Game Thread Spurs (59-18) @ Nuggets (49-28) (Sat 4/4/2026) [2:00PM CDT]

[spursistan]

Love how pissed Champ is about this loss. They understand losing in that manner can't happen twice in 3 weeks against the same team. Spurs see themselves as championship contender and not a feel-good story.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2040572184884584564

 

[spursistan]

Also a 64-page Game thread, the second most after the 80+ page Thunder NBA Cup game i think. Just when @LeBowen was saying Spurs game threads are starting to suffer from low turnout because we are winning too much *trump voice*

Clearly the second biggest litmus test for this team, which why it's been treated like a playoffs game..

 

[Seventyniner]

This has been the spurs defensive strategy all year, much to my dismay. It’s fine against bad teams, but I’ve been saying it’s going to get exploited in the playoffs. I hope I’m wrong, but it’s the same approach the Bucks took in the Coach Bud era and consistently lost in the playoffs, except for that one run where they won despite Bud’s bad coaching

I've been kicking around an idea in my head for a while, that with offenses averaging an all-time high of 115.7 points per 100 possessions, in terms of efficiency a 38.6% corner three is now only an average shot rather than a good, let alone great, one. Meaning it could well be worth leaving even a decent shooter open in the corner on purpose.

This is a far cry from the Duncan-centric Spurs heyday of the 2000s when a team just had to shoot better than 35% from the corners to have those be above-average shots.

Christian Braun is only averaging 36.1% from the corners this season (career 35.1%). That's 108.3 points per 100, well below Denver's 122.1 season-long average. Leaving specifically him open was likely a deliberate choice. I expect to see players like him and Caruso being given that treatment in the playoffs.

 

[wemvp]

On the other hand, how many potential championships have we lost because we had the most difficult path?

Because playing OKC after the Nuggets would be way more difficult than playing OKC after they play the Nuggets.
They'll have two warmup series, tbh.

Yep, basketball is a game all about matchups. Ask the 2007 Mavericks if they would have rather had anyone but the worst matchup in the league for them in the first round.

No one in the league is anywhere near as bad a matchup for this Spurs team as GSW was for that Mavs team, but the Nuggets might be the worst matchup in the NBA for them. Just as the Spurs are the worst matchup for the Thunder in the league. Would rather see a Houston (or Lakers)/ Thunder path than a Nuggets/Thunder path. But it all comes down to luck of the draw, and with the Mavs beating the Lakers yesterday it's pretty clear the Nuggets are getting the 3rd seed regardless if the Spurs won the game Saturday or not.

 

[Itzsoweezee]

I've been kicking around an idea in my head for a while, that with offenses averaging an all-time high of 115.7 points per 100 possessions, in terms of efficiency a 38.6% corner three is now only an average shot rather than a good, let alone great, one. Meaning it could well be worth leaving even a decent shooter open in the corner on purpose.

This is a far cry from the Duncan-centric Spurs heyday of the 2000s when a team just had to shoot better than 35% from the corners to have those be above-average shots.

Christian Braun is only averaging 36.1% from the corners this season (career 35.1%). That's 108.3 points per 100, well below Denver's 122.1 season-long average. Leaving specifically him open was likely a deliberate choice. I expect to see players like him and Caruso being given that treatment in the playoffs.

Wow, that is crazy if true that corner threes at 38% is only an average shot these days. I guess I shouldn’t doubt the coaching staff

 

[Itzsoweezee]

I don’t need DEN to tenderize OKC for us in R2, and if we can’t beat DEN in R2 then we didn’t earn a shot at OKC.

I don’t care who we play. We control our own destiny.

I don’t care who the spurs play, but I don’t want the Thunder to have a cakewalk to the finals. So ideally, they face two teams that can beat them, SA and Denver

 

[SpursFan86]

Wemby (almost) legacy moment

This is "Wemby (almost) legacy moment" by Chris on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

vimeo.com

Going back through my videos from Saturday and it hurt to watch this one. It was all set up perfectly…Spurs on my side of the court with Wemby almost hitting the buzzer beater

After having a couple of days to get over the loss, I can appreciate just how good of a game it was. Incredible atmosphere - pretty easily the most intense regular season game I’ve ever attended. Frustrating as hell that we ended up losing, but regardless of the outcome playing in game like that has to be good for this team’s development.

I sort of agree with the sentiment that if we can’t beat Denver in a playoff series then we’re probably not good enough to turn around and beat OKC/Boston either. Playing LAL in the 2nd round would be nice but it is what it is. Seeing Wemby/Jokic duel for an entire playoff series would be some legendary shit and we shouldn’t be ducking that matchup. Selfishly I like it because it means I’ll catch at least a game or two here in Denver as well

 

[Fabbs]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2040561213684470079

 

[spurraider21]

meltdown after a road OT loss to Jokic following an 11 game win streak... we are so back

 

[Coyote2!]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2040561213684470079

Wemby looks like he's waiting in front of the principal's office after acting up in class lol

 

[Fabbs]

Eh i don't think it's some meltdown over the L, rather the way it was another gift giveaway with idiotic low IQ plays and coaching strategy.
Mitch has been soo good during the streak and we had not seen Mitchovich for months.
He's 100% entitled to rebound and i am confident it was a one game aberration.

But i don't scoff is some got triggered.

 

[Ice009]

This has been the spurs defensive strategy all year, much to my dismay. It’s fine against bad teams, but I’ve been saying it’s going to get exploited in the playoffs. I hope I’m wrong, but it’s the same approach the Bucks took in the Coach Bud era and consistently lost in the playoffs, except for that one run where they won despite Bud’s bad coaching

I don't like it, haven't liked seeing it during the season either. Why is this a strategy? What does it exploit if they don't leave the shooter open? Or is it just to play the percentages that the shooter won't hit the shot?

 

[Arguendo]

I've been kicking around an idea in my head for a while, that with offenses averaging an all-time high of 115.7 points per 100 possessions, in terms of efficiency a 38.6% corner three is now only an average shot rather than a good, let alone great, one. Meaning it could well be worth leaving even a decent shooter open in the corner on purpose.

This is a far cry from the Duncan-centric Spurs heyday of the 2000s when a team just had to shoot better than 35% from the corners to have those be above-average shots.

Christian Braun is only averaging 36.1% from the corners this season (career 35.1%). That's 108.3 points per 100, well below Denver's 122.1 season-long average. Leaving specifically him open was likely a deliberate choice. I expect to see players like him and Caruso being given that treatment in the playoffs.

Damn, that's crazy high.
But to me that means don't leave anyone but a way below avg shooter open from the corner. If the average is 38.6%, that means its 1.16 points per shot, same as someone shooting 58% from 2. So don't give up that shot intentionally, limit the corners and close shots within 3 at all costs and live with what happens.

I just looked through the top 30 in both PPG and in TS%, the only 4 guys above 58% from anywhere beyond 3' are Joker (absolutely stupid, dude is 60% out of 16'), Luka, SGA, and KD, with Steph being just under at 57.5% and Kawhi at 56.4%.
So doesn't that mean you'd rather force anyone except the very best of the best scorers to take anything past 3' vs giving up open corners to even the average guy?

Like its probably better to dare Ant or Booker into 6', 9' shots then let Jaden/Bones/Naz or Royce/Gillespie/Allen ever take an open corner 3 (all those guys hit above 41% from the corner btw, 1.23pps vs the 0.95-1 Ant and Book get outside of 3'). Obviously fouls play into this, so this is oversimplified, but I don't want encourage the 2nd best looks in the game, I want to limited those.