The surging Denver Nuggets are fighting for the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference — and fighting their porous 3-point defense.
Denver (51-28), which has won nine in a row, goes for the first 10-game winning streak in the Nikola Jokic era when it hosts the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday night. On paper it looks like a mismatch in the Nuggets’ favor, but Monday night showed nothing is easy.
Portland, one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the NBA, hit a franchise-record 25 3-pointers on the same night Memphis tied the NBA record for made threes with 29. The Trail Blazers and Grizzlies both lost, but it’s a warning to Denver as the playoffs approach.
“I want to say dare them but they’re all NBA players,” Jokic said of Portland’s 3-point shooting. “I think our contests were not what they were supposed to be. You can still contest and make them think about it. I think we didn’t contest the right way.”
The Nuggets needed to rally from double-digit deficits in the fourth quarter to win their last two games in overtime. On Saturday, they got a statement victory against San Antonio, and Monday night they avoided a costly loss while battling the injury-plagued Los Angeles Lakers for the third seed.
“We’re just seeing what it takes to win,” guard Jamal Murray said.
Denver has two of its last three games at home — it hosts league-leading Oklahoma City on Friday night — and will need a bit of help because the Lakers hold the tiebreaker between the teams.
The Nuggets can’t afford to look past Memphis (25-54), which is 5-25 since early February. One of those five wins came against Denver on March 18, which was a makeup from a game postponed Jan. 25.
One of the heroes of that Grizzlies win was Ty Jerome, who finished just shy of a triple-double with 21 points, nine rebounds and nine assists. Jerome, who is shooting 42% from 3-point range, didn’t play in Memphis’ record-tying night from deep. He will miss his ninth straight game with an ankle injury and has played in just 15 this season.
The Grizzlies conceded the playoffs months ago when they dealt Jaren Jackson Jr., John Konchar and Jock Landale to Utah at the trade deadline. They unsuccessfully shopped Ja Morant, who played just 20 games this season.
With its top four scorers sidelined with injuries, Cedric Coward leads the way at 13.4 points per game. Coward, a rookie out of Washington State, sat out Sunday’s loss to Milwaukee with lower back soreness and played just 18 minutes against Chicago on Monday.
Coward’s emergence has been a small bright spot in an otherwise tough season for Memphis. He has played well despite getting more attention from opponents.
“Right now, when you look at our roster, he’s a featured guy and teams may put a lot more emphasis on stopping him,” Memphis head coach Tuomas Iisalo told the Commercial Appeal. “And I think he’s done a great job letting the game come to him.”
