Denver Nuggets: 3 takeaways from huge Game 5 win vs. Spurs

The Denver Nuggets took a 3-2 lead over the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5, as they dominated all night long to push their first round opponent to the brink.

The Denver Nuggets have now won back-to-back games over the San Antonio Spurs to give themselves a 3-2 lead in their first round series.

In Game 5, the final margin of victory was 108-90, but the contest wasn’t nearly that close. The Nuggets took the lead midway through the first quarter and never gave it up as they were up by 30 points in the early parts of the fourth. Their offense was cooking, and they left the Spurs in the dust.

Nikola Jokic only had 16 points, but he supplemented that with 11 rebounds and eight assists. He also had a few instances where he was challenging shots at the rim, which was huge after the lack of care he had shown on that end earlier in the series. Jamal Murray had a solid night on offense, as he finished with 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting, which included a 4-of-9 mark from 3-point range.

The best storyline from this game for Denver, though, was the play of swingman Will Barton. Barton had played absolutely miserable basketball throughout this series, but coming off the bench, he got it rolling in Game 5, finishing with 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting. If this team can keep Barton going with everyone else shooting well, they are a much tougher team to beat than the one we saw earlier in the series.

Bearing all that in mind, here are three key takeaways from Denver’s huge Game 5 win.