spurs run it back against the Nuggets on Friday, April 9, 2021.