Grizzlies at Nuggets
The Memphis Grizzlies are still trying to figure out life without star center Marc Gasol and looked like a team without a plan on Saturday. The Grizzlies will try to quickly get past an embarrassing loss when they visit a Denver Nuggets team expected to be without its leading scorer on Monday.
Memphis went with a small lineup without Gasol and earned back-to-back wins over the lowly Los Angeles Lakers last week but was exposed in the middle on Saturday during a 111-106 loss to a Phoenix Suns team that had dropped its previous 13 games. The Suns started 7-1 centers Tyson Chandler and Alex Len together and crushed Memphis on the boards 56-34, providing future opponents with a blueprint for how to get past the Grizzlies. The Nuggets could be forced to go to a similar big lineup with Danilo Gallinari (ankle) expected to miss time after leaving Friday’s game. Denver starts Kenneth Faried and Nikola Jokic in the frontcourt and has centers Jusuf Nurkic and Joffrey Lauvergne coming off the bench.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, FSN Southeast (Memphis), Altitude (Denver)
ABOUT THE GRIZZLIES (34-24): Zach Randolph found himself out of the starting lineup earlier in the season but is back with the top unit and would like to see his team attempt better shots after going 6-of-20 from 3-point range in Phoenix. “We’ve got to get better; that’s not us,” Randolph told reporters. “We’ve got to get better shot selection, work the ball with the team we’ve got. It’s just, we’ve got to be different and play different, so that’s something we’ve got to work on.” Memphis doesn’t have much time to figure things out as it fights for playoff positioning in the West.
ABOUT THE NUGGETS (23-36): Gallinari had X-rays come back negative on his right ankle after Friday’s game but was scheduled for an MRI exam to determine the severity of the sprain. The 6-10 Italian is averaging 19.5 points and 5.3 rebounds and is no stranger to ankle injuries after missing six games at the end of December with a sprain, and he did not sound optimistic about making a quick return. “It’s worse than the one I had just two months ago,” Gallinari told reporters. “It’s worse than that one.”
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Grizzlies G/F Lance Stephenson is averaging 12.5 points in four games since joining the team at the trade deadline.
2. Nuggets rookie PG Emmanuel Mudiay is 2-of-17 from the field in the last two games.
3. Gasol had 27 points in Memphis’ 102-101 win at Denver on Jan. 21.