Tag: Nuggets

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Beyond the Arc Sports

Game 27 Preview: Grizzlies vs. Nuggets

The Grizzlies had a two-day break following Wednesday’s listless home loss to the Philadelphia 76ers and return home tonight to face the Denver Nuggets, who got big performances from Danilo Gallinari (39 points on 14-23 shooting), Andre Iguodala (20-8-4), and Kenneth Faried (19 rebounds) in a strong 106-85 win in Dallas last night.

Three thoughts:

1. The Brutal, Crowded West: With the Grizzlies muddling around .500 since their 14-3 start (4-5 since) and the Clippers, Thunder, and Spurs streaking (the Clippers and Thunder are a combined 29-2 over their past 31 games; the Spurs have won four in a row after a mid-December hiccup; these teams now have the three best records in the NBA), the Grizzlies seem to have slipped into the second tier in the West. Meanwhile, the Nuggets, despite an ostensibly disappointing 8-9 start, have worked their way into the second tier, sitting at 17-14 despite having played more than twice as many road games (21) as home games (10)

The playoff odds system new Grizzlies VP John Hollinger set up at ESPN currently projects the Grizzlies, Nuggets, Rockets, and Warriors to be within two games of each other in the fight for the #4 seed, with the Nuggets currently projected to get it. (And both the Lakers and Timberwolves, recovering from their early injuries, have a very good chance to get in this mix.) In that regard, this game could be particularly important because the Grizzlies have already lost twice to the Nuggets and another loss here would give the Nuggets a head-to-head tiebreaker between the teams.

It’s also an important game for the Grizzlies from a momentum/piece of mind standpoint. The team is coming off two pretty bad losses in a row (with that road drubbing in Houston preceding the Sixers game) and, after tonight, will play five of their next six on the road. There’s real danger than the team’s recent slide down the conference standings could continue.

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Beyond the Arc Sports

Postgame Notebook: Nuggets 97, Grizzlies 92 — An Unsurprising Ending

CREDIT: LARRY KUZNIEWSKI

Rudy Gay

Non-Griz deadlines on Tuesday necessitates a briefer-than-usual notebook:

The Lead: Let’s be honest, both of these teams were due for this. The Grizzlies hadn’t lost a regular-season home game since March. The Nuggets are a good team who got off to a rougher than expected start. Regression to the mean collided at FedExForum tonight.

With the Grizzlies playing their third game in four nights, the Nuggets younger legs and superior depth made this a game. For the first time all season for the Grizzlies, the outcome came down in final-minutes execution, which did not go well for the Grizzlies.

For starters, after having big vs. small match-ups go their way in multiple games last week, lineup imbalance worked against the Grizzlies tonight. The Nuggets played starting small forward Danilo Gallinari as a stretch four for most of the fourth quarters while the Grizzlies played small and Gallinari was able to drive and shoot his way to 9 points in the quarter. After the game, Lionel Hollins second-guessed the decision to stay big.

And the Grizzlies twice committed turnovers coming out of timeouts in the last minute. The most galling of these came with the Grizzlies down 93-92 and 46 seconds left in the game. Despite having a size mismatch on the post — and, admittedly, Marc Gasol had turned the ball over on an offensive foul on the previous possession — the Grizzlies chose to isolate Rudy Gay, who was being covered by Andre Iguodala, one of the two or three best perimeter defenders in the league. Gay was bottled up, picked up his dribble, and lost it trying to pass out.

Categories
Beyond the Arc Sports

Game 10 Preview: Grizzlies vs. Nuggets

CREDIT: LARRY KUZNIEWSKI

Marc Gasol leads the Grizzlies against the Denver Nuggets tonight.

  • LARRY KUZNIEWSKI
  • Marc Gasol leads the Grizzlies against the Denver Nuggets tonight.

Saturday night, the Grizzlies struggled more with the recently embarrassing but currently feisty Charlotte Bobcats than they did with the Heat, Thunder or Knicks. But, in some ways, the win was just as impressive.

This was a classic “trap” game: The second night of a back-to-back set, on the road, coming off a high-profile and very late win over the Knicks, against a younger team laying in wait. And you could see the effects on the Grizzlies: Tony Allen and Marc Gasol each missed multiple lay-ups in the opening minutes, jumpers were short all night, and the Bobcats had fresher legs in the fourth quarter, pushing tempo to outscore the Grizzlies 27-19 in the final period.

But, even limited with shots not falling, the Grizzlies were still focused enough to built a big enough lead to withstand that late run. They ran their offense to get good shots, they defended, they wreaked havoc in passing lanes, they were solid on the boards. It was a thoroughly professional win.

And it brings the Grizzlies back to Memphis at 8-1 for a season-long five-game homestand. It’s almost unimaginable that they’d sweep all five to push this start to 13-1. The odds are there will be a slip up or two over the next couple of weeks and tonight, with their third game in four days against a deep Denver squad, seems like a good candidate.

The Nuggets were a bit of a bandwagon favorite in the pre-season, but they’ve gotten off the a rough start. They’ve lost three in a row, most, most recently a 26-point demolition at San Antonio Saturday night, and all of their perimeter starters — Ty Lawson, Danilo Gallinari, and Andre Iguodala — have played well below their norm. But the Nuggets’ current 4-6 record comes after playing seven of their first 10 on the road (and it’ll be nine of 12 overall). Better days are likely ahead.

Three quick things I’ll be looking for tonight, when the Grizzlies host the Nuggets at 7 p.m. at FedExForum: