The Denver Nuggets are coming off perhaps their most frustrating loss of the season. Against a New Orleans Pelicans team that was missing more than half it’s normal rotation, the Nuggets came up short. Now, Denver was missing Nikola Jokic which is obviously a huge person to be missing (both figuratively and literally) but with the Pelicans so injured, one would think the Nuggets could still prevail. Instead they just compounded concerns that this team is far less capable of competing with even mediocre teams sans Jokic. They get the chance to correct the ship tonight and hopefully with their MVP back in the fold. In their way is the Memphis Grizzlies in the first of two games in a back to back Tennessee tango.
The Essentials
Who: Denver Nuggets (7-4) at Memphis Grizzlies (7-6)
When: 4:00PM MST
Where: Damaged Packages Forum. Memphis, TN.
How to watch/listen: Denver Stiffs does not condone piracy. Altitude TV where available. NBA League Pass for those not in the Nuggets market. Altitude 92.5 FM. Walk off of Beale street and rip a wicked guitar solo for security and they’ll probably let you in as part of the halftime act.
Rival Blog: Beale Street Bears
The Matchup
| Position | Nuggets | Grizzlies | Advantage |
| PG | Jamal Murray | Scotty Pippen Jr. | Nuggets |
| SG | Christian Braun | Jaylen Wells | Even |
| SF | Peyton Watson | Brandon Clarke | Even |
| PF | Michael Porter Jr. | Jaren Jackson Jr. | Grizzlies |
| C | Nikola Jokic | Santi Aldama | Nuggets |
| Bench | Russell Westbrook, Julian Strawther, Vlatko Cancar, Dario Saric | Desmond Bane, Vince Williams Jr., Zach Edey, Jake LaRavia, Luke Kennard | Even |
Injury report: Vlatko Cancar – probable (ankle), Nikola Jokic – questionable (personal), Aaron Gordon – out (calf), Daron Holmes II – out (achilles), Jalen Pickett – out (G-League), Spencer Jones – out (G-League); Marcus Smart – doubtful (illness), Ja Morant – out (hip), GG Jackson – out (foot), Cam Spencer – out (ankle).
The Three Things
The thing to watch for: Memphis’ size
The Grizzlies are huge. They have a former DPOY in Jaren Jackson Jr. standing at 6’10” at the power forward spot. Next to him is Santi Aldama at 7′ playing center. Jaylen Wells and Brandon Clarke are oversized wings…and thats just the starters. Off the bench is rookie and reigning back to back Naismith player of the year Zach Edey (7’4″) and former Nugget Jay Huff (7’1″) and it’s not unreasonable to think all of these guys will play (Huff did only get six minutes in the last game). If Jokic is a no go once again then the Nuggets are going to have to ask a lot of guys like Zeke Nnaji, Dario Saric and DeAndre Jordan. Even if Jokic plays I won’t be surprised to see Jordan get some minutes tonight solely because he’s the biggest dude on Denver and can mix it up with Memphis’ gargantuan bench.
The thing to remember: Memphis is not the team from a year ago
Last season was a lost one for the Grizz. Ja Morant first served a lengthy suspension, then came back and almost immediately went down with a season ending shoulder injury. That spelled curtains for Memphis who was just one season removed from earning the #2 seed in the Western Conference. Morant is out tonight so the Nuggets are out of his line of fire (pun intended) but it’s also clear that Memphis is just in a better place this season. Edey is silencing his critics, Jackson has been on an absolute tear and the Grizzlies are getting solid contributions from their role players. The Nuggets luck out a bit dodging Morant tonight and potentially Tuesday as well but once he’s back (plus add in GG Jackson once he recovers from foot surgery) the Grizzlies will be as formidable as any foe.
The thing to bet: I guess we’re betting Jokic
Jokic is the only player with any significant props to speak of for the Nuggets which tells me he’s probably playing tonight. It also limits our options on TTB. Given he’s got plenty of reason to be happy, motivated and excited, I’m going to go with a big game for Joker tonight. Give me the alternate Points+assists+rebounds line of 55+ at +195 and lets ride.
