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DNVR Player Grades: walking in Memphis

January 29, 2020

The Denver Nuggets and surging Memphis Grizzlies clashed at FedEx Forum on Tuesday night in a matchup that’s been a thorn in Denver’s side for a couple of seasons. Exactly one year ago from yesterday, the Nuggets engineered a 24-point comeback in Memphis, but the first three-quarters were excruciating. Last season, Nikola Jokić bounced off his rock-bottom when he refused to shoot for the near entirety of the game. Denver struggles in that building, so perhaps their 104-96 loss should have been expected when the team announced Jamal Murray, Paul Millsap, and Mason Plumlee would be inactive yet again.

Grit-N-Grind is dead. In its stead, a stable of electrifying young talent that knows how to put on a show if nothing else. Memphis’ entertainment value might even surpass their competency—for now.

Jokić-ball is dead. A tedious, uninspiring slog has supplanted the infectious ball movement that defined the Nuggets in the half-court. Denver’s winning games, but they’ve dropped significantly in the proverbial League Pass rankings.

The two ends of the spectrum clashed, and Memphis’ youthful legs and voracious appetite prevailed early. The Grizzlies blitzed the Nuggets, jumping out to a 31-18 lead after the first quarter. The hole was too deep. Denver would not take the lead at any point in the game.

Only Jerami Grant and Nikola Jokić showed signs of life offensively. The former showed out, while the latter struggled to quarterback a clunky offense and a lot of attention from the defense. Will Barton III didn’t have it. Gary Harris didn’t have it. And Torrey Craig, well—we know what happens to the offense when Craig starts and doesn’t hit his shots. He didn’t hit his shots. It would have taken a Herculean effort from Jokić to life them up and over the top, but signs of resignation punctuated an otherwise strong performance.

For Memphis, Dillon Brooks and Jonas Valanciunas had there way, combing for 47 points on 22-38 from the field. Memphis only took 18 three-point attempts, hitting just 6 of them, but they annihilated Denver in the paint, outscoring them 77-22. And no, that’s not a typo. Meanwhile, the Nuggets shot more three-pointers (45) than two-pointers (41) for the first time in team history.

Let’s go to the grades:

Honor Roll

Jerami Grant – A

The Nuggets wasted a top-shelf performance from Millsap’s understudy and potential power forward of the future. Grant went for 21 points in 38 minutes on 6-of-9 from three-point range. Those misses came in a futile fourth-quarter effort to shoot his team back into the game. On a night in which no Nugget could hit a shot, Grant couldn’t miss from outside. He added four rebounds, four assists, two steals, and a block as well.

Nikola Jokić – A-

Jokić finished with 21 points, 13 rebounds, and 5 assists on 50 percent shooting, so criticizing him feels a little silly, but by the all-world standards he’s set for himself, he left something to be desired out there. We’ve seen Jokić will his team to improbable victories, but he looked reluctant to push through his team’s poor play, and the “Craig-effect,” for lack of a better term. He accrued seven turnovers and got absolutely worked by Valanciunas on the defensive end. I mentioned the massacre in the paint above, as you might imagine, Jokić wasn’t exactly protecting the rim out there.

The Class

Monte Morris – B

Morris continues to shoot the ball well from deep. He’s converting on 39.5% of his triples in January after shooting 40.6% from three-point range in December and went 2-5 from distance in Memphis. Morris was credited with four giveaways, but upon further review of the film, he only turned the ball over twice. Morris also contributed five rebounds and six assists. A solid but unspectacular night from him.

Will Barton III – C

The good—Barton III grabbed seven rebounds, recorded five assists as the team’s starting point guard. The bad: he turned the ball over three times, and shot 3-of-10 from the floor and 1-of-6 from deep as his shooting woes continue.

Torrey Craig – C

The Nuggets couldn’t generate potent offense Tuesday but especially struggled with Craig on the floor. He went just 1-of-4 from three-point range—a number that’s about on par with his season average of 25.4% from distance—and Denver registered a team-low 78.8 Offensive Rating when he was on the floor. Craig also finished with five points, two rebounds, and one block.

Michael Porter Jr. – C

MPJ scored just eight points in 22 minutes and only hit three of his nine attempts from the field. He grabbed four rebounds, one assist, and an absolute earful from Michael Malone after a mishap on defense late in the game. When we tell the story of Porter Jr.’s rookie season, we’ll probably skip this game.

Principal’s Office

Malik Beasley – D+

Beasley missed all three of his attempts from deep and four of his five shots on his way to just four points in 17 minutes. Beasley is slumping.

Gary Harris – D+

Harris scored only ten points in 24 minutes on 3-of-9 from the field. He grabbed three rebounds and posted a 1:2 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Juancho Hernangomez – D

Juancho was o-of-3 from deep, and 2-of-7 from the floor with one of those field goals coming from a goaltend. He’s a liability on both ends of the court right now.