Nuggets game day: Can Nikola Jokic follow up a historic February with an even better March?

Life away from Pepsi Center used to be dangerous territory for the Denver Nuggets.

The Nuggets won just seven games on the road this season before their Feb. 10 victory in Phoenix. Then they followed that up with another road win on the eve of the All-Star break over the Milwaukee Bucks. Denver brings a renewed sense of confidence away from its home court Friday when they face the Memphis Grizzlies (6:00 p.m., ALT) in the opener of a pivotal three-game road trip.

“Even the road games we haven’t won as of late, we’ve been in, we’ve been competitive, we’ve been right there,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said Thursday. “Right now our guys understand home, road, it doesn’t matter. We have to find ways to get wins. We have to find ways to play good basketball and give ourselves a chance.”

Despite an 11-game losing streak — the franchise’s longest since they were still located in Vancouver — that has the Grizzlies on track to miss the postseason after a run of seven-straight playoff appearances, coach J.B. Bickerstaff’s crew won’t roll over in Friday’s matchup.

Marc Gasol has no interest in joining the NBA’s greatest tankathon in recent memory.

“It’s not about somebody playing well or getting your reps or developing players because we have a league for that,” Marc Gasol said on Wednesday, via the Commercial Appeal. “We have a league and a team here in Memphis to develop guys. … This is the NBA, not the G League.”

Denver handled Memphis in the two teams’ first matchup of the season back on Jan. 12 in a low scoring affair, 87-78. Nikola Jokic, who’s coming off an All-NBA worthy February where the big man averaged 22 points on better than 55 percent shooting from the field and three, along with 11 rebounds and nine assists, scored just 14 points that night.

The 23-year-old also turned in the fastest triple-double in league history against Milwaukee. Jokic recorded at least 10 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in just 15 minutes.

Jokic led the league in Player Efficiency Rating in February and also upped his DPR (BSN Denver’s in-house dynamic player rating) to 67.74, widening the gap between him and Gary Harris, who ranks second on the Nuggets in DPR. Jokic ranks fifth among all big men in DPR behind Anthony Davis, DeMarcus Cousins, Joel Embiid and Karl-Anthony Towns.

Jokic also has his running mate Paul Millsap back in the lineup, who logged 23 minutes and finished with nine points, seven rebounds, two assists, two blocks and a steal in his return. Millsap’s 24-minutes restriction will remain in place for now and Malone will gradually work him back into the Nuggets starting lineup — a move that could come as early as next week.

Denver will shoot for its 10th road win over the year against a battered Grizzlies team that will be without Mike Conley, Deyonta Davis, Tyreke Evans and Chandler Parsons were all ruled out on Thursday. Andrew Harrison and Wayne Selden are questionable for the matchup.

The Nuggets assigned two-way player Torrey Craig to the G League on Friday in order to preserve the 45 days he’s allocated with the team under his current contract. Craig hasn’t played since Denver’s win in Phoenix nearly three weeks ago.

Nuggets Projected Starters

Jamal Murray, Gary Harris, Will Barton, Wilson Chandler, Nikola Jokic

Grizzlies Projected Starters

Andrew Harrison, Ben McLemore, Dillon Brooks, JaMychal Green, Marc Gasol