Memphis vs Denver: The Nuggets effectively exploit the opponent’s defensive weakness

Memphis have had an uneven start to the season, beating Golden State and then losing heavily to Miami. Will Taylor Jenkins’s team be able to cope with Denver on their home field? There are several betting options to choose from.

The Grizzlies are a role model. It seems like not long ago, this was a slow defensive team with Mike Conley and Marc Gasol, but now it’s beating Golden State in the wild-card round and making the playoffs with Ja Morant, Dillon Brooks, and Brandon Clarke. Memphis have demonstrated that it is possible to rebuild without going down for years effectively.

The start of the new championship is not easy for the Bears. And the main reason, along with the injury to Dillon Brooks, is a change at the centre-back position. Steven Adams is a very different player from Jonas Valanciunas, who seems noticeably inferior to him. The Lithuanian is better than the New Zealander both on defense and, for example, on pick-and-rolls. Morant and Valanciunas were one of the league’s best combinations in terms of effective twos. Now Jenkins’ staff will have to find other options to score points.

So far, Memphis have three wins and three losses, though two of them are big ones. A home loss to Portland and a home loss to Miami.

Michael Malone seems to have admitted that there is no point in working with the offense until Jamal Murray returns from injury. What’s left to do? Go back to the tried-and-true defensive basketball that brought the Nuggets their first successes. The team quickly embraced the coach’s reasoning, started with four wins in 6 games, and ranked #1 defensive efficiency. Denver are allowing just 96.8 points per game so far. And on the road against Utah, the Nuggets got 122. In the other five meetings, they have been exclusively under 100. From Luka Doncic’s Dallas, they got 75.

It’s hard to imagine Steven Adams handling Nikola Jokic since Jonas Valanciunas has had problems with it time after time. This means Denver, who are off to a great start to the new season, will surely pick up another win. It’s unclear what Memphis can gain a key advantage here.

• Handicap 2 (+2.5) for 1.76;
• W2 for 2.10;
• Individual Total 2 Over 107.5 for 1.95.