Grant’s career night paces Denver
The Nuggets had been stunned by several underwhelming teams so far this season, but there was no such letdown Tuesday night at Pepsi Center.
The Nuggets burned the nets for a 115-98 win over the reeling Pistons, improving to 40-18 on the season and shooting 57 percent from the field. It was Detroit’s seventh consecutive loss, and somewhat avenged Denver’s overtime defeat to the Pistons earlier this month.
Reserve forward Jerami Grant led the Nuggets with a careerhigh 29 points on 12-of-16 shooting and paced the 60-36 advantage for Denver’s reserves. Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray finished with 16 points each, while Murray sliced the Pistons’ defense with eight assists.
Nuggets coach Michael Malone on Grant: “I just rode him that whole second half, he was terrific. They tried playing that zone, tried to give us different looks.”
The Pistons, behind strong outside shooting, got it to within 6559 midway through the third quarter before veterans Paul Millsap and Gary Harris helped establish a double-digit cushion once again.
Since returning from his right knee injury six games ago, Millsap’s averaged 14.2 points on nearly 60 percent shooting from the field. He had nine points on 4-of10 Tuesday night, allowing for Grant’s huge performance.
“Since he’s come back, maybe the OKC game was the outlier, I think Paul’s been terrific,” Malone said. “Shooting the ball extremely well, looking very comfortable and confident out there.”
But even more promising was Harris’ momentum-swinging 3pointer that boosted Denver’s lead to 70-59. Slowly, Harris’ cold shooting could be thawing. Over his last four games entering Tuesday, Harris had knocked down 6 of his last 13 3-pointers.
Jerami Grant, who drained three 3-pointers on the night, scored seven in the third quarter alone to help stake an 82-72 lead going into the fourth.
The only unnerving aspect of the win came via 18 turnovers, which led to 17 Pistons points.
Considering Denver’s clean bill of health coming out of the break, their first two games posed relatively difficult questions for Malone. And like he did in Sunday’s win over Minnesota, Malone con
tinued staggering at least one starter with the bench unit to ensure not all five players were coming in cold.
“It’s not just about one player, it’s about what’s best for the group and the team,” Malone said. “I think all season long we’ve had success when we’ve kept a Jamal, a Will, a Nikola or whoever it is, in with some of the guys in the bench, so it’s not just completely like a hockey line shift.”
Tuesday also marked the most encouraging minutes celebrated rookie Michael Porter Jr. has played since incurring his ankle injury prior to the break. Porter looked in rhythm on offense and was a vacuum on the defensive glass. His sweet shooting stroke returned for 13 points on 6-of-9 from the field along with eight boards.
The Nuggets seized the momentum in the second quarter with sound defense and even more proficient offense. Led by 11 points each from Jokic and Murray, Denver took a 59-46 lead into halftime. As a team, they shredded Detroit’s defense to the tune of 67% shooting over the first two quarters.
But the most encouraging development came from Denver’s reserves, which outscored the Pistons’ second unit 23-13 in the first half. What had been an area of mild concern coming out of the all-star break looked settled and composed, as Morris orchestrated the unit like a seasoned veteran.