Peyton Watson makes like Aaron Gordon, as Nuggets smoke Grizz

DENVER—The Denver Nuggets rolled the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday night 142-105, behind a perfect Nikola Jokic triple-double and some strong contributions from Peyton Watson.

Jokic, notched his third career perfect shooting (from the field) triple-double and second perfect shooting (from anywhere) stat-stuffing feat. He checked out in the third quarter for good of Denver’s blowout, tallying 26 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists on 11-of-11 from the field and three-of-three from deep. It was Jokic’s 116th career triple-double, fourth-most in NBA history.

While Jokic is tearing apart the league’s record books, what’s more notable at least in the present is Watson’s spot start. The second-year UCLA forward got his first start of the season, filling in for Aaron Gordon who is recovering from injuries sustained during a dog attack.

Watson took a career-high 14 shots, 10 from three and tallied his first-ever 20-point game, adding on five boards and two assists.

“For him (Malone) to trust me,” Watson said. “To come out and start for the reigning champs gives me a lot of confidence. Malone is my guy and he has done a lot for my game and hopefully, I can return that.”

As of late Watson had seen his role increase, becoming the de facto sixth man at the moment. His athleticism, aggressive defense and willingness to do the dirty work have caught the eye of head coach Michael Malone.

“Peyton has been in the rotation, he’s been closing games for us at times,” Malone said. “So I think he knows that we have confidence and belief in him and let’s be honest, Peyton Watson is a huge part of our future.”

More impressive is Watson’s shining night came against All-Star and reigning Defensive Player of the Year Jaren Jackson Jr., whom he held to 5-of-14 shooting with just four boards.

“He’s been defensive player of the year, an all star and those are things that I strive to do,” Watson said. “It definitely inspires me to go out there and do that and inspires me to come out and play my hardest.”

Jackson showed Watson little respect, leaving him wide open from distance to test a kid who had only made 19 threes in his career.

“For him to go out there and you know play against an All-Star and have to guard him in the post. And then for him to handle how they were guarding him and we just told him at halftime and even in the huddle in the first half, ‘If you’re open shoot the ball, but if they’re not guarding you don’t feel like you have to stand in the corner. Cut move without and get on the rim.'”

Watson’s has quickly turned into a key piece for Denver. Playing only 405 minutes of college ball and 186 minutes last season, a lot of Denver’s hopes to repeat were going to be reliant on a relatively unknown. Sure he had a nice few nights at the end of last season and was strong in the Summer League but the Nuggets were counting on Watson to replace parts of what Bruce Brown and Jeff Green did a year ago.

“These are growing opportunities. Last year in the season, he showed the potential and this year obviously we’ve made a full commitment to playing him and Julian (Strwather) and I think Peyton’s learning curve and growth are just at a rapid rate right now,” Malone said. “Initially it was Peyton as a defender, and now you’re getting Peyton as a complete basketball player. He’s making plays for people, he’s knocking down shots, he’s attacking in transition on top of that, he’s defending on the other end.”

“He started earning the minutes and earning the trust. So now he gets a start when Aaron is out and he’s closing games like he did in Brooklyn,” Malone said. “And the sky’s the limit the kid has so much potential, and I think he has so much room for continued growth. That makes it really exciting to see where Peyton was a year ago and where he is now and then to look into the future and see where he’s going to be and it’s going to be a big part of our franchise as we move forward.”

Watson wasn’t actually supposed to spell for Gordon on Thursday. Malone revealed he had another plan but that it changed, and said he wasn’t planning for Watson to be the go-to Gordon replacement while the forward recovers. One game of action later and Malone might have to rethink his lineup for the next few weeks.

“You get a chance and go out there and play like that, you make my job that much harder,” Malone remarked. “When you think about Payton’s talent and his potential and the fact that we’re going to rely upon him for many years, nights like tonight are going to speed up that process. So proud of him, he was he was terrific.”

The Nuggets are back on Friday, playing again at home against one of the west’s top teams—the Thunder.