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The Grizzlies want redemption for a week performance in Indianapolis

After perhaps their worst performance of the season, the Grizzlies should be good today, and they can build their optimism on the fact that they defeated the Nuggets in both of their head-to-heads

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Despite the previews, Denver Nuggets were not very active during the last hours of the trade deadline. They have tried to put together an offer for Paul George, but they got confirmation that he wouldn't guarantee contract extension which made them give up on that. Even without him, they have a big chance to reach the play-off, since they are currently 8th and a win and a half ahead of their rivals, the Blazers. The Kings are actually right behind them, but by trading DeMarcus Cousins, they have eliminated themselves from the race. 

They played their first game in Sacramento where they surprisingly lost on Thursday, but luckily for them, they welcomed horrible Nets the next night, and won 129-109. 

- We definitely had great flow of the ball, fast transition and shot well. Everyone were having fun. Everyone passed the ball. Everyone tried to play team basketball - said Gary Harris, who lead his team with 25 points (9/15) which is the highest in his career. 

The Nuggets hit 50.5% attempts and recorded 32 assists, and they scored 14/31 three pointers. With Harris, their most efficient player was Wilson Chandler with 24 points (11/21) while Danilo Gallinari scored 20 points (8/13) with 8 rebounds. 

- It was a good win, even though we played two back-to-back nights, we had good energy. The boys held together, passed the ball and scored. We were good in defense as well - said Mason Plumlee who recorded 12 points, 12 rebounds and 8 assists from the bench. 

The fact that they will be playing 5 of the next 8 games at home could help the Nuggets in keeping their 8th position, their home record is 16-13 this season. Tonight they will welcome the Memphis Grizzlies who can finish the season in 4th position, but also the 7th so there is no room for relaxing. 

David Fizdale's team was not great on Friday when they lost 102-92 at Indianapolis. The final result does not show just how bad the Grizzlies appeared on the court, and they can be happy they didn't suffer a bigger defeat. The +- of the starting lineup, which ended at -57, tells us enough about their performance. 

- We played like it was a pre-season game. There were moments in which we played good basketball, but there were too many of those in which we looked like we didn't care - said coach Fizdale, whose team scored only 35 out of 84 attempts and lost 50-39 in rebounds. 

The Grizzlies will not win a lot of games in which their best scorer (Troy Daniels) scored only 13 points. Marc Gasol scored 12 points (5/15), and Mike Conley scored only 10 points (5/9). 

We can expect a much better performance from them tonight, when they will face one of the best defenses of the league. The Grizzlies won both of their head-to-heads this season, including the one played at Denver in early February when they won 119-109.