Game 49: Denver Nuggets (33-15) @ Memphis Grizzlies (20-30) - 8:00 PM ET

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[NuggetsWY]

Gasol's not what he was but it should be an interesting matchup to watch with Jokic. Gasol isn't a player to be taken lightly.

Jackson & Anderson are both very active forwards. Sure hope our guys are ready to hustle, especially on defense.

Conley & Holiday could be a real problem for our guards, especially Barton & Craig. I just don't believe they will be good defenders against them and if Murray's ankle isn't close to 100%, he's going to have serious problems against Conley.

We should win, but if the Nuggets take that for granted, it could be trouble.

[FilNugsFan]

Stopped monitoring the game at the half to be honest. Didn't expect we'd still win this one at Memphis.

Good job Nugs!

[Sgt Major]

What did I just watch?

[Riko]

Jokic really step up tonight. He didn't allow to let the game slide and, at the end of the fourth, when finally the 3s start to fall he nail a couple of clutch play

[RRFB]

Crazy win. Love the fight, love the way Jokic put the team on his back, but they gotta stop laying eggs in the first half.

Beasley came up huge again. The game changed as soon as he checked-in in the 3rd. He's so much more impactful and such a better fit with the starters than Craig. I hope Malone has finally realized it after tonight.

[THE J0KER]

One of the biggest 2nd half and 4th quarter comebacks in franchise history for sure.

But before I praise guys for this epic win I must say our NBA TOP5 team also deserve big criticism for being -17 after 3 quarters against a team which not care anymore about results since this month. With MVP level 25-12-9 January stats Jokic overshadowed this month obvious bad shape of many his teammates, and that was exposed during 1st half where Jokic played an empty low energy game (just 5-0-2) and also 2nd best January Nugget Murray was out. But Jokic once again rediscovered MVP level in the 2nd half would not be enough for such a big comeback if the whole team didn't collectively improve the defense (especially vs 3pt), and other two join Jokic in offense (Beasley and Barton). In the middle of the 4th quarter when Memphis still lead in double digits I was scared that Malone will repeat mistakes from road loses vs Hawks and Suns when he decided to rest (or punish) starting lineup despite result was still relatively active (close to -10), but this time that is not the case and somehow we finished this game with 23-7 run.

Our big-man rotation was a total disaster today (except Jokic in 2nd half) with Millsap, Plumlee, Lyles, and Juancho combined together just 8 points (fg 1-13). I'm also not happy to see when all SG and SF are healthy the player who loses most playing time is Beasley. We desperately needed today 3pts in last quarter and that is the only reason he gets some extra minutes at the end, which he used perfectly.

[skywalker33]

Maybe sending Vanderbilt to the G-league ripped the morale of this team

Bring back JV!!!

[NuggetsWY]

Overall Grades
B - Jokic and that seems generous but he put in 24 points
D - Millsap with no offense but his defense came through at the end
F - Craig with no offense and not enough defense
B - Barton and that seems a little generous
C - Harris with weak offense but good defense

C - Morris okay for a bench player
A - Beasley should have had more minutes and/or started
B - Plumlee played a fairly typical Plumlee game
D - Lyles with no significant impact
F - Hernangomez contributed virtually nothing

D - Team effort was terrible until that remarkable comeback - a disgusting game overall but a very impressive 4th quarter

Question: At the end of the game, Malone had Jokic pass the ball in bounds to 4 guards. Yes, he is a great passer but so is Plumlee and why not have Plumlee throw the ball in to 3 guards and Jokic?

[Ugly0598]

Watched the replay of the game this afternoon. Nice win for the Nugs, but I honestly didn't even think they played that great in the 4th either. Just an epic collapse by Memphis.

[NuggetsWY]

Watched the replay of the game this afternoon. Nice win for the Nugs, but I honestly didn't even think they played that great in the 4th either. Just an epic collapse by Memphis.

I guess Denver scoring 35 points in the 4th quarter just accidentally happened through great luck because Memphis decided to walk and not hustle. Plus Memphis decided they'd scored enough so they just stopped shooting and only scored 15 points in the quarter. Get real! If the Jazz had a comeback like that, you'd be blowing trumpets out of both sides of your mouth!

Trolling is not welcome here. Please contribute something at least close to realistic or stay away. Thank you!

[Ugly0598]

Don't worry, if you think that was trolling I'll gladly stay away since every time I post on this forum apparently I'm a Nuggets "hater". All I said was I thought it was a huge collapse by Memphis more so than a comeback. Ah well.

[skywalker33]

Don't worry, if you think that was trolling I'll gladly stay away since every time I post on this forum apparently I'm a Nuggets "hater". All I said was I thought it was a huge collapse by Memphis more so than a comeback. Ah well.

Well, you DO wear the insignia of a not-so-beloved-rival... However, I don't think it was a troll perhaps just an unkind POV observation. It was a huge collapse, thank God for Kyle Anderson. But to be fair (and a little gloating), the Nuggets did play some strong defense and made necessary shot in that 2nd half. Beasley's and Barton's 4th qtr alone is something to tout, let alone our own superstar Nikola Jokic coming up big against one of the best post up defenders in the game.

I'd say you're welcome here, we try to be an open forum, and you do seem to add to the conversation.

BTW, I agree with WY, if this happened to the Jazz, their fans would praise them like we are now.

[The Rebel]

Don't worry, if you think that was trolling I'll gladly stay away since every time I post on this forum apparently I'm a Nuggets "hater". All I said was I thought it was a huge collapse by Memphis more so than a comeback. Ah well.

I will tell you your other post reads like someone that wants to discredit the Nuggets. Fact is Harris shut down Conley and Jokic shut down Gasol. So yes the Grizzlies collapsed, because outside of those 2 guys they have nobody dependable on offense, but they collapsed due to the Nuggets taking away the few things they do well.

[The Rebel]

I have read all the comments on reddit and here, and must say I am shocked that so many are praising Barton, while ignoring that his terrible ball handling, bad defense, and selfish play in the 1st quarter are a big reason we were down 25 points to begin with.

I am hoping the way the 1st quarter went will make Malone realize that Millsap and Craig cannot start together no matter what, and Barton is not a PG.

The 1 thing Craig is good at is stopping penetrating guards, so why did Malone put Barton on Conley for the 1st half? Most of the roster would do just fine guarding Holiday, why put in a “defensive specialist” and then put him on a guy that is not really even used by the opposition?

If Juancho is really having a core muscle issue than he needs to sit, if reality is that he is just struggling with the way the team is playing than he needs to be in with the starters to see what he can do moving off the ball.

Speaking of moving off the ball, this team has went totally away from Jokic ball, there is little to no off the ball movement and plenty of iso ball, we are going to lose a lot of games against good teams if this is the way Malone is trying to force the offense.

We pulled off a heck of a comeback against these guys, but reality is that they are a 2 man team that we almost lost to, because we are no longer playing to our strengths.

[NuggetsWY]

Don't worry, if you think that was trolling I'll gladly stay away since every time I post on this forum apparently I'm a Nuggets "hater". All I said was I thought it was a huge collapse by Memphis more so than a comeback. Ah well.

Well, you DO wear the insignia of a not-so-beloved-rival... However, I don't think it was a troll perhaps just an unkind POV observation. It was a huge collapse, thank God for Kyle Anderson. But to be fair (and a little gloating), the Nuggets did play some strong defense and made necessary shot in that 2nd half. Beasley's and Barton's 4th qtr alone is something to tout, let alone our own superstar Nikola Jokic coming up big against one of the best post up defenders in the game.

I'd say you're welcome here, we try to be an open forum, and you do seem to add to the conversation.

BTW, I agree with WY, if this happened to the Jazz, their fans would praise them like we are now.

and to take it one step further, I called this a "disgusting game" for the Nuggets in spite of the great comeback - but yeah, the Nuggets deserve some credit and do not deserve to be just dismissed as not having done anything

[NuggetsWY]

I have read all the comments on reddit and here, and must say I am shocked that so many are praising Barton, while ignoring that his terrible ball handling, bad defense, and selfish play in the 1st quarter are a big reason we were down 25 points to begin with.

I am hoping the way the 1st quarter went will make Malone realize that Millsap and Craig cannot start together no matter what, and Barton is not a PG.

The 1 thing Craig is good at is stopping penetrating guards, so why did Malone put Barton on Conley for the 1st half? Most of the roster would do just fine guarding Holiday, why put in a “defensive specialist” and then put him on a guy that is not really even used by the opposition?

If Juancho is really having a core muscle issue than he needs to sit, if reality is that he is just struggling with the way the team is playing than he needs to be in with the starters to see what he can do moving off the ball.

Speaking of moving off the ball, this team has went totally away from Jokic ball, there is little to no off the ball movement and plenty of iso ball, we are going to lose a lot of games against good teams if this is the way Malone is trying to force the offense.

We pulled off a heck of a comeback against these guys, but reality is that they are a 2 man team that we almost lost to, because we are no longer playing to our strengths.

Many have complained about Barton at point but Malone likes him there.
Better defenders against penetrating guards than Barton? Harris, Beasley, Craig, Morris, Murray and probably Millsap and maybe even Lyles and Lydon. Barton is not a great defender.

As for Hernangomez having an injury issue, we've seen Malone play injured players too many times. Even if they want to play, the coaching & training folk ought to know when they need to sit.

I've been complaining about lack of motion for at least a few weeks now and it's getting worse. We are winning so everyone's happy but if we throw the ball to Jokic and cut/run the baseline/etc; we could be scoring at a much higher rate and that offense tires out the opponent so our defense can be even more effective.

Has anyone noticed our defense has now dropped to #10 in DEF RTG?
Points in the paint our defense is #15.

What's bad about those stats is that we were much higher which means our current defense is much lower than those ratings.

[Darklight]

Crazy comeback but seriously what's up with malone's love affair with craig? Craig is a bum and a g-league caliber player, malone playing scrubs like him every season is screwing us over. How can craig start over beasley?? He is treating craig like he is **** covington and covington unlike craig is a DPOY caliber player while craig is average and putrid on offense!
**** like this is just one of many reasons why he will always be a mediocre coach in my eyes.

[NuggetsWY]

Crazy comeback but seriously what's up with malone's love affair with craig? Craig is a bum and a g-league caliber player, malone playing scrubs like him every season is screwing us over. How can craig start over beasley?? He is treating craig like he is **** covington and covington unlike craig is a DPOY caliber player while craig is average and putrid on offense!
**** like this is just one of many reasons why he will always be a mediocre coach in my eyes.

I love Craig - as a bench player and only play him in games when he is hustling and/or hot.

[U hova]

someone once told me Craig is an excellent example of a great 10th man to have