Spurs @ Nuggets

Who will WIN this matchup?

San Antonio Spurs (48-34)

@ Denver Nuggets (54-28)

Current odds:

San Antonio Spurs: (+200)

Denver Nuggets: (-240)

• The line for this game is Denver by 5.5 points.

• The San Antonio Spurs are playoff regulars but the postseason represents new ground for this group of Denver Nuggets. The second-seeded Nuggets are ending a five-season playoff drought when they host the Spurs in Saturday’s opener of the Western Conference first-round series. Denver was an NBA-best 34-7 at home while falling three victories shy of matching the franchise record for wins in a season and is hoping to make a good impression this postseason. “There’s an excitement (about the playoffs),” Nuggets coach Michael Malone told reporters. “This is a new challenge for our guys. We’re going to embrace it, we’re looking forward to it. We’ll see what we can do.”

• Seventh-seeded San Antonio is part of the postseason for the 22nd consecutive season – the longest streak among the four major North American sports – and enters with momentum after winning its last three games and six of its past nine. “We ended off strong,” guard DeMar DeRozan told reporters. “Our confidence is high. … I think we’ve got our mindset where it’s supposed to be heading into the playoffs.”

• San Antonio is viewed as the underdog and guard Bryn Forbes said the team has a major grudge toward the naysayers. “Everyone here is hungry, even the young guys,” Forbes told reporters. “We all want to prove people wrong who didn’t even have us in the playoffs at the beginning of the season. We want to win it all, you know what I mean? We want to prove everybody wrong and do what we know we are capable of doing.” The Spurs will certainly rely heavily on All-Star power forward LaMarcus Aldridge, who averaged 22.3 points and shot 55.7 percent from the field in four games against Denver this season.

• All-Star center Nikola Jokic will be the focal point after posting the second-most double-doubles (56) and triple-doubles (12) in franchise history, behind Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo (58 in 1992-93) and Fat Lever (16 in 1986-87), respectively. But perhaps just as important for Denver is the play of shooting guard Gary Harris, who averaged 15.7 points over the final three games of the regular season after scoring 11 or fewer in each of his previous eight appearances. “The last three or four games, he’s been the Gary Harris of old,” Malone told reporters. “I just sense that this is a guy that wants it. He wasn’t going to (kick) away the opportunity at the No. 2 seed.”

• The teams split all four regular-season meetings with the home team winning each time.

• DeRozan was just 7-of-45 from 3-point range this season after making a career-best 89 for the Toronto Raptors last season.

• San Antonio has two backcourt members who finished among the top five in 3-pointers by a reserve – Patty Mills (third with 155) and Marco Belinelli (fifth, 145).