Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images Wemby takes round one over Joker. The Spurs contained the paint plus a short mid-range area and dominated the boards, taking first blood in the miniseries with the Nuggets and getting their sixth road win of the year. Victor Wembanyama overcame foul trouble to record 35 points and 18 rebounds. And this game featured seven ties and 13 lead changes, seven in the fourth quarter. “Every time they had us on the ropes, I thought we kind of composed ourselves and fought ourselves back into the game, which was nice to see,” coach Mitch Johnson said after the game. The Spurs had Nuggets coach Michael Malone angrily pacing the sidelines five minutes in as they dashed to a 17-8 lead. But the hosts powered up as the quarter went on, recovering as Wembanyama rested. The Spurs D couldn’t contain Nikola Jokić, and when he took his break, Michael Porter Jr. picked up the slack with a pair of jumpers and a block. The first quarter ended with the Spurs up 32 - 30. Then Wemby’s jumper started falling from long range, plus Keldon Johnson added three baskets, swinging the advantage back to San Antonio. Malone called a timeout, and the hosts mixed in a zone with man-to-man coverage that slowed down the Spurs. Nonetheless, San Antonio’s defense was stingier, holding Denver to 37 percent shooting for the frame. Despite shooting 30 percent from deep, the Spurs led at halftime 60-52. They had the edge in points in the paint 30-26, were ahead in second-chance points 8-2 and led on the break 11-5. Wemby had 22 points on nine of 12 shots but the concern was that he picked up three fouls. And Denver was in charge of the block party, racking up 6-1. Then the Spurs came out after halftime comfortable, like a boxer who had built a nice lead on the cards through six rounds, but the Nuggets clapped back with an 11-4 run, forcing Johnson to pause the action. When the game continued, both teams started trading baskets, resembling two fighters finally letting their hands go. Wembanyama had to sit with his four fouls seven minutes into the third. When Zach Collins came in, the team outscored the hosts 10-9. Most of the damage suffered in the period was from Jokić, who scored easily. The fourth quarter started with the Spurs down 90-87. They capitalized in the four minutes Jokić took his rest because Wembanyama, who had picked up his fifth foul, splashed two triples and Harrison Barnes plus Tre Jones made baskets. With two minutes left, the Spurs were down five when Julian Champagnie made a triple, Wemby faked a three and hit Keldon Johnson in the lane for a basket and one, Chris Paul rescued a dead possession with a buzzer beating drive for a layup, and the Spurs were up 1 with 17 seconds left. Denver got the ball to Jokic, the Spurs doubled him, and when he passed out, Vassell ran in a pick-6 to close Denver’s coffin. The Spurs won 113-110, outscoring Denver in three pivotal categories: 52-48 in points in the paint, 15-14 on the break and 15-10 on second chance points. When asked what was the difference, Malone said, “We just didn’t close… We lost Champagnie on the baseline for a three, we gave up a three-point play to Keldon Johnson and obviously that last play, we weren’t able to get a shot off.” Play of the game Devin Vassell took Jokić off the dribble and finished a two handed jam in between two Nuggets to tie the game in crunch time. Takeaways: The Spurs’ half-court attack was halted to 90.8 points per 100 plays, good enough for the 33rd percentile of the stat in all games played this season, per Cleaning the Glass. They spent 74.4 percent of their plays in the half court. The team set a new season low in free throw percentage (61.5) and only attempted 13. The team did a good job on Jamal Murray, bothering his dribble. The defense also came up big in the fourth quarter, holding the Nuggets to 29.2 percent shooting and six straight misses to start. The team locked and trailed well and contested shots promptly. Three of Wemby’s seven turnovers were from lazy passes. The other giveaways were from getting the ball poked loose. The rest of the team had six turnovers, and nobody had more than one. Wembanyama’s 14 of 22 baskets came from short, mid and long range. This was his second-highest night in efficiency this season and the third time to break 60 percent from the field. Champagnie and Johnson were the big guns off the bench, combining for 31 points on 12 of 25 attempts. Most of their production came in the first half. Tre Jones and Collins were the only other reserves to play and they totaled six points. Jokić only got a Sombor double (one point, rebound or assist shy of a triple-double), and he was held to his season low in field goal percentage (41.7). Wemby and Collins did a nice job of playing him physically.