Nikola Jokic rises to the challenge, leads Nuggets to win over Grizzlies

Whether its been envigorating locker room speeches from coach Michael Malone, players finding their second wind after the halftime break and the effects from training at altitude kicking in, or a little of both, the Denver Nuggets usually come out on top in third quarters. In fact, heading into tonight’s matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies, Denver was the third-best third-quarter team in the league this season.

But after the Nuggets led the Grizzlies 61-45 at the break, Memphis outscored Denver 29-15 in the third. Marc Gasol and Co. locked up a Nuggets’ offense that had one of its better halves of the season on the offensive end of the floor and limited them to just 5-20 (25 percent shooting).

Denver only scored two points in the last 4:23 of the third quarter.

The Nuggets surged with three buckets in a row from Nikola Jokic to open the fourth as the 22-year-old turned in one of his better five-minute stretches of the season, and maybe his career, to gradually push the Nuggets’ lead back to double-digits. That was enough for Denver to get an important 104-92 over a Grizzlies squad that’s now lost seven in a row.

Jokic scored 14 points and registered seven rebounds in the period and finished with 28 points, 13 rebounds, and eight assists. He was spectacular in the quarter and for the full 35 minutes he played tonight on both ends of the floor. The rest of Denver’s players fed off his energy and leadership.

Elsewhere, Denver’s starting backcourt of Jamal Murray and Gary Harris each finished with 15 points.

Coming off a 30-point defeat in Houston on Wednesday, Malone inserted Kenneth Faried into Denver’s starting lineup after matching up with a smaller Rockets team with Will Barton. The decision paid off as Denver got out to a 27-18 advantage after the first quarter and led by 16 at the break.

Faried and Jokic teamed up to lead Denver to one of their better offensive halves of the year as the Nuggets shot 66 percent in the half, hit six of their 13 attempts from distance, but did finish with 13 turnovers. Denver also left a lot of points on the board at the free-throw line and shot just 5-13 in the half from the stripe.

Malone wants to keep a consistent rotation going forward without the services of Paul Millsap for the immediate future. Expect Faried to stick with the starters.

Faried finished with 14 points and nine rebounds.

The Nuggets got their 11th win of the year, their second in three tries without Millsap and will look to get revenge on the Jazz in Utah on Tuesday — a location where they fell on opening night a little more than a month ago.