If you can’t beat the third-place team in the Eastern Conference, try again against the third-place team in the Western Conference.
That’s what the Nuggets did.
Saturday, just two days after their unsuccessful jaunt to Chicago, they turned their attention to one of the West’s best — the Memphis Grizzlies.
And this time the Nuggets broke through. In a huge way.
Their 114-85 rout of the Grizzlies, which snapped a three-game losing streak, was the Nuggets’ largest margin of victory this season.
“It feels good to finally be on this side of a win like this,” Nuggets coach Brian Shaw said. “It’s something that we have to build on.”
It was powered by a big game from the Nuggets’ best player, point guard Ty Lawson.
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On a snowy night in Denver, Lawson sizzled. He had his jump shot rolling basically from the opening tip, nailing them left and right, near and far. Lawson was so hot from the perimeter, he didn’t even attempt a layup the entire first half. He made 6-of-8 shots in the opening 24 minutes, including a couple of 3-pointers.
And with Lawson rolling, the Nuggets coasted. Lawson’s 25 points in the game came just a couple of nights after he scored 20 against the Bulls, marking the first time this season he has posted back-to-back games of at least 20 points. He also had 11 assists against Memphis.
“I was just being more aggressive, taking the open shot,” Lawson said. “Normally, I pass them up. But from now on, my New Year’s resolution is to shoot more jump shots.”
He wasn’t the only Nuggets player who had it going.
His backcourt mate, Arron Afflalo, shot his way to 23 points. The Lawson-Afflalo duo combined to score 48 points on 18-of-26 shooting and totaled 13 assists. Those numbers obliterated Memphis counterparts Mike Conley and Courtney Lee, who combined to produce 15 points and six assists.
Three players for the Nuggets (14-20) had double-doubles.
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Denver held Memphis (24-9) to fewer than 24 points in every quarter except the fourth, while scoring 30 points or more in the first, third and fourth quarters.
“If we defend like that, we’re going to give ourselves a chance to win,” Shaw said. “I’m proud of the way we defended tonight.”
And as Denver’s lead grew — it reached as high as 33 points — so did Memphis’ anger.
Coach Dave Joerger picked up two technical fouls in the third quarter and was tossed. Just a few minutes later, Grizzlies center Marc Gasol also was slapped with a technical foul in what became a Memphis meltdown.
Gasol went after Nuggets center Jusuf Nurkic after a sequence in which the rookie blocked the veteran’s shot to end the third quarter. Nurkic stood his ground, and the Pepsi Center crowd stood and cheered in appreciation of a young player who wasn’t backing down from one of the NBA’s best players.
“It feels good,” Afflalo said. “It was a team effort, defensively. I thought our attention to detail and effort was there.”
