Denver came into tonight’s home game against the Memphis Grizzlies on a nine-game winning streak and hot off two overtime wins against Western Conference playoff teams. Looking to secure the third seed and another first-round matchup against our friends from the far north, the Nuggets faced something of a trap game against an aggressively-tanking Grizzlies group that was, ironically, the last team to beat them.
The Nuggets were a 23.5-point favorite to start the game, so of course they made it a four quarter affair. Well, let’s call it three-and-a-half.
1st Quarter
Despite a good first for Jokic and Murray, Memphis hung around with hot three-point shooting. Cedric Coward and Taylor Hendricks led Memphis with two makes each, keeping pace with early scoring from Cam, Murray, and the Joker. Dariq Whitehead, Adama Bal, and Jahmai Mashack then all connected on threes to counter a pair of treys by Jamal Murray and Tim Hardaway Jr.’s first. Denver did damage from the line, scoring six straight at the stripe, but Coward and Hendricks both hit threes in the final minute to bring the Grizzlies to a 37-33 deficit.
2nd Quarter
Coward and Hendricks continued to keep Memphis competitive to start the second. After scoring the first five, the Nuggets’ bench gave up a 20-4 run in addition to picking up five fouls in the first four minutes. Coward’s step-back three followed by a Williamson trey prompted DA to call timeout as the Grizzlies built a seven-point lead. The starters subbed back in and got to work, beginning with Murray’s 15th point on a pullup. CB then converted a tough layup followed by Mal’s fourth from deep and a driving and-one for BB (0/1), cutting the lead to 58-55 with ~5:00 to go. Two more layups for Christian closed the gap to one (5/6 FGA/M). After a pair of free throws for Murray (21 pts.), CB converted off a steal to regain control of the game with under three minutes until half. A Cam drive and three preserved a two-point lead with under a minute left, but Williamson splashed an and-one from deep, AG missed a reverse lay-in, and Gibson converted on a driving hook to give Memphis a four-point lead at the half.
3rd Quarter
Gordon and Johnson stormed out of the locker room to ignite a dominant 39-22 quarter. AG bully-balled his way to six quick points. After a Murray jumper, Cam rolled with three straight layups, giving him 15 points on the game and the Nuggets a three-point lead that they wouldn’t relinquish.
Then Timmy got cooking. His second and third threes moved him into second all-time in Nuggets history in treys made with 221, moving past Michael Porter Jr. An additional pair of drives by THJ followed by a Mal step-back trey and Bruce layup gave the Nuggets the largest lead of the game, 102-92 with two minutes left. Cam then hit a three and Jok tipped in his own miss to balloon the lead to 107-94 at the buzzer.
4th Quarter
The subs started the fourth with a chance to redeem themselves from the disastrous first stint. Big Val seemed to have taken the first half personally as he mauled the undermanned Memphis bigs to the tune of 10 straight points and one flattened Grizzly, allowing Mal and Cam to sub out with six minutes to go as the Nuggets had built a 121-100 lead.
Brown and Strawther carried the scoring load to finish out the rout. Pickett and Holmes even got some run with the big man nailing a three to cap off a wobbly but, ultimately, easy 52nd win.
FINAL SCORE: Memphis Grizzlies 119, Denver Nuggets 136
GAME NOTES
- The Jokic/Murray Nuggets have their first 10-game winning streak ever
- Jokic didn’t have to play the entire fourth quarter
- The magic number to secure the third seed in the Western Conference is 2
