Grizzlies at Denver Preview
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April 16, 2008.
The Grizzlies will be looking to finish with a win tonight, both to avoid a season sweep by Denver and to top last season’s win total. Here are a few storylines to watch in tonight’s game.
No breaks in Denver
As if it’s not enough that the Grizzlies are playing the second game of a back-to-back tonight, and that they’re doing it in the thin air of Denver, the task is made harder by the fact that the Nuggets have been sitting at home for two days waiting for them. And even though the Nuggets have clinched a playoff berth, they won’t be taking it easy tonight, as a Denver win combined with a loss by Dallas to the Hornets will allow the Nuggets to jump into seventh spot in the Western Conference.
That means the Grizzlies can’t afford any let-downs tonight, especially against a team as dangerous as the Nuggets. In all three prior meetings between these two teams this season, Denver has scored at least 33 points in a quarter each time, using explosive runs to bury the Grizzlies. Given what’s at stake for the Nuggets tonight, expect them to come out rying to run the weary Grizzlies out of the game early. Memphis needs to withstand an early attack as much as possible to stay in tonight’s game.
Supporting cast no slouches
While Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson are the focal points of the Nuggets’ blitzkrieg-like offense, in all three games this season a different member of the supporting cast has stepped up to torch the Grizzlies.
In the first meeting, with Carmelo Anthony out due to injury, Anthony Carter went 9-11 from the field and didn’t miss from inside the arc en route to 20 points, picking up the offense when Iverson struggled in the second half. The Nuggets also got 19 rebounds from Marcus Camby in that contest.
The second time these teams met, Kenyon Martin went to work inside and had 23 points on 9-11 shooting as the Grizzlies couldn’t stop him in the paint. And then a few weeks ago at FedExForum, it was J.R. Smith who did the Grizzlies in, going on an incredible run in the fourth quarter. The Grizzlies were within five early in the frame before he torched Memphis with seven three-pointers in the fourth quarter, slamming the door on any hope of a Grizzlies win. Iverson and Anthony are hard enough to handle as it is, but the Grizzlies can’t forget about the other Nuggets’ other weapons.
Statistical notes
As the Grizzlies wrap up their season tonight, they do so looking to top last season’s win total of 22. While that’s the biggest milestone at stake tonight, there are other statistical footnotes to keep in mind:
- As long as the Grizzlies score at least 54 points tonight, which one has to assume is a virtual certainty, the Grizzlies will finish with a scoring average of at least 100 points per game for the second consecutive season. It’s a number they’d never hit in team history prior to last season.
- On the flip side, the Grizzlies are giving up 106.7 points per game, the exact figure they allowed last season, which was also a franchise record. If the Nuggets score 100 or more tonight, the 106.7 figure fill stand for this season as well, so the Grizzlies will be looking to keep them at 99 or lower. Of course, Denver’s 110.5 points per game is the second-highest average in the league this season.
- Rudy Gay has assured himself of a 20 point per game scoring average for the season, the third Grizzly after Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Pau Gasol to do so. But with nine points tonight he’ll have 1629 for the season, setting a high for the Memphis Grizzlies. The franchise’s all-time record is 1829 by Shareef Abdur-Rahim in 1997-98.
- Juan Carlos Navarro needs seven three-pointers tonight to break Kerry Kittles’ NBA record for threes by a rookie (158). Only once this season has Navarro had seven or more threes, with eight against New Orleans on November 16.
Tonight is the Grizzlies' final game of the 2007-08 season. Tune in at 7:30 p.m. to watch the second part of Grizzlies Insider - Year in Review. Check channel listing.