Darren & Vic's Takes: NBA Week 19 Recap

Published: Tuesday, March 3, 2026

by Darren Worrell and Victor Lisboa

Last week, Darren and Vic did something unique: they shared their opinions on the All-Star Game and its format. However, for week 19, they are back with their recaps of the games that caught their attention.

Darren: San Antonio Spurs vs Toronto Raptors

This game was must-see action. The second seeded San Antonio Spurs defeated the fourth seeded Toronto Raptors 110-107 at Scotiabank Arena behind strong performances from Devin Vassell, who finished with 21 points, and De’Aaron Fox, who added 20. For the Raptors, Immanuel Quickley and Brandon Ingram dropped 20 points apiece.

The first half was a neck and neck affair. Both teams traded the lead back and forth, trying to take the momentum from the other, and the largest lead in the first half was just six. The Raptors held a narrow 59-57 lead going into the break.

The third quarter started back and forth until the score was tied at 69-69. From there, the Raptors gained momentum, closing the quarter on a 21-9 run to take a 90-78 lead into the fourth. 

In the fourth, the Spurs picked up their defensive intensity. However, the storyline was that Toronto missed its first eight shots to start the quarter. The Spurs took advantage of this, and after trailing by as many as 15, they found themselves back in the game after a Kornet dunk made it 93-92.

The final three minutes were down to the wire. After a Fox floater made it 108-104, Immanuel Quickly got to the basket to make it 108-107 due to an and-one conversion. The Raptors had to foul, and they sent Victor Wembanyama to the line for three free throws. It was a rough night for Wemby, but he knocked in two of the three to make the score 110-107. 

Ingram had a chance with around seven seconds left to tie the game, but his shot hit the side of the backboard, and the final score remained 110-107.

Despite Wembanyama’s cold night, the Spurs found a way to win. With the victory, they extended their winning streak to ten, their longest since the 2015-16 Spurs team that featured Manu Ginobili, Kawhi Leonard, Tony Parker, Tim Duncan and others.

The Spurs are looking good, but can they keep the streak going? We will see. 

Victor: Denver Nuggets vs Oklahoma City Thunder

This was a matchup between two of the top five seeds in the west, and it ended up going to overtime. To say the least, for fans that have not been following, Nikola Jokic is back, and injuries do not appear to affect him.

He was out for a 16-game stint as he was recovering from a bone bruise in his left knee. The Nuggets were able to maintain their positioning in the standings quite well without their star center, despite the three-time MVP being absent. They went 10-6 during the stretch.

Now Jokic has been healthy for the last 11 games. As you can suspect, he is back to his typical triple-double ways, but the team has struggled since he returned, going 4-7 since.

As a result, they are now neck and neck with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Houston Rockets. They are all within a game of each other occupying the 3-5 seeds.

The Thunder have also had their injury troubles this season, particularly with their star wing Jalen Williams, who missed the first 19 games of the season recovering from surgery on his right wrist to repair torn ligaments. Now he has been dealing with hamstring issues for over a month and was out for this game because of it.

The Nuggets came out in the first half with a hot offensive start, taking and making more field goals in the first quarter. They ended the period with a 14-point lead going into the second quarter, with Christian Braun leading the way.

Jokic sat out for about half of the second quarter, and he and Jamal Murray only scored eight points combined by then. This is when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander began to get hot, scoring 11 points in the period on 4-6 shooting and helped cut the Nuggets’ lead to nine.

SGA finished the first half with 18 points total and then followed this up with a 14 point fourth quarter. However, Jamal Murray also was hot and scored 14 points in the quarter to match the reigning Finals MVP, but on a whopping 83% shooting in the quarter. This gave the Nuggets an 83-77 lead going into the fourth.

Oklahoma City had a hot start to the fourth, and a three-pointer by Lu Dort finally gave the Thunder the lead 86-85. Eventually, after a few minutes, Dort was ejected for a hard foul against Jokic that led to a scrum near midcourt and offsetting technicals.

This did not deter Oklahoma City, though, as they remained hot and finished the quarter tied with Denver at 107 apiece. The Nuggets appeared gassed in overtime as Jamal Murray had ten of their 14 points in the period and the team shot 35% on 5-14 shooting.

Braun and Cam Johnson were left scoreless, but for Oklahoma City, all five players in the period were able to score without SGA. The Thunder ended up winning the game 127-121.

This marks the second matchup of the season between these two teams, with Oklahoma City taking both. They will play twice more this season in what should be exciting games, as these teams look like they could face a rematch of the Western Conference semifinals this season. The Thunder won that series last year 4-3 and of course went on to win the championship.

Darren Worrell and Victor Lisboa can be reached at darren.worrell@student.shu.edu, victor.lisboa@student.shu.edu 

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