SAN ANTONIO — Will Barton was ready to put a bad start to these playoffs behind him.The seven field goals in 25 tries, the 10 missed 3s in 11 attempts. Being tethered to the bench for an entire fourth quarter, watching his Nuggets teammates come from behind and take Game 2 from the San Antonio Spurs.OK, so that last part wasn’t so bad, the winning part. It’s what made Barton’s poor personal statistics in the first two games of this Western Conference first-round series feel to him like a bump instead of a battering ram. Game 3 was coming and Barton was going to make it right. He knew it and his teammates knew it and his coaching staff knew it.And then …Two buckets on just six shots Thursday night. Missed both of his 3s.<doc-sep>Nuggets wing Will Barton is struggling during Denver’s first-round playoff run against the Spurs. During Game 2 at Pepsi Center, the fans had enough of watching him swing and miss from the field. The “boo birds” were out in full force. Barton’s performance in Game 3 was more of the same, just another brick on the night as he went 2-6 from the field, with 4 points. Nuggets fans are upset with the lackluster performance from their $53 million dollar man. Dustin David, a Nuggets fan, has seen enough and started a Change.org petition to have Barton removed from the lineup. David’s petition states: “Enough is enough, Coach Malone. Sign this to remove Will Barton and save the Nuggets playoffs hopes!” Ouch. That’s probably not exactly what Change.org was created for, but hey, whatever greases your wheels. So what do you think? Should Barton be benched in favor of Malik Beasley, like columnist Mark Kiszla said in his latest piece, or should “Thrill” be allowed to shoot his way out of this slump?<doc-sep>SAN ANTONIO – It’s going to take more than a two-game playoff funk for the Nuggets’ Will Barton to start questioning himself. “At the end of the day, the greatest players go through tough stretches, so why would you change something up?” Barton said here from Thursday’s shootaround, hours ahead of playoff Game 3 between the Nuggets and Spurs. “Tonight I’ll make shots. And if tonight I don’t make them, the next game I think I’ll make them. And I’ll keep making them. It’s nothing to me.” Barton, who is 7-of-25 from the field and 1 for 11 from 3-point range in the first two games, isn’t concerned with his individual numbers. “People are doing too much thinking about it,” Barton said. “I’m fine, I’m not tripping. As long as we win. If we lose tonight, and I have 40, I’m still gonna be (ticked) off. So, what is it doing for me? We won (Game 2), and that’s all that matters.” Nuggets-Spurs series schedule Game 1 : San Antonio 101, Denver 96 : San Antonio 101, Denver 96 Game 2 : Denver 114, San Antonio 105 : Denver 114, San Antonio 105 Game 3 : Denver at San Antonio, 7 p.m. Thursday, NBATV : Denver at San Antonio, 7 p.m. Thursday, NBATV Game 4 : Denver at San Antonio, 3:30 p.m. April 20, TNT : Denver at San Antonio, 3:30 p.m. April 20, TNT * Game 5 : San Antonio at Denver, TBD April 23, TBD : San Antonio at Denver, TBD April 23, TBD * Game 6 : Denver at San Antonio, TBD April 25, TBD : Denver at San Antonio, TBD April 25, TBD *Game 7: San Antonio at Denver, TBD April 27, TNT * If necessary Barton’s struggles elicited boos from the home crowd in the Nuggets’ thrilling comeback win Tuesday, which tied the series at 1-1. That prompted both Nuggets coach Michael Malone and Nikola Jokic to vouch for Barton in their postgame news conferences. Despite his struggles, fans don’t see how important Barton is to the fabric of the Nuggets’ locker room. His outspoken personality carries weight, and reporters often wait to hear Barton’s perspective even if he’s usually the last player to leave the locker room. Related Articles Kiszla: Nuggets fans booing Carmelo Anthony are foolish to let Melo live rent-free inside their heads 🔊 Nuggets Podcast: Looking ahead to Game 3 of Nuggets-Blazers as series flips to Portland Ball Arena’s capacity increases to 10,500 for Nuggets, Avalanche playoff games Nuggets 2021 NBA mock draft tracker 1.0: What the national experts predict Denver will do Examining Nuggets-Blazers scuffles during aggressive Game 2: “I don’t know how anybody wants to become a ref, to be honest” “At the end of the day, fans don’t know me,” Barton said. “They’re not in the trenches with me every day. So they don’t know. At the end of the day, they’re just cheering. If things are going right they’re going to cheer for you. If not, I feel like right now, it’s so overwhelming to them that if we start losing or they feel pressure that we could go down 0-2 and I’m missing shots, they’re booing and stuff like that, which is cool with me. It doesn’t affect me. I go out there to play to win, not to get cheers. If I play the game for that I’ll never win.” Malone recognizes how the Nuggets need Barton’s edge, and for the same reason he didn’t pull Jamal Murray prior to the fourth quarter of Tuesday’s Game 2, he said he’ll continue to start Barton and show faith in his veteran. “I expect a much-improved performance for Will (Thursday) night, and I think all of his teammates are behind him 1000 percent as is the coaching staff,” said Malone.<doc-sep>
SAN ANTONIO — Nuggets coach Michael Malone is considering “all options” when it comes to making a starting lineup change ahead of Saturday’s Game 4. “We’ll continue to look at it,” Malone said on Friday, hours after his team dropped Game 3 and fell behind 2-1 in their first-round playoff series against San Antonio. “All options are on the board. Obviously it’s never about any individual, it’s gotta be about what’s best for our team.” Small forward Will Barton has looked out of rhythm the entire series and would be the most likely starter replaced if Malone makes a change. After shooting 2 of 6 Thursday night, Barton is now 9 for 31 in the series. Malone said he and his staff planned to meet Friday afternoon and assess their options. “If we have to make a lineup change, we’ll do so,” he said. “If we stay with the same lineup, if we feel that will give us our best chance, we’ll stay. But no decision has been made yet.” The two options to replace Barton are Malik Beasley, who’s been an offensive sparkplug off the bench in this series, and defensive pest Torrey Craig. Beasley is averaging almost 13 points as a reserve and shooting 66 percent from the 3-point line in 22 minutes per game. Craig’s been sensational on the glass and as a versatile defensive ace. Denver, the eighth-best rebounding team in the regular season, has been beaten on the glass in all three games. “That is kind of a catch-22 because both of those guys warrant more minutes and they both bring something different to the table,” Malone said, noting that both were on the floor when the Nuggets’ reserves reeled off a 16-0 run in the first half of Game 3. “Torrey’s size and physicality, his hustle, like Torrey Craig was leaving it all on the floor, which I love,” Malone said. “And then Malik’s obviously shooting (well). He’s been one of our best offensive players this whole series, shooting the ball very confidently. Attacking the basket and also playing pretty good defense. Both of those guys warrant more minutes, and I’m sure they’ll both get a great chance to play extended minutes tomorrow.” Questionable screen? Malone said the Nuggets sent at least one fourth-quarter play to the league office as a way of documenting questionable calls. Spurs center Jakob Poeltl appeared to stick his right leg out on a screen against Jamal Murray and caught Denver’s point guard in the quad.