A pair of early division leaders collide tonight in the Alamo City, where the Denver Nuggets will battle the host San Antonio Spurs.
Denver is playing well as of late with four straight wins and will close out a brief two-game road trip Saturday before returning to the Rocky Mountains for a four-game homestand versus the Hornets, Nets, Heat and Jazz.
In Friday's 96-88 victory at New Orleans, Danilo Gallinari scored 23 points and dished out six assists to lead the way. Al Harrington added 14 points and six rebounds for the Nuggets, who erased a 32-24 deficit after the first period and have scored 90-plus points in each of their last four games.
"To start the game like we did was very disappointing," said Denver coach George Karl, "(but) the response was really positive to see. ... We created our offense with our defense."
The Northwest Division-leading Nuggets are averaging 102.4 points per game and face a tough defending San Antonio squad this evening. They are tied with Oklahoma City for division supremacy.
San Antonio is 5-2 on the young season and has won two straight and three of its last four contests. It is coming off Thursday's impressive 93-71 win over the defending champion Dallas Mavericks and will close out a three-game residency tonight.
Matt Bonner was one of five Spurs to score in double figures, finishing with 17 points and six rebounds. Richard Jefferson added 16 points and seven rebounds and Tony Parker finished with 11 points and seven assists for the Spurs, who have won two straight since Manu Ginobili broke his left hand during Monday's loss to Minnesota. Ginobili is out 6-8 weeks.
"We were both coming off back-to-backs, they had to travel, but we had the home court advantage and tried to come out with energy and use that home court advantage to get us going. We made a lot threes in the first half and it got contagious. We did it with defense in the second half, because we didn't shoot too well in the third quarter," Bonner said.
The Spurs are 5-0 at home to start the season for the first time since the 2007-08 campaign when they won their first 13 home games. The Southwest Division leaders will hit the road for two games at Oklahoma City and Milwaukee following tonight's tilt. The Spurs offense at home is averaging 101.6 points, while shooting .460 (187-406) from the field and .474 (56-118) from three-point territory.
San Antonio took three of four matchups with Denver a year ago and is 14-6 in the past 20 encounters at the AT&T Center.
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