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The San Antonio Spurs had the opportunity to control the playoff bracket. If they defeated the Denver Nuggets, who sat the bulk of their starters and only played Nikola Jokic 18 minutes, they’d bump them down to the fourth-seed, and wouldn’t need to face them until the Western Conference Finals. Instead, the Spurs, without Victor Wembanyama and Luke Kornet, came out flat in a 128-118 loss to the shorthanded Nuggets.
Now, San Antonio will need to go through potentially Denver and the Oklahoma City Thunder on their journey to the NBA Finals. We’ll find out in a few weeks if this game comes back to haunt them. San Antonio has the second-best NBA title odds on FanDuel at +550.
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The player grades here will be much lower than they have been for past games to account for the missed opportunity. As a quick reminder, these grades are based on each player’s on-court performance, going beyond just the stat sheet. A “B” grade represents the average performance for an individual. If a player logs fewer than 5 minutes or plays only in garbage time, their grade will be incomplete.
De’Aaron Fox
33 minutes, 24 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 block, 2 fouls, 7-for-21 shooting, 4-for-14 threes, +2
24 points is a nice, shiny statistic, but when you score that many on 33% shooting from the field, you realize that it’s inflated. The Spurs needed someone to pull them out of the mud and get their offense going. Fox was unable to do that on Sunday. The national media narrative about the Spurs’ playoff chances always comes down to a lack of experience. Fox is one of the exceptions, having played in one playoff series. These are the type of games where you’d like to see him break out and lead the team to victory.
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Grade: B-
Stephon Castle
29 minutes, 10 points, 11 rebounds, 9 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, 3 fouls, 3-for-10 shooting, 2-for-3 threes, –11
Is Castle the first guy to almost get a triple-double and play badly? He was 1 assist shy of a triple-double despite having a rusty first game back from a knee injury. His finishing was off, he got out of position defensively, and he didn’t seem…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/spurs-vs-nuggets-player-grades-225931564.html
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Publish date : 2026-04-13 22:59:00
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