Post-Game Thread: Denver Nuggets (54-28) defeat San Antonio Spurs (62-20), 128-118 | NBA | Apr 12, 2026
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Just glad Jokic played. MVP for me.
This team is not good when both centers sit
Most teams aren’t
Lakers would like a word
One of the most difficult things in sports is to keep the expectations level during the season. If last November someone had told Spurs fans they would win 62 games and end the season as the #2 seed, they would have lost their minds. Now they are pissed they got locked into the #2 seed and have to play the Nuggets in the second round?
Remember what the preseason expectations were. Remember what was hoped for at the start of the season. That’s all I’m saying.
Nuggs tried to throw the game, Spurs starters said nope!
Denver is going to fry them in the playoffs. What a disaster for the spurs
denver will be lucky to get 1 game
That’s crazy. This will be a 6⁄7 game series for sure.
how many games???
What? Maybe just re-read the post you’re replying to? It’s right there.
He’s saying he believes a series between the Spurs and the Nuggets will either take 6 games to determine a winner or it will take 7 games. NBA playoffs pit two teams against one another in a 7 game series and the winner is the first team to reach 4 wins against their opponent. Not sure what’s not clicking for you.
😂 major fail buddy
dude, please stop embarrassing yourself. it’s literally just a 6-7 reference. that’s it. don’t get so worked up
He’s mad that the Spurs lost and is taking it out on other ppl 😭
L + bozo + not how you use the word literally + saying a series might go 6 or 7 games is pretty common in NBA discussions are we gonna spam some circle jerked meme every time it happens
Grown man btw
oof
Good talk
you crashed out over a 6-7 reference
“Crashed out” “6-7”
What are we doing here on r/nba lmao
I don’t know what 6-7 means but I don’t live under a rock
Crashed out is pretty self explanatory, just reference the diatribe you posted lol
Umm
Great contribution to the conversation
Reddit broke you
Denver looks better in the matchup so far. I’d be surprised if spurs win in anything under 7
They needed OT to win by two on their home court. At full strength, with home court, we have a shot against them
Bro Strawther plays like Jordan Poole lol
you’re the 1 millionth person to say that
This is uncomfortable.
Lmao thanks spurs
Big fumble by the spurs
why Spurs fumbled and Denver didn’t?
How could you even justify Denver fumbling this?
Because it doesn’t really matter for denver, they have to go thru both okc and spurs if they wanna win a chip, its those two teams who tried their best to push denver into the bracket of the other.
Resting Wemby is not trying their best
Trying their best within reason
playing 4 starters in game 82 until the last minute indicates that you’re wrong
what’s Denver path now compared to if they lost?
Denver is basically a hired assassin for okc at this point lol
Spurs then OKC, instead of the other way around
And they get Minnesota in round 1 instead of Houston.
First round exit for Ant is going to change some narratives
You could tell Silver wanted this outcome due to the reffing. But yeah, the Spurs also sold
Are you implying the refs helped Denver win?
No man, this had nothing to do with the reffing.
How many fouls did the spurs get in the last quarter? I thought the opposite
In the moments before getting kicked out from the second round Wemby will turn to his young teammate and ask him the most meaningful question of his career:
“Why tf did you dunk on that man?!”
lmao
Harper got hurt?
people harp on how serious teams shouldn’t need to duck others, but matchups matter and if you have a chance like this to make it easier on yourself you should take it. if kornet is injured, they really should’ve played wemby a bit even in limited minutes. getting okc and denver on the same side of the bracket would be way more beneficial for them than 1 more night of rest.
Generational fumble, especially if Denver takes them out
Not really lol, if you want to be champs (and the Spurs clearly have a championship contending team) you’re going to have to beat some elite teams in the playoffs.
It was our hard series against the nuggets in the second round that gave us the experience we needed to win the championship imo. The pacers game 7 wasn’t our first game 7. Their buzzer beater wasn’t the first time we’d gone down in a series and still come back to win etc.
I have a question.. Why was your goon the only starter in the Denver game? Seems suss… You guys a sketchy.
Because he gets a bonus for every Denver ACL he returns to OKC with. Happy now my friend?
Why did Denver want to win
Why did the spurs let them?
Cause they’re not losers..
Why would Denver not want to win?
Should we tell our players to lose on purpose?
On an organizational level, I don’t think the Nuggets really cared who won.
But David Roddy, Bruce Brown, Jonas Valencuinas, Julian Strawther, and Curtis Jones sure wanted to win.
I feel like we match up well against the spurs so I’d rather be on their side of the bracket.
We will probably have to play OKC either way, but I’d rather play a better team later in the bracket. Chances of injuries go up as the playoffs go on and if it’s one of our guys that gets injured and we lose because of it then it’s “oh well, we probably would’ve lost in the finals anyway without ____”. If it’s one of their guys that gets injured then it’s an easier road to the finals than if we ran into them pre-injury.
Hoping everyone stays healthy though. Winning due to injuries never feels like a real win.
Not much difference for Denver. Both paths seem approximately equal. Spurs are just stupid tho.
I think wolves are a tougher first round matchup
Maybe slightly but also they’re more banged up or recently injured. Also could see them thinking Spurs is slightly easier than OKC in terms of matchup.
Denver looked like they didn’t really cared either way, they might get a slightly easier first round but a slightly tougher second round or vice-versa. They just played it safe and the guys they had played tough. As well as Spurs choking the 4th with unlucky shooting.
Not really
Free first round vs lakers then OKC spurs
Is better than
Wolves spurs fresh OKC
Brother the Lakers have nothing to do with this
Average OKC casual bandwagoner
OKC are a bit harder than Spurs, but Minnesota is a bit harder than Rockets. Fresh Spurs in WCF after a bloodbath with OKC isn’t an appealing proposition.
Why are you talking about the Lakers? Nuggets were getting twolves or rockets.
It’s not lakers it’s rockets
Rockets would be over in 5. Noe between hospital lakers and them in not sure who get to get swept by okc
Denver avoids OKC until the final round
Denver now gets the spurs during round 2 instead of the Lakers.
Denver will tire themselves out against the spurs unfortunately
Explain sentence 2
Yeh I would say Spurs are preferable to Denver over OKC. You get a young team in their first playoffs appearance so you how you get to take advantage of their inexperience in that atmosphere as well as their conditioning. They also seem to play them better than most teams.
I think even taking out experience that the Nuggets matchup better against Spurs than OKC.
We r too ethical to tank
I remember when y’all tanked to avoid the Rockets
so your saying every single loss that happens in the NBA.. Every one is a team tanking. lol..Thats real smart.
Dude and it could’ve come back to bite us in the ass if Rockets won their last game, but Russ and PG put up the performance of a lifetime, what a game.
exactly. Nuggets never try to lose. There not afraid of anyone. WE have to play those teams anyway to reach our goal. Now or later makes no difference.
Makes no difference? Wolves then Spurs then OKC vs Free then Lakers/Rockets then Spurs/OKC… its more of making sure the team is more fresh going to Spurs/OKC
Having 3 straight tough ass battles is gonna be hard to stay fresh
They have the heart, let’s hope the legs hold up!
Would be so funny if SA gets eliminated in the second round by Denver 😂😂 Wemby played Dallas instead of Denver so dumb
Not as funny as getting knocked out by the Rockets in round 1
No one has expectations for the lakers their top 2 guys are out. The spurs have a good shot vs Denver but tonight was a fumble.
Harper got hurt, y’all still lost, your bracket just got significantly harder & it prob could’ve been avoided if wemby dropped and efficient 20 today instead of 40 on a tanking team last game.
No one had expectations on the Spurs coming into the year. We were projected to be a play-in team. Anyone who complains about a 62 win season in their star’s 3rd year is an idiot.
Also, if we can’t beat Denver in the playoffs, we probably weren’t going to win the entire thing. This is about building a dynasty. Facing an experienced Denver team will either force the team to level-up in the playoffs or go into the off season with a list of things to work on and a chip on our shoulders going into next season.
Beginning of the year projections no longer matter for you. you’re a top 4 team in the league w a real shot at the chip. If y’all go home round 2 everyone will look at this game
And if Wemby got injured in this game, everyone would be calling for the front office’s heads. Hindsight is always 20⁄20.
To be the best, you have to beat everyone. There is no difference between losing in the 2nd round or in the finals.
Someone’s butthurt 🤣🤣🤣 at least we didn’t purposely sit our best player against a team that would end up eliminating us in the playoffs. We don’t have expectations to perform due to our injuries. You on the other hand had the chance to send Denver to OKC’s side for a dogfight but fumbled it 💀
Yall werent going anywhere even with a healthy squad so pipe tf down
I get why you’re bitter. It must be hard watching a ‘broken’ Lakers team still get more national TV slots than the Spurs do in a decade.
We were projected to win like 40 games this year. I’m really not gonna be upset about how the rest of Wemby’s 3rd year goes after we won 62 games.
Yeah, people keep saying that. But imo, the win prediction was stupidly low. I bet on the over for 50+. Was obvious that this roster had a lot more in them. I saw them similar to the OKC team that was bounced in the playoff by Dallas. They were predicted 44.5 wins and got the 1 seed
Sure, so how about thinking about it like this: This is year 3 Wemby and the first year of what will probably be the Spurs core for the next 5+ years. The average age of the core is 23.5. Winning 62 games, literally tied for the third best record for a historic franchise, is impressive and they’ve developed tremendously.
Would I love for the team to win this year? Absolutely! At the same time, I can recognize that the young core needs some tough losses to learn from before they can win it all. Losing in the 2nd round vs the finals doesn’t change that. Nor does that take away from the fact that this was a good ass year any fan should be proud of.
I completely agreed with your stance about being okay with the progress and whatever else happens. Same way I thought about 23⁄24 OKC. Just surprises me how low tye win expectation was at the start of the season. I mean I didnt expect 2nd seed. But I had them penciled as 4th seed. Good luck with the rest of the season.
that’s on the cards and looking pretty likely unless denver suffers injuries in round 1
Fuck off.
Worst decision by the spurs this entire season, what the hell we’re they thinking
I mean we lost playing most of our rotation. They sat most of theirs. We simply sucked
Hard facts taught by David Roddy and friends..
Big win for OKC and houston. Big loss for spurs and wolves. Ironically doesn’t change much for denver
Is it weird that I’m more scared of the nuggets than OKC? Jokic is a matchup nightmare for us
I rhink the rockets would have bren a pretty easy win tho. Like they dont have the offense or defense to stop jokic and gordon on kd and doubles would have worked pretty well
Nuggets truly dgaf. As long as they are healthy…
Nuggets gonna get banged up going through Wolves, Spurs, and Thunder
Ridiculous result tbf.
Denver over the past 2 seasons signed Russ and allowed him to shine(ish), defeated SA to help us clinch the one seed, and defeated SA again to give us our easiest possible path to the finals. I’m slowly warming up to the haha.
Just admit it.
The only reason you hate us Nugget and Jokic is only because we’re competing with OKC in western con. If we’re in the east, you will probably root for us.
Our games are fun to watch, and our stars are decent and wholesome people.
That’s basically it, yeah, it’s stressful to play the Nuggets.
I only hate the Nuggets when they’re against OKC, otherwise Jokic and Gordon are two of my favourite players in the league.
I honestly don’t even hate most teams, it’s the fans lol. MVP debates ruin everything. Except the Spurs. I’ve always hated them. 25 years strong of hating 💪🏻
I mean yeah. That’s the whole point of rivalries haha. It makes watching sports so much more fun when your team is elite and you get to root against another elite team as the two battle for championships every year. When I first started watching basketball back in 2011, my choice was between Denver because of Melo and OKC because of Russ and I happened to choose OKC because Melo was traded.
why don’t y’all get a room
I hate nothing about the nuggets
I’ve always liked them and I liked them A LOT especially Jokic after respectfully housing Russ
I only hate adelshit
He’s the Mad Magazine guy, what’s to hate? Seems like a nice little fella who really knows basketball.
Nuggets post-game called out the Spurs have only lost 4 games since the start of February and 3 of those were to Denver
Two of those were without Wemby, but still. I definitely do not love our chances against y’all if we meet in the playoffs.
It doesn’t mean the Spurs would have won if Wemby had played. Denver adjusts their effort according to the competition.
True and that first Wembyless game was a nail biter
Tonight was not great for SA. No Wemby, but a lot of the other starters played and Jokic was the only Nuggets starter who played and he was done by halftime. Fox and Castle were playing deep into the fourth against the bench Nuggets and they rolled them on the road.
Not good for the psyche of the young Spurs
We played this weird zone defense for the first half and let your guys get hot. I bet you’ll see something closer to the defense played in the second half plus more size that Wemby and Kornet is back.
I think the players played but the strategy both offensively and defensively going into the game is not what you’ll see. I never seen us give up so many wing threes in the past. It’ll be a good series. If we want to win the championship, it’ll help going through good teams like Denver.
Oh I’m not pretending it wasn’t bad. I was just pointing out that our by-far-and-away best player didn’t play in two of those losses, and the one he did play in was on the road, and I am of the belief that y’all have the toughest home environment in the league.
I’m not really making excuses though. If we do meet in the second round, I’m probably picking you guys in that one if I’m being honest.
With that being said, if we are able to push it to 6 games, then I will be perfectly happy with a 60+ win season that ends with a tough second round exit to the Nuggets, given what our preseason expectations were.
I dunno, we’ve got some good fans, but I was at the Knicks blowout game at home last month, and the NY fans were louder than Denver in their own arena.. It was alarming!
That is pathetic. And hilarious.
another win for OKC lmao
I wanted both to avoid any asterisk bullshit but I won’t complain
I hate the Thunder, for obvious reasons, but I hate asterisk bullshit even more
People are seriously acting like this is the first time the #1 seed has benefited from the #2 playing the #3 in the 2nd round
Certainly not complaining
Spurs are doing the worst these days, what’s that ? He wanted to play… And Fox? Reminds me how much he’s paid ?
Wemby WANTED to play this game BTW
i blame that bum ass luke kornet. why did we sign a backup center who also needs rest? now in the offseason we gota get our backup center a backup
He has been good for you guys all season long :(
Bro did too much hip shaking and it cost us dearly 💔
you might be on to something
Can someone clip those Fox triple bricked threes at the end. Was hilarious how hard those things hit the rim
Brick city! That was something.
Respect to Denver. They didn’t duck the smoke.
Let’s do this. I just hope the refs let the best team win. Meaning..let’s let the players decide.
Hope yall have fun, but it won’t matter by round 2
The “ethical” Spurs played 4 starters in a meaningless game (for them) just to try to avoid Denver in Rd2…..and lost to the G-League Nuggets.
That’s incredible basketball karma.
tried to duck the nugs and failed
I mean. If they actually care they play Wemby
They do care, they’re just stupid.
If we didn’t care we wouldn’t have played our other 4 starting players for the entire game.
we half assed it, which is worse than either caring or not caring
Never half ass two things, always whole ass one thing - Ron Swanson
They should have played Wemby. The Spurs should have put 110% effort into winning this game. Brain dead management of this game
And Wemby WANTED to play…
My estimation of Mitch Johnson as a man dropped tremendously today
He’s a cow
I’ll say it again. If the spurs end up losing to the nuggets in round 2, mitch johnson should be fired
Lol
If he was trying to make his CotY case today by showing what he could do without Wemby, that failed spectacularly.
just won 62 games after winning 58 the previous 2 years combined so probably won’t fire the coach
Eh, 60+ wins and a second round exit FAR exceeds what our preseason expectations were.
If the Spurs won 46 games this year (which is more than what Vegas set our O/U win total at) and lost a tough first round series, everyone would be praising Mitch.
Not entirely his call and he will not be fired lol
Pop and the front office literally been grooming him for a decade to be his successor
I wouldn’t go that far, he’s been a nice coach & has a strong culture ties with us. But if he had any say in keeping Wemby out hes a fucking idiot for this along with our FO
Great season, PATHETIC end, for San Antonio. This one game brings big repercussions.
Gives okc an easy 2nd round match up. Best they can hope for is a 2nd round exit because Denver is a terrible match up for the Spurs. And that’s if they make it out of the first round. Also, miss me with all the Wemby MVP talk. He ducked the Nuggets and Jokic.
I don’t think Wemby ducked. I’m not reading that much into it.
Of course he didn’t duck. All the other players are shorter than him.
Well you’re right. Not literally ducked. But that’s how anyone who has an MVP vote will look at it.
I know voters are dumb, but I don’t think they’re that dumb
Fair enough, let’s just wait and see how the voting goes. I really had high hopes he would win. But I’m objective.
I hate to break it to you, but Wemby was not going to win MVP this year based on this game at this point in the season. It sucks, but MVP is a narrative award and players are expected to pay their dues first.
Dude FFS, I never said he was the favorite. I didn’t say he lost it today. I’m well aware of how the odds were looking. I’m saying it’s not even a discussion now. How hard is it for people to understand that? He himself, when asked, said he wants it. That’s it. Conversation over.
It wasn’t a discussion before today either unfortunately. The mvp straw polls have demonstrated the league basically anointed SGA in like January.
Either way, the team struggling without Wemby would hypothetically improve his case. Winning wouldn’t do anything because people would say Jokic didn’t have help so it doesn’t count.
Eh, I think Shai pretty much has it locked at this point. Plus Wemby is 22 he has plenty of time
I mean you could say the same thing with the Nuggets. If they make it out of the 1st round against the Wolves.
And the Spurs is a good matchup for Denver? Okay then.
Yes, did you not just see how the 3rd stringers just bopped the Spurs? The 1 Wemby game this season also went to Denver, and they were missing Watson.
They’re the best offense for a reason. While any team has a chance given any match up, things don’t look good for the Spurs. Denver did their job trying to throw today, the only other thing they could’ve done is intentionally turn the ball over.
Exactly. The wolves give the nuggets fits as a matchup . Ant will go bonkers.
It’s obvious the thunder bro below my reply didn’t watch the game. We ain’t beating anyone shooting like that , most of it was self inflicted . Fox tried a 3 pointer 3 times in a row and couldnt make it . Sums up the night
That matchup has shifted in denvers favor. NAW and kat were huge in guarding denver. Its not the same with them gone
The defensive genius that is KAT?! Who never bites on pump fakes and doesn’t commit stupid fouls KAT? Okay bro
Just lost to their g-league squad playing 4⁄5 starters the entire game. They got your number
Not a single center in sight they just ate the paint the whole game lmao
true Val had 18 points. and I think he scored4 times in a row through 1 stretch.
How did he duck them ?
He didn’t play. Team decision. They chose to play him against the Mavs and sit him today. When Kornet was also out, big mistake.
That isn’t his choice, I know you know that, right?
Did you miss the part where I literally wrote “TEAM DECISION”?
You said he was ducking Denver and Jokic. How was he ducking them when the decision was not his to make? Your words, not mine.
I guess you missed his post game interview vs Dallas.
But whatever, you know what I mean. He could’ve said “no, I’ll miss the Mavs game and play vs the Nuggets”…
All I’m saying is the MVP talk is dead in the water now.
It isn’t his decision as to when he is sat vs when he isn’t. He literally does not make that choice.
Also Shai has had MVP locked up for months. This game did not influence the outcome of that whatsoever. You’ve just picked a stupid hill to die on
What hill? fkin moron lol. It’s just a comment. And he does have a say in which games he potentially misses. Even if the final decision isn’t his.
It’s all you can say about my original comment because the rest holds true. The Spurs staff shit the bed. And now they’ll have a tougher road.
Nuggets are 3-1 against the Rockets and Wolves this season, and will have to face the Thunder and Spurs regardless of seed. All that mattered to the Nuggets was getting rest for 6 of their top 7 players and Jokic getting to 65 games played. The path to the Finals was going to be hard regardless.
I understand this part. I don’t understand SAS not caring about the outcome here.
They cared.. they played the starters the whole game. They just underestimated the Nuggets and thought they could also rest Wemby.
Thanks Denver.
Or maybe I should thank San Antonio.
Either way, seems like everybody won tn
thanks fox
I wanted to play the wolves
Spurs deserved this loss as soon they stepped on the floor. Props to the Nuggets 3rd team who truly came to play.
Yeah this is something that was big, while Spurs played many of their regulars, they clearly weren’t going all out. Maybe their higher ups told them not to idk but Denver absolutely went all out
why would they play then…its called rest I think if they don’t . THe fact that they played shows they wanted to win the game.YOu cannot debate that.
Nah, I think Spurs clearly underestimated because Spurs played pretty hard the second with no momentum and little to no rhythm to build from the first half.
They clearly blew it. It’s ok to say. These this happen, Denver dropped the 1 seed to SA on the last game of the season. I guess it’s karma.
BuT tHe SpUrS aRe 12-6 wItHoUt WeMbY
Kornet is a very solid backup big but he didn’t play this game
I think they had Kornet at least. But man they cannot play small ball to save their life.