The Portland Trail Blazers went into Ball Arena in Denver on Saturday night riding a strong ending to the regular season and walked out with a 1-0 lead in their first-round NBA playoff series with the Nuggets.
The Blazers overcame the size advantage Denver took advantage of early to win 123-109, thanks to some smoking hot three-point shooting and a strong second-half defensive performance that helped Portland build a solid lead in the second half and hold on to win.
Damian Lillard said it was important for the Blazers to set the tone in the series.
“I think anytime you start a series on the road you’re going into it thinking we need to at least win one,” Lillard said. “Heading back home we have to have at least one of those two. It’s a major statement to be able to get the first one … Getting the first one was really important. But it’s the first of four and it’s only going to get harder from here. ”
Lillard led the Blazers with 34 points and a career playoff-high 13 assists. CJ McCollum added 21 points and Carmelo Anthony came off the bench to score 18 points, 15 in the first half.
Nikola Jokic led Denver with 34 points and 16 rebounds but managed just one assist. He averaged 8.3 during the season. Michael Porter Jr. scored 25 to go with nine rebounds.
The Blazers made 19 of 40 threes (47.5%) compared to 11 of 36 for Denver (30.6%). Furthermore, the Blazers finished with 29 assists.
“We passed the ball really well tonight,” Portland coach Terry Stotts said. “I think the looks that we got from three most of them came off of good passing. That was good to see.”
He also liked seeing the threes fall.
“We’re a three-point shooting team,” Stotts said. “We got 40 threes up. I thought, for the most part, they were good looks. And to honest, I think we could have shot the ball even better. I like the way we moved the ball and the quality of shots that we got.”
IT WAS OVER WHEN
The start of the third quarter didn’t go well for the Blazers. Gordon hit a three and then Facundo Campazzo made a three that gave the Nuggets a 69-60 lead.
From that point on, the Blazers dominated. They trailed 71-62 before going on a 11-2 run. Lillard made a step-back jumper and then, following an Aaron Gordon dunk, McCollum hit a three. Nurkic delivered a three-point play and that led to Lillard hitting his own three. Denver called a timeout with 6:53 on the clock and 73-73 on the scoreboard.
“I was really proud of how resilient we were, how we stayed together, we didn’t panic,” Lillard said.
Portland continued the trend and led 96-86 heading into the fourth quarter after Simons hit a baseline jumper and then, following a defensive stop, Lillard nailed a shake-and-bake, step-back three at the buzzer.
The Blazers began the fourth quarter with a strong stretch and led 102-90 after McCollum made yet another three for Portland. Denver, however, managed to put together an 8-0 run to make the score 102-98 with 8:14 on the clock.
The Blazers answered with a run of their own and led 113-103 after Lillard hit a three that forced Denver to call a timeout with 4:37 to go.
From there, Portland maintained control of the game.
The Blazers held Denver to 48 points in the second half.
SHOWED UP AND SHOWED OUT
Lillard made just 10 of 25 shots but he had on 5 of 12 threes and scored 20 of his 34 points in the second half.
Jusuf Nurkic made 7 of 10 shots for 16 points and also racked up 12 rebounds and five assists.
“He took what the game gave him,” Stotts said. “He got some rebounds. He finished around the paint. Defensively, it’s a tough assignment you’re guarding most likely the MVP and you’re playing them straight. But I thought he competed and we needed him.”
Simons made 5 of 6 shots including 4 of 5 threes to finish with 14 points.
Anthony made 6 of 12 shots and 4 of 8 threes.
“He gave us the boost that we needed,” Stotts said.
Jokic made 14 of 27 shot attempts to reach 34 points. Nurkic said that the Blazers are fine with him shooting a lot, as long as they keep him from also being a potent playmaker.
“I think we feel more comfortable with him scoring 30 or 40 and try to lock in on those other guys to not have a decent game,” Nurkic said. “That’s a decent job.”
SHOWED UP AND FIZZLED
Norman Powell made just 3 of 11 shots from the field to finish with 10 points.
Enes Kanter played 15 minutes, but they were among his least productive 15 minutes as a Blazer. Kanter scored two points and had just four rebounds. That might sound harsh, but he had put up double-doubles in 15 minutes before.
On Denver’s side, Paul Millsap also came off the bench to play 15 minutes and scored just three points. But he did have three rebounds and four assists.
SERIES SCHEDULE
Game 1: Portland 123, Denver 109; Portland leads series 1-0.
Game 2: 7 p.m. Monday at Denver.
Game 3: 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Portland.
Game 4: 1 p.m. Saturday, May 29, in Portland.
Game 5: Tuesday, June 1, at Denver, time TBD (if necessary).
Game 6: Thursday, June 3, in Portland, time TBD ( (if necessary).
Game 7: Saturday, June 5, at Denver, time TBD ( (if necessary).
— Aaron Fentress | afentress@Oregonian.com | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook).
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