The Denver Nuggets had an excellent opportunity to start off a seven-game road trip on the right note. Denver rolled into Memphis on Saturday to face the Grizzlies, a tanking team that’d lost 19 games in a row.
The Nuggets needed to take care of business against one of the NBA’s worst teams. Instead, it suffered another crippling setback in its quest to snap a four-season playoff drought.
The Nuggets fell behind by 21 points in the first half, and although they battled back, that deficit proved too difficult to overcome as Denver fell 101-94.
Denver was without Gary Harris, who suffered a right knee sprain against the Pistons on Thursday. It could’ve used its most consistent player as it shot just 36.8 percent from the floor.
Offensively, the Nuggets looked stagnant. Jamal Murray shot 5-18 from the floor. Nikola Jokic scored 17 points, but he needed 15 shots to get there. Paul Millsap (3-9 FG, 12 points) had a quiet game. Will Barton (3-12 FG, four turnovers) was a minus-15 in 35 minutes.
Dillon Brooks led the way for Memphis. He hit 4-9 threes and finished with 24 points. The Grizzlies shot 40.7 percent from the floor but still managed to pull out the win anyway.
Coming into Saturday’s game, the Grizzlies last win came Jan. 29. They failed to win a single game in the month of February and were on that same trajectory in March — until they beat Denver.
The Nuggets’ playoff hopes are on life support now. FiveThirtyEight is giving them a 24 percent chance to qualify for the postseason. They fell to 38-32 with the loss. The second leg of their seven-game road trip is Monday in Miami.
0 Comments (1 conversation)
The slow starts…the several losses to teams below .500 (whether at home or on the road)…the primarily false “Jokic needs to be more aggressive” excuses as to why Denver has been struggling to keep pace with the Western Conference playoff teams–the Denver Nuggets look like they have two teams on the roster: The Young Guys (Murray, Harris, Jokic and Lyles) and the Old Guys (Chandler, Millsap and Malone) with Barton in between them and with Plumlee as neutral reserve and with Faried (and Juancho too) served a one year probation from playing time.
The main question is if the Nuggets cannot make the playoffs this year with their current system, then what will be the difference maker adjustments for the team to reach the playoffs next year???
My main point is that signing Millsap for 30 mil/year was intended to secure Denver a 6th seed in the playoffs so if the Western Conference is so competitive that the Nuggets cannot even get the 8th seed, then the team and the organization needs to rethink its priorities. As a Nuggets fan, I greatly appreciate the foundation that Coach Malone has established in Denver, but I question whether there is enough “buy-in” at this time from the players about the hierarchy and the playing style of the team which will maximize their playoff potential.
Christian Clark
AuthorThe Nuggets are on pace to win 43 games right now. They won 33 games Malone’s first year and 40 his second year. If you zoom out, there’s no question there’s been year-to-year improvement as you alluded to. That said, some of these no-shows this season are baffling. Frankly, the Memphis game looks like a huge red flag. You can’t have that type of performance at this point in the season. Denver’s front office is going to have to ask some hard questions once the season’s over. Until then…
Thanks for your reply. This Miami game is going to speak volumes as well. Keep asking the tough questions and show us the real data.