Nuggets 125, Grizzlies 108

End of the first quarter: 33-24 Memphis. Halftime: 63-57 Memphis. End of the third quarter: 85-85 tie. Final score: 125-108 Nuggets. That's right, the Nuggets scored 40 points in the 4th quarter. 40! Last night against the Knicks, the Grizz gave up 39 in the final period, their worst 4th quarter defensive performance of the season. Tonight we gave up 40. As a Grizzlies fan, that stat really scares me. We cannot play any defense late in the game. The Nuggets went on a 12-0 run to start the 4th quarter and the only reason we were able to pull out the win against the Knicks was because we were up by 21 and had enough of a cushion to win. But when it comes to the 4th quarter on defense, we have been inept lately.

Why can't we play defense late in games? Who knows? One reason is that we rely too much on our starters, a common theme this season. The Denver bench played 101 minutes. The Memphis bench played just 66. I wonder which team will have more gas in the tank at the end of the game? We can rely on our starters for three quarters (or all game against bad teams), but then they run out of steam. We just don't have enough depth. Until that problem gets solved (hopefully with the return of Ronnie Brewer), we won't be able to put ourselves into playoff contention. Interestingly, we have lost eight straight home games against teams with winning records. Not good.

A few other bad things: we had just 9 fast break points while the Nuggets had 26. We were outrebounded by 8. Denver's JR Smith played just 28 minutes yet scored 30 points and hit 7 of 10 threes.

Even in a 17-point loss, there are a couple of bright spots. First, we shot 50% from the field (too bad the Nuggets shot 58%) and 78% from the free-throw line. Second, we had 58 points in the paint, 2 more than the Nuggets. That's about it.

This was a tough loss and doesn't bode well for our playoff hopes. Hopefully we can turn it around against the Bulls.

Go Grizz!

Owen