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The Denver Nuggets (54-28; 1-1) were at serious risk of falling behind 0-2 to the San Antonio Spurs (48-34; 1-1) before Jamal Murray woke up with a big fourth-quarter performance. The No. 2 seed Nuggets earned a hard-fought split as they head to San Antonio to face the No. 7 seed Spurs in Game 3 of their Western Conference First Round series at AT&T Center on Thursday night.
The game is scheduled to start at 9 p.m. ET and will be televised on NBA TV. If you want to watch a live stream of the game, you can do so via one of the following cable-free, live-TV streaming services:
NBA TV is one of 85-plus live TV channels included in the main FuboTV bundle, which is largely tailored towards sports.
You can start a free 7-day trial of FuboTV right here, and you can then watch a live stream of the game on your computer via the FuboTV website, or on your phone (Android and iPhone supported), tablet, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast or other supported device via the FuboTV app.
If you can’t watch live, FuboTV comes with 30 hours of cloud DVR space, as well as a 72-hour look-back feature, which allows you to watch the game (and other programs) on-demand within three days of its conclusion, even if you don’t record it.
PS Vue–which doesn’t require an actual PlayStation console to sign up or watch–offers four different live-TV channel packages, and the upper three all include NBA TV.
You can start a free 5-day trial of PS Vue right here, and you can then watch a live stream of the game on your computer via the PS Vue website, or on your phone (Android and iPhone supported), tablet, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation (3 or 4), or other supported device via the PS Vue app.
If you can’t watch live, PS Vue comes with cloud DVR.
Nuggets vs Spurs Game 3 Preview
Murray was putrid for the first seven quarters of this series, but came alive in the fourth quarter of Game 2. Murray finished with a team-high 24 points Tuesday, including 21 in the fourth quarter on 8-of-9 shooting as Denver erased multiple 19-point deficits in the process.
Nuggets head coach Mike Malone understood how hard his star 22-year old point guard was pressing, and how much pressure he was putting on himself. Malone told reporters following the 114-105 comeback win in Game 2 that he pulled Murray aside, remained calm and reminded him to just “have fun.”
“Jamal was trying to play the right way. I didn’t foresee the fourth quarter he was going to have, but I knew in my heart he needed to get these minutes. I needed to show him I believed in him. That’s powerful.”
Malone continued:
“Really proud of him. He was so frustrated at halftime. It was great to see him have some success.”
The Nuggets followed Murray’s lead, as three other starters finished with 20-plus points. Gary Harris scored 13 points, Nikola Jokic added a double-double (21 points, 13 rebounds, with eight assists), and Paul Millsap, the only player in the current Nuggets rotation, finished with 20 points and seven rebounds.
The tandem of DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge played great again in Game 2, but were not enough to carry the Spurs through the second half. DeRozan finished with a game-high 31 points on 11-of-19 shooting, including a perfect 9-of-9 from the free-throw line, while Aldridge added 24 points.
San Antonio’s secondary scoring and bench needs to re-emerge in Game 2. Only one other starter, Derrick White (17 points), finished in double-figures in scoring, and the Spurs’ bench collectively registered only 21 points in the Game 2 loss.
Denver will have a difficult time in San Antonio. Dating back to March 2012, the Nuggets have lost 13 straight contests at AT&T center. In addition, only four teams in NBA history had ever rallied to win a playoff series after losing the first two games at home, which would have put the Nuggets into an even deeper hole had Murray not exploded in the second half.