MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Maybe the NBA Cup just means more. Or maybe the Nuggets realized they needed to approach the final game of their three-game road trip with better effort after getting crushed by the Grizzlies’ physicality two days earlier.
Jamal Murray bounced back Tuesday with 27 points, Russell Westbrook became the first player in NBA history to record 200 career triple-doubles, and the Nuggets held off a furious late comeback to end their trip along the Mississippi River with a 122-110 win over the Grizzlies.
” think I didn’t really do much today,” Murray said. “I thought everybody else did a great job of just doing in on the gameplan and bringing better energy today.”
Memphis narrowed a 25-point Denver lead down to five in the last two minutes, but Dario Saric buried a dagger 3-pointer with 27.7 seconds left, giving his team a 118-110 lead while he was sitting on five fouls.
Westbrook finished the night with 12 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists in 32 minutes. Michael Porter Jr. added 24 points despite shooting 0 for 4 beyond the arc, the rarest of stat lines for him. Christian Braun went for 19 points, seven rebounds and three steals. It was more than enough to finally survive a game without Nikola Jokic. The third try was the charm. Now Denver (8-5) is 1-1 in the group stage of the NBA Cup with Dallas visiting Friday for the next game.
“We’re not always going to have the luxury of being able to rely on one person,” Peyton Watson said before the game. “… Without him, our mindset should change. I don’t think that it should stay the same. I think we should all take it upon ourselves that we have more responsibility. … I think that’s something that’s a privilege, being able to be in these situations and be counted on and have the pressure on us.”
Defensive stats told the story of the changed mindset early. Seven Nuggets were credited with a steal in the first quarter alone. Watson’s presence was dynamic. Westbrook had one of the best sequences of his season on a four-possession stretch. On offense, consecutive assists for dunks. On defense, an effective close-out against a Jay Huff three and a pick-pocket steal.
Even Murray, whose shot was not falling early in the game, made up for it with good defensive play-making. He and Julian Strawther, whose defense was called out by Michael Malone on Sunday, both had two steals at halftime.
“All we talked about all day long is: ‘We’ve lost two in a row, and don’t waste on energy on who’s not here; we have enough talent in the room to get the job done.’ But you never know,” said Malone, who tied the franchise wins record with his 432nd. “You could have a great shootaround — I’ve been in the league so long — the best shootaround in the world, and the game starts, and you lay an egg. I’ve been part of shootarounds where I’ve kicked our team out. Getting ready to play Golden State. It was that bad a shootaround. And we won that night. So anybody that says that, ‘Oh, I could tell our guys were ready,’ they’re full of (crap).”
The Nuggets wanted to get Murray going after a lackluster first two games of the trip. After missing his first three outside attempts, he passed up an open 3-pointer in the corner to drive the baseline.
But his teammates had his back, and by the second half, he was firing in rhythm off the bounce, knocking down timely shots. The Nuggets also played through Porter’s hands, encouraging him to get to the rim. They played through transition leak-outs, scoring 28 on fast breaks. They played through their defense. Strawther made a stunning block of Jaren Jackson. Westbrook was moved into the Jackson matchup early in the second quarter and took a charge to draw Jackson’s third foul.
The officials were not allowing much contact from either team. Saric was on the bench with two early fouls, and when he checked back in for Vlatko Cancar, he immediately picked up his third, sending Cancar back to the scorer’s table. Watson fouled out with 2:25 to go.
Cancar was providing good minutes at the backup five until a stroke of awful luck. After throwing down a vicious driving dunk, he landed and instantly couldn’t put much weight on his left leg. In the summer of 2023, he tore his ACL in the same knee. This time, the Nuggets labeled the injury as a sprain. Cancar didn’t return to the game. Malone, asked if there’s fear of a re-torn ACL, said he hadn’t talked to the team’s medical staff yet.
“I checked on (Cancar) at halftime, obviously, and he was in good spirits. Wasn’t in any pain,” Malone said. “But I would hate to be premature with any speculation in terms of what happened. … He seemed to be fairly pain-free. It just felt a little uncomfortable when he came down. … Hopefully it’s nothing major and we can get him back out there, because I thought Vlatko with that second unit was really, really effective.”
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