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. Three turnovers. And an eye-popping minus-23 in just 20 minutes for Barton in the Nuggets’ 118-108 loss to the Spurs.



Once again, Barton didn’t play at all in the...