Grizzlies at Nuggets
The Memphis Grizzlies are in the midst of their first losing streak of the season and their offense is in a funk. The Denver Nuggets dropped three of five on their recent road trip but are 5-1 at home, where they will host the Grizzlies on Friday. Memphis owns the best defense in the league but has not managed to reach 85 points in its last two losses. The Nuggets have the opposite problem, with trouble on the defensive end.
The Grizzlies were outscored in the paint in the 82-80 loss at Phoenix on Wednesday, a rarity for a team that features Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol on the inside. While Rudy Gay has done his part to pick up some of the scoring load, the rest of the cast after Randolph and Gasol has had trouble producing. Denver has lost six of its last nine games while surrendering an average of 106 points. The Nuggets shot better than 50 percent from the floor in Minnesota on Monday but still suffered a 108-105 setback.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN, ALT2 (Denver)
ABOUT THE GRIZZLIES (14-5): Memphis won eight in a row and 12 of 13 after losing its opener but has hit a bit of a rough patch this month, dropping two straight and three of five in December. The Grizzlies still have not allowed a team to reach 100 points since opening night, but they have hit the mark themselves only once this month, and they needed 14 points in overtime to get there. Mike Conley has been in a terrible shooting slump over those five games, hitting 31.4 percent from the floor. If Conley and Tony Allen are not hitting from the outside, defenses can collapse on Randolph and Gasol on the interior, leaving Gay as the lone consistent scoring option. Gay has put up 38 points in the last two games but he has needed 42 shots to reach that mark. He went for 21 points and 11 rebounds on Wednesday and Randolph added a double-double but Gasol was the only other player to reach double figures in the loss.
ABOUT THE NUGGETS (11-12): Denver may have a losing record, but one look at the schedule gives a nice hint as to why. The Nuggets have played 17 of their first 23 games on the road, culminating in the five-game trip that ended in Minnesota. They still won’t play back-to-back games at home until Jan. 1 and 3. All of that travel has prevented the team from getting into a rhythm on either side of the ball. Kenneth Faried is a good example of the team’s inconsistency, having totaled 22 points in four games prior to exploding for 26 and 14 rebounds against the Timberwolves. One of Denver’s wins came on Nov. 19 in Memphis, when Danilo Gallinari went for 26 points and Faried added 13 and 13 in a 97-92 victory that ended the Grizzlies’ eight-game winning streak.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Grizzlies made some additions to their front office on Thursday, including adding popular ESPN columnist John Hollinger as Vice President of Basketball Operations.
2. Randolph collected 12 points and 13 boards in the first meeting while Gay scored a team-high 22 for Memphis.
3. Gallinari matched a season high with four 3-pointers on Wednesday, one more than his total from the previous four contests.