DENVER — The Memphis Grizzlies came out hot.
Dillon Brooks made a midrange jumper and turned towards the Denver Nuggets’ courtside section on his way up the court, Desmond Bane hit a sidestep 3-pointer that forced a Nuggets timeout, and the Grizzlies led by 10 with 5:09 left in the first quarter.
The Nuggets called a timeout, and then everything flipped. Denver started playing like a team who needed a win to enter the playoffs, and the Grizzlies looked like a group who clinched the No. 2 seed a week ago.
The hungrier Nuggets erased the double digit deficit in two minutes of game time and defeated the Grizzlies 122-109 at Ball Arena.
The Nuggets (48-33) went on a 17-3 run in the first quarter and never trailed again. Memphis (55-25) went 9-for-17 on 3-pointers in the first half. That’s usually an indication of good things, but the defense struggled against Nikola Jokic and his teammates.
Most of the Grizzlies’ early first quarter damage came when Jokic left the game after taking an accidental elbow to the head from Jaren Jackson Jr. When he returned, the offense hit another gear and shot 61.5% in the first half.
Here are some observations from the game:
Nuggets win the energy battle
A Nuggets loss would have meant their chances of making the postseason would decrease. Not too many times are the Grizzlies handily beat in hustle stats like they were on Thursday night. Each stat that the Grizzlies paced the NBA in, Denver won. Memphis went the entire first half without a fastbreak point. The Grizzlies were also outrebounded 42-39, and lost the paint scoring battle.
Nikola Jokic Factor
Jackson drove the basket and as he raised his elbows to finish over tough defense from Aaron Gordon, his elbow came down and hit Jokic in the head. The Nuggets led 3-2 at that point. The Grizzlies jumped up 10-4 in the two minutes he was out. The reigning MVP center returned and made the Grizzlies wish he had never came back. I have finished with 35 points, 16 rebounds and six assists.
This was the second consecutive game where a center has controlled the game against the Grizzlies. If the current standings hold, the Grizzlies could play Karl Anthony-Towns in the first round, which is why this is noteworthy.
Defense struggles
It wasn’t just Jokic. Aaron Gordon led the Nuggets with 20 points in the first half and finished with 22. Former Memphis Tiger Will Barton scored 16 points on 5-for-10 shooting, and Nah’Shon “Bones” Hyland came off the bench and finished with 13 points . Even though the Grizzlies didn’t have their normal production on fastbreak and second chance points, they shot 48.3% from the field. The problem came in allowing the Nuggets to shoot 55%.
Bane led the Grizzlies with 14 points. Four Nuggets players finished with 16 or more points.
NextUp
The Grizzlies have two games remaining and must win both to secure the best record in franchise history. They’ll play the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday and the Boston Celtics on Sunday.
Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins gave an update on Ja Morant before the game and said the team hopes the All-Star point guard can play in one of the final two games.
Contact Damichael Cole at [email protected] and on Twitter @damichaelc
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism