George Karl admitted he didn't sleep much Monday night.The insomnia was in part because of the emotions of the immediate aftermath of the trade that sent Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups and two others to the New York Knicks.
But more so, it was the future that was keeping Karl awake.
Specifically, without Anthony's 25 points per game, how were the Nuggets going to be able to score?
For Tuesday night, at least, the nine players remaining on the Nuggets roster proved Karl's fears to be unjustified.
The new-look Nuggets — nine-men strong — routed the Memphis Grizzlies 120-107 at the Pepsi Center in the first game of the post-Melo era behind 26 points from guard J.R. Smith and 21 from point guard Ty Lawson, the two players thrust into the starting lineup after the trade.
Lawson also led an impressive defensive performance, with six steals. Memphis, who beat the Nuggets with their former full roster on Feb. 13, committed 21 turnovers.
Denver scored 20 of their points on fastbreaks and maintained a double-digit lead from midway through the second quarter.
"We'll be all right. We still got nine guys that are here. It's not like they shipped everybody," forward Kenyon Martin said Tuesday morning. "We still got guys that are here. We still got guys that have been in the playoffs with us. As long as I put that uniform here every night, I'm going to make sure these guys show up and play."
Ray Felton, Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari and Timofey Mozgov, four players the Nuggets acquired in the trade with New York, arrived in Denver in time to watch the game from a luxury suite and were introduced to the home crowd in the fourth quarter, but were unable to play. The Nuggets also traded for Minnesota center Kosta Koufos on Tuesday.
Tuesday's win against the Grizzlies was important to morale a day after the biggest trade in team history, but also for practical purposes. The Nuggets entered the game in the No. 7 spot in the Western Conference, only one game ahead of the Grizzlies.
"This is an important game to (Memphis), and I think our guys realize it is an important game to us, along with the rest of the week," Karl said before the game. "It's not easy."
The Nuggets host the Boston Celtics on Thursday before playing to Portland on Friday.
By then, Karl will have five new players to add to the lineup, including another point guard in Felton and a trio of big men. For now, though, Karl must be pleased with the nine players he had available against Memphis, though only eight of them played. Reserve Melvin Ely spent the entire game on the bench.
"The exciting thing about this basketball team is you have a lot of young guys that have to get better, and you've got some veteran guys that are going to have to take the responsibility of leadership and the responsibility of getting better with touches and decisions," Karl said.
