NBA Basketball Matchup: Nuggets vs Spurs
This is a match-up between two teams that both came out of the gates hot. The difference between the them now, is that one kept the streak going, while the other has not been able to maintain the success.
Date/Time: 9:30 PM EST, Sunday, March 4th, 2012
Venue: AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas
Broadcast: Local Markets (subject to change)
Spread: Spurs -6
Over/Under: 206.5
The Nuggets got off to a great start that not many thought they would be able to continue. Those people were right as Denver have fallen onto hard times lately in losing 10 of its last 15.
The Spurs on the other hand started off well, and have stayed hot Most recently reeling off an 11-game winning streak, and have won 12of their last 14 overall.
The Nuggets are about as balanced as an NBA team comes. They possess seven players that average at least 10 points per game, along with five players that grab at least five rebounds per outing.
The two central figures on this club are the respective leaders of those two categories. Danilo Gallinari is the main man in the scoring column at 17 a night, while Nene has been their most consistent guy on the glass in snatching almost eight per outing.
Point Guard, Ty Lawson is another Nugget to look out for. He is second on the team in scoring at over f15 a night, while also getting others involved as well. Lawson has dished out over six assists per contest this season, which puts him second on the team. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
That type of ball movement is going to be tough on an aging San Antonio team.
Nevertheless, the Spurs are still going strong, behind the nigh in and night out leadership of Tony Parker who is showing that he is finally healthy. And when Parker’s healthy he has proven to be a force to reckoned with.
Parker leads the team in points and assists on the season thus far and no one is particularly close to him in either stat. With an aging Tim Duncan, and an often injured Manu Ginobili around, to say they are heavily relying on the Frenchman to stay healthy is an understatement.
That being said, the Spurs have some role players around those three guys that have made some contributions. DeJuan Blair and Gary Neal are at the top of this list.
Both Blair and Neal are just shy of averaging 10 points a game, while Blair also chips in heavily on the glass. Neal is the sharpshooter at almost 40 percent from behind the arc.
Free Pick: San Antonio– The game will be decided by the effectiveness of Parker. If he is able to get into the lane and forces the Nuggies bigs to stand up to step, Denver will be forced to leave a plethora of other options open, and Parker has been able to find them all year long.
