The 10-piece gives you the ten things you need to know from the Nuggets’ 82 games this season.
1. Jamal Murray kicks into action: The Nuggets needed Murray to wake up to win this game. He responded with 27 efficient points, five made threes, and some strong defense. It was just one game, and fans want more consistency. Call it a strong first step.
2. Michael Porter Jr. dominates with physicality: MPJ shot 10/10 from two-point range to begin this game. He set the tone, drawing fouls, grabbing rebounds, scoring at the rim. It was a nice response to scoring just 10 points on Sunday.
3. Brodie goes for the 200th Triple-Double: 12 points, 10 rebounds, and 14 assists is an insane stat line for a bench point guard. Russell Westbrook played 32 minutes, and he set the table many times for Denver’s other scorers. Add it to the list of games Westbrook helped swing.
4. Braun outplays Bane: The numbers say it all. Christian Braun had 19 points on 12 shots. Desmond Bane had 5 points on 10 shots. Braun locked him down and continues to establish himself as a quality starting shooting guard this season.
5. The Homie Dario hits a big shot: Dario Saric dealt with foul trouble for much of this game and played just 18 minutes. His only two baskets were a three-pointer 34 seconds into the game and a three-pointer with 27 seconds left to put the game out of reach for Memphis. Pretty cool symmetry there.
6. Backup Center Roulette: The Nuggets started Dario Saric, then played Vlatko Cancar, then moved Watson to center, then inserted DeAndre Jordan, then put in Zeke Nnaji tonight. Michael Malone tried everything, and he should continue to try everything until someone establishes themselves as the best option.
7. Vlatko Cancar hurt: The only reason Cancar only played 11 minutes tonight was he grabbed his left knee after landing awkwardly on a dunk. The motion did not look good and Cancar limped to the locker room. Hopefully he’s okay.
8. Trey Alexander gets some run: Alexander, interestingly, was the first sub in tonight’s game. He played brief stints in the first and third quarter. He had an assist but didn’t make any shots. Perhaps this was just an attempt to shake up the rotation, but maybe Alexander should play more to ease the burden on Denver’s point guards.
9. Grindhouse is always physical: 53 fouls were called. 53 free throws were attempted. Westbrook was assessed a technical for looking at someone. The refs had a difficult time and didn’t handle that game particularly well. The Nuggets kept composure though.
10. Michael Malone masterclass: Malone tied Doug Moe tonight for his 432nd win as Nuggets head coach. He has an opportunity to become the Nuggets coach with the most wins in franchise history on Friday. He earned tonight’s win. This was an excellently coached game from Moach.
