Denver Nuggets set to visit banged up Memphis Grizzlies

If the Memphis Grizzlies hope to complete a season sweep of the Denver Nuggets, they’ll have to figure out a new way to do it. In each of their previous match-ups this season, the Grizzlies were led in scoring by either Zach Randolph (24 points in the first game, 22 points in the third game) or Marc Gasol (27 pts in the second match up), all leading to Memphis wins.

Gasol will certainly not play as he’s been shut down for the season after fracturing his foot in early February, and Randolph’s status is unclear after suffering an ankle injury in a loss to the Lakers on March 22; then missing both ends of a home-and-home series with the Spurs (both losses). Adding to their injury woes, the Grizzlies are now expected to be without the steady hand of point guard Mike Conley until the playoffs begin, so the team the Nuggets face in Memphis on Wednesday night will look a whole lot different than the team they faced in the three previous games this season.

The Nuggets, on the other hand, have seen their lineup stabilize down the stretch, minus a few nagging injuries to Kenneth Faried and Jusuf Nurkic. Nurkic was a late scratch from Tuesday’s loss to the Mavericks due to illness, but Faried made his way back into the starting lineup for the first time in seven games.

Another Nuggets player who made his return to the court after a long absence was Jameer Nelson, whose seven minutes of game action were his first since January 30th. If Nelson, Faried and Nurkic all get healthy, it will be very interesting to see how head coach Michael Malone divvies up the minutes down the stretch with a team that would like to compete in games, but more importantly, needs to evaluate the roster in looking towards the future of the franchise.

The Replacements

In addition to the stars listed above, the Grizzlies will also be without Jordan Adams (knee surgery), P.J. Hairston (groin strain) and Brandon Wright (MCL strain), so who exactly will be on the court Wednesday night for Memphis? Matt Barnes and Tony Allen provide some stability for the Grizzlies as they’re expected to start again along with ex-Nugget Chris Andersen, second year big man JaMychal Green and former Laker and recent 10-day contract signee, Jordan Farmar. Farmar has played in four games for the Grizzlies since signing his contract and is averaging 25 minutes, 10 points, 3 assists and 1.5 steals so far in his first NBA action of the season.

Other notable players likely to see some action are veterans Vince Carter, Ryan Hollins and Lance Stephenson. Two younger players who have seen a boost in minutes thanks to the recent spate of injuries are point guard Ray McCallum, who is in his third season in the NBA after spending his first two with the Sacramento Kings and the first part of this season with the Spurs, and rookie forward Jarell Martin, whose first year as a pro got off to a slow start thanks to successive foot injuries and few available minutes in the Grizzlies frontcourt rotation.

To Tank or not to Tank

Adam Mares at Denver Stiffs brilliantly laid out the case for tanking with both the Nuggets and Knicks amidst a glut of six teams within three games of each other in the standings. While the Knicks can handle most of the tanking duties for Denver, as the Nuggets own the right to swap picks with New York in this year’s draft, every Denver loss helps improve their chances of ending up with a top 3 pick as well. The good news for those hoping for the Nuggets to prioritize their draft position over their win/loss record is that the difficulty of the remaining schedule is likely to factor into the final standings whether or not the organization wants to tank or not.

Tonight’s game against Memphis is the third in four nights for Denver after playing in Los Angeles on Easter Sunday and they’ll take on the Pelicans team without Anthony Davis in New Orleans on Thursday in a game that would normally be supremely winnable if it weren’t their fourth game in five nights. The Nuggets then get four games in Denver, but all against teams that are undefeated against them so far this season: Kings (2-0 vs Denver), Thunder (3-0), Spurs (3-0), Jazz (3-0). The Nuggets then close out the season in Portland against a Blazers team that may need a win just to get into the playoffs, so there are no easy wins left on the schedule for Denver, which might not be so bad at a point in the season where losses just mean extra ping pong balls in May.

Other Teams to Watch

Speaking of the Blazers fighting for a playoff spot, there are more reasons to keep your eye on the reverse standings at tankathon.com than just the glut of mid-lottery teams fighting it out for ping pong balls. The Nuggets could potentially add three more first-round draft picks depending on how the Western Conference playoff picture plays out. It’s unlikely, but with the Memphis Grizzlies injury problems, it’s certainly still a possibility that they drop out of the playoffs (they have a five game lead over Dallas with just eight games remaining), which would open up the possibility of the Nuggets picking up their draft pick as long as it falls between picks 6 and 14.

While it’s always nice to have draft picks, it would probably be better for the Grizzlies to make the playoffs this year and wait on this pick as it is just top 1-5 protected in 2017 and 2018, then unprotected in 2019. The two picks that are much more likely to be headed the Nuggets way come June belong to the Portland Trailblazers and Houston Rockets. All Denver needs is for those two teams to make the playoffs and they will add a couple of nice mid-first-round selections in this year’s draft.

Nuggets of Note

• Jeff Bzdelik takes on his former team once again as a member of the Grizzlies staff. Bzdelik ushered in the Carmelo Anthony era in Denver as head coach for the Nuggets between 2002 and 2004, then went on to coach both the Colorado Buffaloes and Air Force Falcons between 2005 and 2010.
• Speaking of Carmelo, he was a part of the most adorable moment of the NBA season in Monday night’s loss to the New Orleans Pelicans.
• With a similar record to last year, the Nuggets inspiring play this season has gone unnoticed by most of the league, but one NBA coach was outspoken in his admiration for Michael Malone’s work this year.