Inside the three-minute stretch that decided the Nuggets’ season opener

Twenty-three years later in the same city where his father Harvey patrolled Portland’s paint in the mid-90’s, Jerami Grant began his Nuggets tenure with a bang.

The Nuggets’ summer acquisition shined in Denver’s 108-100 opening night victory over his father’s former club. Grant posted a modest stat line — nine points and two rebounds in 21 minutes off the bench — but was a key cog in Denver’s early fourth-quarter spurt which helped spring the Nuggets to an impressive road win.

The run, which featured Grant playing alongside Denver’s other four starters, spanned just three minutes. Following a C.J. McCollum 3 that came about after a Torrey Craig missed box out and gave the Trail Blazers a 79-73 lead early in the fourth, Michael Malone subbed in Jamal Murray, Gary Harris, Will Barton, and Nikola Jokic but left Grant on the floor.

It’s a look the Nuggets experimented with at times during the preseason and because of Grant’s versatility on both ends of the floor, it should be an effective grouping going forward.

“Jerami has shown me that he has the ability to fit in with both groups, the starting group, and the second group,” Malone said last week.

He did exactly that in Portland. Over those three minutes, the Nuggets outscored the Trail Blazers 10-6, shot 3 of 5 from the floor, assisted on all three of their baskets and stymied Portland defensively. Grant played a central role in all of those areas.
Grant showed just why the Nuggets targeted him in a trade this summer on Denver’s first possession out of the timeout. Last season with the Thunder, Grant shot a career-high 39% from 3 and in the preseason converted on over 50% of his long-range attempts. He knocked in both of his 3s in Wednesday’s opener and continues to look like a knockdown shooter from distance.

Grant shot 39.7% on catch-and-shoot 3s last season too (he’ll get a ton of these types of looks in Denver), and both of his makes against Portland were of that variety.

From there, the Nuggets were off.

Part of the reason why Denver went after Grant this summer was that the spring-loaded forward who checks in at 6-foot-9 with a 7-foot-3 wingspan gives Denver something it never had.
He’s more of lob threat on offense but can also cover more ground on both ends of the floor than Paul Millsap. Kenneth Faried was just as athletic diving to the rim, but Grant’s longer and a more resourceful and active cutter. He puts an incredible amount of pressure on the defense in transition and the half-court.

In just two-and-a-half minutes, Grant drew two fouls away from the ball and one after securing an offensive rebound. It allowed the Nuggets to get into the bonus with just under seven minutes remaining in the fourth.

Grant didn’t propel the Nuggets on their early fourth-quarter run by himself. Jokic knocked in one of his three triples during this stretch and Murray found the bottom of the net from distance too a few minutes later.

Murray’s third 3 of the night came via a Jokic special. Denver’s big man received the ball at the top of the key and immediately dribbled the ball towards Murray who was camped in the corner.

If you’re looking for the exact moment when Jokic knew that he wanted this play to result in a Murray 3, it probably came right here.

Jokic attacked the paint and gets just close enough to the rim to bait Kent Bazemore into helping off Murray in the corner. He then whipped the ball right to Denver’s point guard who had all day to set and fire from the corner. Basketball 101 from the All-NBA center.

The Nuggets upped their defense during this early fourth-quarter run too. One of the Trail Blazers’ baskets a — Skal Labissiere floater — came because of a breakdown in Denver’s pick-and-roll defense. The other was a Rodney Hood layup which was well defended by Will Barton.

Grant’s activity on defense during this stretch jumped off the screen,

Standing at the elbow, he was able to get a hand on this McCollum pass intended for Hood in the corner.

A few possessions later, Grant was on time for this rotation onto Hassan Whiteside. Harris was then able to recover and contest Hood’s three in the corner.

It was just three minutes and only a handful of possessions but behind a lineup featuring Grant and the rest of the starting five, the Nuggets erased a six-point deficit. From there, Jokic took Denver to the finish line scoring 13 of the Nuggets’ final 25 points.

As Grant becomes more comfortable in the Nuggets’ system, his role will grow. He logged 21 minutes Wednesday but it’s easy to envision his playing time expanding to a 25-27 minute per game role in the coming months.

It’s going to be difficult keeping his skill-set, length, and basketball IQ off the floor and the Nuggets will need his versatility even more against the true Western Conference titans, like the Clippers, Lakers, and Rockets. Grant has the size and agility to guard everyone from LeBron James to Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, and Clint Capela.

“I think he’s been playing well and he’s been fitting in seamlessly,” Malone said. “But it’s still a work in progress. It’s gone really well, maybe better than I expected, but it’s still not there yet. I think Jerami is going to help us in so many more ways than he did tonight… I think the sky is the limit for him.”