The Slender-Man, a volume scoring supernova of the Spurs, Brandon Ingram, notched 64 points and set a new career mark in the regular season on a stellar 27-36 shooting display, nabbing 7 steals as well.
Denver stood no chance as Dejounte Murray slammed the net for 25 points, 7 assists & 5 steals. Andre Drummond swatted Jamal Murray's lay-in hard off the backboard, a 14 point/14 rebound double-double his receipt. Wes Matthews chipped in 12 points as San Antonio cruised to a dominant home defense, mountaineering a new scoring total for the season of 147 points. They dominated the paint, 82-44, and Spur-fectly shared the rock for 44 team assists, leading by as many as 39 points, forcing 18 turnovers by the Nuggets.
In the thunderous blowout, Aaron Gordon had a strong showing of 22 points, but Nikola Jokic struggled with just 14 points. Murray had 5 turnovers, as Denver failed to find a rhythm all game long as the home crowd got more than its money's worth in the AT&T Center.
"He goes into another universe sometimes," Coach Popovich spoke in so many words about Ingram's new scoring feat. "It is sensational to watch. That kind of firepower in a scorer--there's nothing like it." Dishing the ball to Ingram several times throughout the game, Dejounte quipped post-game: "I mean, hey, I had 25? That's something, right? Nah, B.I. played amazing for us. I just gave him the ball and got behind security at a certain point. Maybe call the National Guard, I don't know," Murray chuckled in the feel-good locker room atmosphere.
Brandon Ingram had previously set his regular season career high of 63 points three seasons ago, topping it once in the playoffs last year against the Clippers, scoring 64 in the victory. Ingram also scored 45 points in the NBA Finals in that same season thrice removed from now. "Mr. 64" kinda has a ring to it, eh?
The Spurs move to 35-3 on the season, now 19-0 at home.
Next up, the Pacers come to town before San Antonio embraces a national TV road showdown against their NBA Finals rival, the Philadelphia 76ers, led by the duo of James Harden & Joel Embiid.
