(Reuters) – The San Antonio Spurs built a big lead over the Denver Nuggets but were forced to hang on for a 121-117 win on Saturday.
The win was the fifth in six games for the Spurs, who retained their lead in the Southwest division, while visitors Denver saw a four-game win streak come to an end.
The Spurs started out hot and built a 20-point lead four minutes into the second quarter, but Denver chipped away at the deficit and by halftime the visitors were only down by seven.
Denver then went on an 11-2 run in the third quarter and a three-pointer by Rudy Fernandez pulled them within two points midway through the fourth.
Just as it looked like the Spurs were going to blow their huge lead, Richard Jefferson stepped up to secure the victory with a great effort at both ends of the floor.
Jefferson hustled back defensively to block a lay-up attempt by Ty Lawson that would have trimmed the Spurs lead to three and then raced down the floor and scored a three-point shot to pad the Spurs’ lead to eight with under two minutes remaining.
“They were running it down our throats the entire game and the last two days all coach (Gregg Popovich) has been talking about was transition defense,” said Jefferson.
“After I got the block I could see he (Lawson) was down. I tried to sprint back and fortunately my team mate found me and I was able to knock it down.”
Lawson had a different view of Jefferson’s block.
“You see the replay? I was fouled,” he said.
Seven San Antonio players, including all five starters, scored in double digits, led by reserve guard Daniel Green’s season-high 24 points.
