Nuggets at Grizzlies
The Denver Nuggets showed off exactly how explosive they can be offensively when everything's clicking in a 123-107 win at Boston on Sunday. The Nuggets will try to carry that momentum further south when they finish off a five-game road trip by visiting the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday.
Denver sandwiched a win in Minnesota around losses at Toronto and Detroit in the first three games of the trip but the Nuggets gave themselves a chance at a winning excursion by putting up 43 first-quarter points at Boston on Sunday and cruising to the win. "We had a real heart-to-heart meeting," Nuggets coach Mike Malone told reporters of his message to the team prior to the game in Boston. “Talked about who we are, who we’ve been and where we need to get better. I challenged them with two goals: Let’s go out there and win the first quarter, and when the game is over, regardless of the result, walk in here proud of the way we competed and executed." The Grizzlies are struggling to execute and compete and fell to 1-2 on their four-game homestand with losses to the Los Angeles Clippers and Portland Trail Blazers over the weekend. Memphis scored over 100 points in each of its first three games but is averaging 87.8 over the last four contests.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, Altitude (Denver), FSN Southeast (Memphis)
ABOUT THE NUGGETS (3-3): The star of Sunday's win was 20-year-old point guard Emmanuel Mudiay, who scored 24 of his 30 points in the first quarter and went 9-of-10 from the field in the opening 12 minutes to set the pace. Mudiay went 0-of-7 from the floor in the 103-86 loss at Detroit on Saturday and was shooting 27.4 percent on the season entering Sunday's contest. "I was trying to be as aggressive as I can be," Mudiay told the Denver Post. "Me and coach had a discussion, the whole team had a discussion, and we looked at ourselves in the mirror."
ABOUT THE GRIZZLIES (3-4): Memphis brought in David Fizdale as the new coach and signed small forward Chandler Parsons to a four-year, $94 million contract over the summer - both moves designed to improve the team's offensive output. Parsons made his season debut on Sunday after missing six games recovering from knee surgery and went scoreless on 0-of-8 shooting in 22 minutes. "Pretty much the only good news I’ve got for you guys is my knee feels fine, which is obviously awesome," Parsons told reporters. "That’s the goal - get through these first few games and not have to be pulled out and not have any swelling. That’s a positive you take out of this. We’ll see how it reacts (Monday)."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Nuggets G Gary Harris (groin) made his first start of the season on Sunday and scored 12 points in 22 minutes.
2. Grizzlies SG Vince Carter scored 11 points on Sunday - one more than his total from the previous three games.
3. The road team took each of the last three meetings, with Denver grabbing a 109-105 win at Memphis on March 30 to snap a five-game losing streak in the series.