San Antonio Spurs: 3 takeaways from Game 4 loss vs. Nuggets

1. Focus on DeRozan

It’s hard to say if the Spurs would have been in the game more in the fourth quarter of Game 4 if DeRozan wouldn’t have been thrown out for intentionally throwing a ball towards a referee. But if he hadn’t, we may have gotten more plays like this one:

DeRozen has been the lifeblood of this team. He’s averaging 23.3 points per game for the series and the Spurs may not have won Game 3 without his third quarter heroics (19 points while the rest of the team had just eight). That’s not to take anything away from Derrick White’s big game, but DeRozan has yet to score less than 18 points in a game and has dished out five assists in three of four games in this series.

DeRozan was brought in to San Antonio to pair up with LMA, and both nearly averaged the same points per game in the regular season (21.3 and 21.2, respectively). He also led the team in assists per game (6.2) and was among the team leaders in rebounds per game as well (6.0) during the regular season.

DeRozan was just behind Aldridge in Player Efficiency Rating, win shares and just about any advanced category you can think of. Both players lean on each other in a game, especially since they both rely on their mid-range jumpers. But if coach Popovich is worried about LMA and his matchups, DeRozan needs to be the guy in Game 5 if they want to be in a position to win the series at home in Game 6.