Those Fundamentally Sound Spurs Forget Basic Fundamentals in Denver

There's something almost depressingly inevitable about the San Antonio Spurs, for their opponents anyway.

However, the Denver Nuggets were just barely able to hang on in a home Game 7, winning 90-86 to advance to the second round.

The 2-seed in the West did this in part because of an epic brain fart from the normally sharp-minded Spurs.

Well, it was LaMarcus Aldridge specifically who produced the smelly.

 

He sure did.

The Spurs had clawed back to within two points very late when things got weird.

Here are some moving pictures from an exciting, if not aesthetically pleasing, fourth quarter:

Of course, this footage doesn't actually show the Spurs' mind crampage.

They were down four after having a shot blocked with 27 seconds left, but inexplicably allowed the Nuggets to basically run out the clock.

This may help shed some light on the situation:

 

What in the actual hell was that?

Gregg Popovich would probably like to know, as his manic screaming in the direction of Aldridge proved futile.

The King of Pop was understandably morose afterwards.

 

Now one could make the argument that Aldridge, or any of the other four Spurs on the court, should have had some basic understanding of clock and game management without having to be told what to do.

 

Despite all of that nonsense, the Spurs ultimately lost because the Nuggets are better at basketball.

Specifically, Nikola Jokić, who posted his second triple-double in the series with a delightful stat line.

 

He doesn't necessarily look the part, but dude can ball.