Kentavious Caldwell-Pope could be the Denver Nuggets’ Batman as they go up against Bane on Friday in Memphis.

Grizzlies guard Desmond Bane stepped up in the season-opener, a 111-104 loss to New Orleans, on Wednesday in Memphis. With Ja Morant serving a league suspension, Bane scored a game-high 31 points. He made 5 of his 10 3-point attempts and all but one of his five free throws, adding five rebounds, five assists and a couple of steals.

“He’s a great player,” Caldwell-Pope said after the Nuggets practiced Thursday at Ball Arena. “He moves well without the ball, great catch-and-shoot guy, putting the ball on the floor and getting to the rim. So it’s just knowing personnel, being able to limit his touches and just try to play the best defense I can.”

Like the villain, Memphis’s Bane comes with some brute strength. He’s listed at 6-foot-5 and 215 pounds. Caldwell-Pope is just as tall but will give up more than pounds to the Grizzlies’ shooting guard.

“He’s such an impressive player. Strong,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “In transition, he’s a very aggressive drive coast-to-coast. If you don’t pick him up high, he’s going to shoot the pull-up 3 from literally like 40 feet. He’s got deep range. They run catch-and-shoot plays for him, so you got to make sure you’re taking away his air space and limit his separation. If you want to guard any good player in this league, you got to make them feel you. Most importantly, you’ve got to be aggressive, be physical, make them feel you and limit his separation, but it definitely starts in transition.”

Transition defense was an issue in Denver’s season-opener. The box score shows 20 fast-break points for the Lakers in that game. After a film review, Malone said that number, in his eyes, was closer to 30. While Memphis won’t have Morant, one of the league’s more menacing players in transition, that’s something that’s got to be cleaned up for Denver’s first road game of the season.

“We gave up five coast-to-coast drives. That’s where LeBron was most effective. It wasn’t off turnovers,” Malone said. “We only had 12 turnovers, but (it was) off of rebounds, made shots. Not getting back, not stopping the ball, not loading to the ball. Our halfcourt defense was pretty good. It can be better, but our transition defense was not where it needed to be.”

Playing alongside Morant for most of last season, Bane took 16.2 shots per game. Wednesday, he took 22 shots.

“Just more opportunity and he’s more aggressive,” Caldwell-Pope said when asked if he noticed any difference in Bane’s approach without Morant. “They’re looking for him to shoot the ball as much as possible. He’s got a green light over there.”

Caldwell-Pope was one of Denver’s top scorers Tuesday, putting up 20 points on 12 shots. But his defense is where he can be the Nuggets’ hero, especially Friday in Memphis.

“I’m still that leader as far as like on the defensive end and just being that leader for my teammates,” Caldwell-Pope said. “But I feel like now that we’ve been through the wire, we’ve won, came out on top, I feel like the guys know what it takes and how to prepare themselves. For me, it’s just trying to keep reminding them how we won it (and) what’s going to win us another one.”

Injury report

The Grizzlies will be missing much more than Morant on Friday night.

Center Steven Adams will miss the game with a PCL sprain, while forwards Santi Aldama (ankle sprain) and Brandon Clarke (Achilles tendon repair) will also miss the game. Guard Luke Kennard is in the league’s concussion protocol and will not play.

Vlatko Cancar (left knee surgery) and Jay Huff (rib fracture) will both miss the game.They’re the only players on Denver’s injury report.