Marc J.Spears of the Denver Post reports that the Denver Nuggets learned a lesson yesterday. In the NBA, every day is a new day. As Nuggets coach Jeff Bzdelik said, "In this league, you can get humbled real fast."
After fighting back from a big deficit to beat the Spurs and extend their winning streak to three games on Tuesday night, the Nuggets had to face the Spurs again on Wednesday.
The Spurs exacted revenge in a big way by drubbing the Nuggets 99-68. Denver starters shot a combined 7-32 from the field. No starter scored more than 5 points. They tied a franchise record by scoring only 22 points in the first half. They set an NBA record for the fewest points in the first quarter by managing only 3.
The Nuggets took a 2-0 lead on a jumper by Kenny Satterfield 63 seconds into the game. Incredibly, Denver finished the first quarter without another field goal, scoring only one more point on a free throw by Donnell Harvey to go into the second quarter down 21-3. Denver shot just 1-for-16 (6.3 percent) in the first quarter and had eight turnovers.
"I had more fun getting my wisdom teeth pulled," Bzdelik said about the first quarter.
"I've never seen anything like it before," Spurs center David Robinson said. "It wasn't pretty. And defensively, that wasn't even our best basketball."
"Our inexperience was very evident against a very angry, very good basketball team," Bzdelik said.