SAN ANTONIO – LaMarcus Aldridge’s big night led the San Antonio Spurs to a 106-104 victory over the Denver Nuggets (26-25) at the AT&T Center on Tuesday night.
The game was the third of a five game home-stand for the silver and black, who are 2-1 with two contests remaining. Aldridge once again led the Spurs in scoring and got a key block late to keep his team ahead.
Here is what went good and bad for the Spurs, as well as three standout players: Aldridge, Kyle Anderson, and Manu Ginobili.
The Good:
- The Spurs grinned out a close win against a very young Denver team coming off a back to back. The reason this is good? It gives the San Antonio’s role players some much needed experience in crunch time situations.
- LaMarcus Aldridge continues to be a force.
- Kyle Anderson rebounded from an off game to have a career high in points.
The Bad:
- Danny Green continues to struggle on the offensive side of the ball. He finished with just six points on 3-of-11 shooting and went 0-for-6 from downtown.
- San Antonio committed 16 turnovers, with Aldridge turning the ball over six times.
Three Standout Players:
LaMarcus Aldridge: The Spurs’ leading scorer rebounded from an off game against Sacramento on Sunday to have another solid night of work to lead his team to another victory.
Aldridge finished with 30 points on 14-of-23 shooting, five rebounds, and two assists. The All-Star forward worked well out of the double team as he found open shooters and scored over young Denver big Nikola Jovic. The only negative in LaMarcus’ performance is he had a team-high six turnovers.
Kyle Anderson: After getting pulled in the second half of Sunday’s game against Sacramento, Kyle Anderson rebounded to have a career night on Tuesday.
Anderson finished by posting a career high 18 points along with four rebounds and five assists. The performance from Anderson showed he can take getting pulled and have an even better outing the very next night. No wonder Pop has such high praise for the former UCLA Bruin.
Manu Ginobili: What else can be said about Grandpa Juice? Ginobili continues to show just how important he is to this Spurs team, which has been depleted by injuries for a majority of the season.
Ginobili finished with 14 points off the bench, including shooting 50 percent from three point range. With San Antonio missing key players Kawhi Leonard and Rudy Gay, Ginobili’s performances will be key for the silver and black as they get ready to hit the road for their annual Rodeo Trip.
Up next:
Houston Rockets (36-13) at San Antonio Spurs (34-19)
Thursday, February 1 – Tip off: 7 p.m. CT
AT&T Center – San Antonio, TX
