Nuggets rout Spurs 113-85; Popovich ejected after 63 seconds

The Denver Nuggets ran San Antonio right off the court. Long before, the officials ran Gregg Popovich.

Nikola Jokic scored 20 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and dished out nine of Denver’s season-high 41 assists as the Nuggets routed San Antonio 113-85 on Wednesday night in a game in which the Spurs coach was ejected after just 63 seconds.

Jamal Murray added 14 points and 11 assists for a Nuggets team that’s currently holding down the No. 2 seed in the West with four games remaining. The squad rebounded from a 116-102 loss to top-seeded Golden State a night earlier.

“We played,” Murray said, “the way we want to play.”

Denver steadily built a commanding lead against the Spurs before emptying the bench with about 5 minutes remaining. Popovich was long gone and didn’t have to endure his team’s implosion.

Popovich appeared livid over a non-foul call and called time out to argue with the officials. After two technicals, he was sent to the locker room at 10:57 of the opening quarter. The last time a coach was ejected within the first two minutes of a game was Washington’s Flip Saunders on Jan. 2, 2012, at Boston, according to research by the Elias Sports Bureau. Saunders was ejected 1:46 into that game.

Following the game, Popovich didn’t have much to say.

“You’ll have to ask the officials,” he said.

Soon after, Popovich joined the scrum where Nuggets coach Michael Malone was conducting his postgame interviews. The exchange between the coaches was nearly as long as Popovich’s appearance in the contest.

Malone: “We were just talking about an NBA record that was set tonight.”

Popovich: “What was the record? What happened?”

Malone: “Somebody got thrown out in 63 seconds.”

Popovich: “Are you serious? That person must have hit somebody. Somebody get hit tonight? Somebody get cursed at or anything?”

And just like that, Popovich was off for the exit.

“That’s one of a kind right there,” Malone said. “I don’t know what to say after that.”

LaMarcus Aldridge and Lonnie Walker IV each had 16 points for the Spurs, who slipped into the eighth spot with the loss.

“You’ve got to give them credit. They played well,” said DeMar DeRozan, who had 11 points. “It’s tough coming into this place, especially on a back-to-back. They use their advantages coming here. They played well. They beat us. We couldn’t make shots. We never got anything going.”

(AP)