All five Denver Nuggets starters scored in double figures and Emmanuel Mudiay had a game-high 23 points, but it wasn’t enough to stop the ageless Vince Carter and Marc Gasol. Carter found Gasol on a tip-in play at the buzzer to hand the Nuggets a 108-107 loss in Memphis. Carter, 39, scored 20 points off the bench and Gasol had 19 to lead the Grizzlies.
Denver took a one-point lead with under seven seconds to play after Gary Harris forced a turnover on Mike Conley, trapping the Memphis guard along with Mudiay. Mudiay would convert the turnover into points, but Denver would miss on two golden opportunities from there.
Memphis turned the ball over again when James Ennis pass the ball out of bounds, but Nikola Jokic could not control the inbounds pass from Mike Miller and Conley took the ball back the other way. Again, Conley appeared to turn the ball over but Mudiay just barely put a finger on it as it traveled out of bounds, giving Memphis one final chance with 0.7 seconds on the clock. From there, Carter found Gasol in the paint for a tip-in and the win off the in-bounds pass.
The loss caps a five-game road trip for Denver in which the Nuggets went 2-3. They return home to Pepsi Center on Thursday to face the Warriors. Nine of Denver’s next 12 games are at home.
