Victor Wembanyama, surging Spurs set sights on Nuggets
The San Antonio Spurs have been the hottest team in the league since Jan. 1.
They will look to continue their run of success on Thursday when they host the Denver Nuggets.
The Spurs boast MVP candidate Victor Wembanyama and a supporting cast that seems to showcase a different player every game, They have won five straight games and 16 of their past 17 games.
San Antonio is 24-8 since the calendar turned to 2026 and undefeated during an 11-game stretch in February.
The Spurs kept rolling on Tuesday, as Wembanyama scored 39 points while hitting a career-high-tying eight 3-pointers in a 125-116 win over the Boston Celtics.
"I'm adapting to what the defense gives me," Wembanyama said. "I think that's something that defines me. It's something I don't want to lose, ever. Someday, the goal is to be kind of unguardable."
The Spurs led by seven entering the fourth quarter but were only up 106-105 before Wembanyama delivered a powerful dunk followed by a 3-pointer on back-to-back possessions.
"He did a good job with his mechanics of being disciplined, and he's shown he can obviously get out and make shots, and it really can put defenses in a tough place in terms of how they want to play," Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. "Because if you take the gravity away from him, obviously he can open up the rest of the floor."
De'Aaron Fox added 25 points and nine assists for the Spurs in Tuesday's win.
Wembanyama was listed as questionable for Thursday's game because of a gimpy ankle.
The Nuggets will play the second game of a back-to-back set on the heels of a 129-93 win over visiting Houston on Wednesday.
Jamal Murray led Denver with 30 points in the victory while Christian Braun had 19, Cameron Johnson added 17 and three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic collected 16 points, 13 assists and 12 rebounds.
Denver shot 55.2% from the floor and forced 15 turnovers while outscoring the Rockets by 30 points after halftime.
Wednesday's victory snapped a two-game losing streak for the Nuggets, who had their preferred starting lineup intact for just the 11th time this season. Denver is now 9-2 with that group starting a game.
"When the group was whole, we were 8-2 with a top-five defense and top-five offense." Denver coach David Adelman said before Wednesday's game. "We lost two fourth-quarter leads. We could've easily been 10-0 to start the season.
"But since then, it has been different, just different lineups every week, every day. If we can get enough games under our belt and lucky enough to get in (the playoffs), we'll be an issue. We'll be a problem."
Denver has 16 games left in the regular season to climb up the Western Conference standings and get back into sync.
"There's going to be some growing pains," Adelman said. "Patience is the key. We had (a full rotation) for 10 games to start the season which went really well. Just get them back into the fold, get the flow back in. When you go into the playoffs or play-in (tournament), you want to be going up. You want to feel you've hit your mark. So we do need time."