DENVER – It’s not clear if Ja Morant saw the tip of the cap from Denver coach Michael Malone after the Memphis star regularly blew by the Nuggets in the Grizzlies’ 122-118 on Friday at Ball Arena.

“The guy is amazing,” Nuggets star Nikola Jokic said of his Memphis counterpart.

“He was really good. He controlled the game. He was pushing the pace.”

Morant made 15 of his 26 shots and led all scorers with 38 points. He made 13 of his 20 two-point field goals and added six rebounds and six assists.

“He had a great game,” Malone said. “He’s a great player, so you tip your cap to not only Ja Morant but the entire team. There’s a reason they’re third in the Western Conference.”

Will Barton III lead the Nuggets with 27 points and added eight assists and five rebounds, while Nikola Jokic recorded his fourth straight triple-double with 26 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds. Monte Morris (17), Aaron Gordon (16) and Jeff Green (15) made sure all five starters scored at least 15 points. Denver’s bench scored 17 points in total with 15 of those points coming in the first half.

Bryn Forbes scored nine of those bench points in his Denver debut but only hit 4 of 13 shots from the field.

“I know I’m better than I played tonight,” Forbes said. “It’s kind of frustrating for me just personally, but yeah, I think I’ve got a lot more in me than that.”

DeMarcus Cousins, on the first of his 10-day contract, was in uniform but did not play.

Memphis made 7 of its first eight attempts from 3-point range and led 37-28 after the quarter behind 12 points from Morant. The Grizzlies stretched the lead to 12 in the second quarter and led by five at halftime after the Nuggets closed the half on a 10-3 run. Morant scored 23 of his points in the first half.

“It seemed like at times they were playing at a different speed than us,” Malone said.

Morant drove for layups of Memphis’s first two possessions in the second half, but the Nuggets answered with a 17-4 run fueled by Barton and Jokic to take a six-point lead in the middle of the third quarter. The Grizzlies closed the third and started the fourth on a 15-1 run that gave the visitors a 12-point lead early in the fourth.

“You’re not scoring. You’re not getting stops. It was our inability to score or turn the ball over that fueled their break,” Malone said of the stretch from a mostly bench unit.

“None of those guys are out there trying to miss shots. I thought they played hard. It just didn’t go our way.”

Denver closed within four with a minute left after Gordon hit consecutive 3-pointers, but Jaren Jackson Jr. hit Memphis’s only 3 of the second half on the other end to effectively put the game away with 41.4 points.

“We make a valiant effort to try to get back in the game, make plays, but just too little, too late.”

The Nuggets will finish a six-game homestand Sunday against the Pistons.

“We’re 3-2 on this homestand. We’ve lost to Utah and Memphis – two really good teams,” Malone said. “My hope is that before we go on a six-game-in-nine-nights trip, we’re going to find a way to finish this homestand 4-2. I’d feel really good about that.”