The Denver Nuggets captured their third-straight victory on Monday night with a 95-92 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.
With the win, Denver’s record moves to 34-15, which is good for a game behind the Golden State Warriors for first place in the Western Conference. The win also snapped Denver’s three-game losing streak on the road and pushed their record to 12-11 away from home.
Denver began the game a little shorthanded as starting point guard Jamal Murray was missing his second straight game with a left ankle sprain. That meant Will Barton slotted in as the Nuggets starting point guard, while Torrey Craig filled in next to Gary Harris, Paul Millsap, and Nikola Jokic. It was not a great start for Denver though as they opened the game 1-of-7 shooting from the field as Memphis jumped out to an early 13-2 lead.
Memphis’ lead got all the way up to 18-4 before a quick 5-0 run by Denver finally seemed to provide the Nuggets some life offensively. That life did not last long though as the Nuggets had no way of slowing down Grizzlies big man, Marc Gasol. Through one quarter of play, Gasol had a game high 14 points on a highly efficient 6-of-9 shooting from the field to go along with his six rebounds and two assists.
Gasol’s big quarter allowed Memphis to take a 30-16 lead after 12 minutes of play as the Nuggets shot just 30 percent from the field in the opening period. Denver’s struggles continued on into quarter number two as the Nuggets deficit reached 18-points with 7:23 left in the half. It was rough going for the Nuggets on both ends of the court in the second quarter as the Grizzlies defense was suffocating Denver’s offense. On the flip side, the Nuggets had no way of slowing down the Grizzlies offense, which was a recipe for disaster.
Denver’s inefficiencies on offense and defense allowed Memphis to take a 60-41 lead into the halftime locker room. At the half, Denver was shooting just 17-of-45 (37 percent) from the field, while Memphis shot a scorching 25-of-42 (59 percent) from the floor. The Nuggets stat leaders at the break was short and sweet as Barton was the teams leading scorer with 10 points. Barton was the only Nuggets’ player in double-figures as Harris and Monte Morris were close with seven points a piece.
Half number two began a lot like the first as Memphis kept scoring, while the Nuggets did not. Denver opened the quarter with a Jokic floater, but Memphis quickly answered with a 10-4 run to to stretch their lead up to 25 points with 6:54 left in the third. That would be the deficit for most of the quarter before angry Jokic arrived to get Denver back into the game. The Nuggets big man was looking to score every time he touched the basketball and by doing so, it got Denver get back into the game.
Through three quarters, Jokic had 20 points as the Nuggets trailed 77-60 going into the final period of play. Denver would end up winning the third quarter by a score of 19-17, which gave them some momentum heading into the fourth. The Nuggets used that momentum as they opened the fourth on a 5-2 run to cut their deficit to 14 points with 9:52 left in the game.
Even though they were playing better basketball, the deficit Denver built seemed insurmountable to overcome as the quarter wore on. Whenever it seemed like the Nuggets could get back into the game a turnover would happen or Memphis would go on a quick run. Because of that, the Nuggets still trailed by 11 points with 5:14 left in the game.
This is where the game got interesting though as Malik Beasley scored four-straight points to cut the Nuggets deficit down to seven. Then, with 2:49 left in the game, Barton hit a big three-pointer to cut the Grizzlies lead to four with just under three minutes to play. A Harrris lay up a few possessions made the game 87-85 as the Nuggets were within two points with a 1:30 to play.
The Grizzlies followed Harris’ bucket with two points of their own, until a Beasley three-pointer made the score 89-88 with under a minute remaining. Denver made a stop before a big time Barton three-pointer gave the Nuggets a two-point lead with 43.5 seconds to play. Memphis answered with a three-pointer of their own as the Nuggets had the ball, down one, with 36.3 seconds remaining. The Nuggets went to Jokic, who hit a tough lay up to give the Nuggets a one-point lead with 30 seconds left.
All Denver needed was a stop to complete an improbable second half comeback, which is exactly what they got. Denver stopped Memphis from scoring and then got two big free-throws from Harris, which iced the game. The Nuggets overcame a 19-point halftime deficit, won the fourth quarter 35-15, and captured a phenomenal 95-92 victory in Memphis.
Stat leaders for the Nuggets were Jokic, who led the charge for Denver’s comeback as he finished with 24 points on 10-of-20 shooting from the field to go along with his five rebounds and three assists. The Nuggets also got solid games from Barton (20) and Beasley (18) as those two combined to score 38 points and played a major role in Denver’s incredible comeback victory.
Denver has a day off tomorrow before they travel to New Orleans to face the Pelicans on Wednesday night at 6 p.m. MST.
