Sluggish Grizz Give Effort in Fourth, Fall to Nuggets.

Colin Rafferty –

Your Memphis Grizzlies lost last night to the Denver Nuggets, 116-122.

With about a minute left in the game, down 1, Jokic missed a shot at the rim, gathered his rebound and put up a shot to go up 3. Scotty Pippen Jr. ran down the court and missed a lay-up, a few seconds later the lead was up to 6 and time had run out.

The tank is on, and the Grizz have been doing their part to climb higher in the draft dropping the past 4 games.

They will head into the All-Star Break 5 games back of the play-in tournament and 8th in the draft standings.

Last night the Grizz were unable to score 30 points in the first three quarters but found their way in the fourth putting up 35. They were awful from three and got absolutely dominated on the glass.

GG Jackson led the way for the Grizz putting up 21 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists. He has really found a stride recently and has been playing good ball, it will be interesting to see how far he can grow with the remaining games.

Ty Jerome added 19 pts and 7 assists. If there was any doubt that he could play, it should all be squashed; he is playing with his hair on fire and getting good looks and even hitting some wildly athletic shots that mimic the style of Ja.

Shooting be damned but Jaylen Wells was on it last night, 17 pts on 7-9 from the field and 2-3 from deep. He’s an odd ball showing zero emotion most of the time, but every once in a while, you will see a twinge in his face then he will go on a defensive clinic the next few possessions.

Nikola Jokic was the leader for the Nuggets posting a 26 pt, 15 reb, 11 assist triple-double night. Just another day at the office for the Serbian horse.

Jamal Murray added 23 pts, 7 assists, and 6 rebounds and the 15-year vet, Tim Hardaway Jr. threw back the clock and posting 21 pts on 7-8 from the field and 4-5 from three.

Dealing with a team that is shooting 53% from the field and 45% from three is a tall task, especially when you aren’t getting close to leveling the rebounding battle.

A 46-29 rebound differential, you’re not going to win many games with that big of a deficit.

They were however able to create 12 steals while only allowing 6 total turnovers, something to build on. Turnovers and not creating turnovers has hindered this team all year.

Memphis was also on the bad end of some real home cooking; the Nuggets committed 19 fouls to the Grizzlies 32.

Woof.

But with a bigger squad than the Grizz, they had to try and nullify it somehow and fouling before they can get shots off seemed to work, to some extent.

Jokic did seem to get away with a few fouls while battling for rebounds, but went the way of the Grizz, nothing egregious just elbows and trying to get positioning. Just can’t see how Jahmai Mashack and Jaylen Wells get called for fouls when they can’t even move the big fella.

I digress.

The bench squad, that has been one of the bright spots all year, was unattended for last night. KCP, Cam, and Scotty had poor shooting nights, combining for 15 pts. Cam was 0-3 from deep and 1-8 from the field.

The Grizzlies did introduce a new player to the team as Lawson Lovering, who had been playing with the Hustle joined them for his first game as a Memphis Grizzly. He finished with 3 pts and 4 rebounds in 18 minutes of play.

Moving forward, I would expect to see him get more playing time as they are in desperate need of a rebounding big man. Hopefully the 7’1” 22-year-old from Utah can find his footing and help down the stretch.

Alas the Grizz keep up with their plan to “tank” their season in hopes of grabbing a few guys in the lottery.

Over the next week I hope these guys can get some familiarity with each other and they can come back and put together a few wins, they need it and the city would enjoy watching a win here and there.

They are trying that is for sure, but they are limited in what they can accomplish with the players they have. Just have to build some chemistry and sets that they can use in the future.

I hate looking ahead that far with so many games left, but that is what the organization is doing, so I will follow suit. Over the All-Star Break I will put out a post that will highlight some of the top guys the team should look to add in the draft.

This draft class is apparently supposed to be one for the ages, a lot of good talent. With the success that Kleiman has had drafting, I would hope they find themselves in a position to grab the best available and best for the team.

For those enjoying the All-Star festivities be sure to tune into the Rising Stars Game on Friday. Jaylen Wells, Cedric Coward, and Cam Spencer will be representing the Grizz.

The first game back from the All-Star Break will have the Grizz back at home to face off against the Utah Jazz and Jaren Jackson Jr. be sure to grab your tickets early as the city will undoubtably be out in droves to show support to the former franchise player and Memphian at heart.

The Castrol Rising Stars Game will tip-off at 8 PM CST on Friday.