5 takeaways from the Nuggets' and Trail Blazers' "instant classic" Game 3

PORTLAND — Where do you even start? There are a million different entry points into whatever that was on Friday night at the Moda Center in Portland. So much happened, Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts could barely recall specifics.

“I have no idea what happened in the first half or the second half or the first three overtimes,” said Stotts after Portland’s 140-137 win. “Rodney Hood came in and played great. It was a hell of a game. I’ve never been involved in a game like that, regular season or playoffs.”

“Instant classic,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said.

Hood? The crowd? Jamal Murray catching fire then committing a crucial gaffe? CJ McCollum’s silky smooth game? Denver’s staunch defense on Lillard? The LED wristbands? (OK, not the LED wristbands, though they are the greatest invention since Comcast’s voice controlled remote control.)

The total minutes are probably the best place to begin, to try and make sense of the quadruple-overtime thriller that ended in heartbreaking fashion for Denver. Specifically, the total minutes Denver’s 7-foot, 260-pound center played.

1. Nikola Jokic: 64 minutes and 58 seconds. No, this is not a misprint.

With 53 seconds left in the first quarter, Jokic went to the bench for the first and only time in Game 3. He returned at the 9:52 mark of the second quarter and, incredibly, played the rest of the way. The 64 minutes and 58 seconds he logged were the fourth-most ever in a playoff game.

“When I rode him that fourth quarter, I had no idea it was going to go into four more overtimes,” Malone said. “As we’re going along, I’m saying, ‘Wow, how are we going to get through this one?’ So I apologized to him in the locker room. And he doesn’t complain. He said, ‘You don’t have to apologize.’ But I’ve never seen that. 64:58. That is a real number. That is a real number.”

Jokic was magnificent like he has been throughout the first postseason of his career. He had 33 points, made 13 of 25 shots, grabbed 18 rebounds and handed out 14 assists. Denver outscored Portland by five points in his 65 minutes on the floor. It got outscored by eight points in the three minutes he sat, which only made it more cruel when Jokic missed a free throw to tie the game late in the fourth overtime.

“The guy was incredible,” Malone said. “And I was just hoping we could win the game, and I could get him home and get him some rest. But it just didn’t go our way.”

As Jokic’s on-court time stretched into an-episode-of-Game-of-Thrones territory, the jokes started to fly about his conditioning. Jokic might not look like an Adonis, but as Friday showed, he doesn’t deserve to be the butt of so many jokes.

“They were talking about, ‘I’m not in shape.’” Jokic said. “I’m in really good shape. I don’t know what they’re talking about. Even when I came here, I was maybe a little bit chubby. There is no difference even now. I’m feeling good, to be honest, out there.”

Other eye-popping minutes totals from Friday’s game, which drank six beers, did a shot of whiskey, a shot of tequila then capped the night off with a shot of Jagermeister:

• CJ McCollum: 60 minutes, 1 second
• Damian Lillard: 57 minutes, 59 seconds
• Enes Kanter: 56 minutes, 28 seconds
• Jamal Murray: 55 minutes, 3 seconds
• Gary Harris: 49 minutes, 31 seconds

2. Jamal Murray has got game, but to go to the next level, he needs to become a better ball handler.

It’s been an issue for him all season. Remember way back in October when Lonzo Ball took his lunch money?

The second overtime was the Nuggets’ best chance to close out Game 3. With less than 20 seconds left, they had the ball up two. All Murray had to do was get it up court, absorb a foul and go to the line, where he’s a career 87.9% shooter. Instead, Murray allowed McCollum to reach in, deflect the ball and regain possession for Portland.

Muray is not your classic point guard, and that’s fine with the way Denver’s roster is configured. But during these situations, he has to be rock solid. It was a shame the Nuggets couldn’t ice the game here. Murray, playing on a gimpy right leg, was spectacular otherwise on the offensive end. He had 34 points and went into ninja mode in the second quarter when Denver was in trouble. Murray couldn’t quite close the deal, though.

“This was a great experience for our young guys,” Malone said. “So many teaching moments for Jamal Murray. The turnovers. That kind of stuff. The best time to teach is after a tough loss. So many teachable moments, and that’s what we’re going to use this for. And I know on Sunday afternoon, we’ll leave it all out there again.”

Tightening up his handle and playing better on-ball defense should be Murray’s two main focuses this summer.

3. CJ McCollum — not Damian Lillard — has been Portland’s best player in the series.

McCollum is impossibly smooth. He’s rarely the quickest player on the court but still figures out a way to slither by defenders. He’s an expert at changing speeds, lulling defenders to sleep with a stutter step then darting the opposite way.

McCollum had 41 points. He handled the shotmaking load as the Nuggets held Lillard (28 points on 10-of-28 shooting) mostly in check. Torrey Craig and Gary Harris have done an excellent job splitting time on Lillard. Denver’s aggressive pick-and-roll defense, which features its bigs trapping Lillard before he can head downhill, has also helped slow him.

So far in this series, the gulf in talent between Denver’s first- and second-best players has been much wider than the gulf in talent between Portland’s first- and-second best players.

4. Will Barton, perking up.

It’s been a nightmare season for Barton. In the second game of the season, he went up for a layup and felt a pop in his midsection that required surgery. Barton didn’t return until mid-January, and since he’s returned, he’s lacked his usual explosion. Barton was benched midway through Denver’s first-round series against San Antonio and has struggled versus Portland — at least until the second half of Friday’s game.

Barton finally started to get some shots to go down. He hit three 3s, a significant development for a player who came into Game 3 6 of 29 from downtown in the postseason. He also had nine rebounds, two steals and three blocks. He impacted the game in all facets, even if there were some rough moments mixed in. Barton logged 39 minutes, a staggering amount for a bench player.

5. This one stings, but the Nuggets can hold their heads high.

Oh man.

In four-overtime loss to Blazers, Nuggets led…
– 100-98 with 1:05 left in regulation
– 109-107 with 9 seconds left in 1OT
– 129-127 with 9 seconds left in 3OT
– 136-135 with 19 seconds left in 4OT

— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) May 4, 2019

“There were a couple moments where I thought we had the game,” Malone said. “… It was almost like, ‘When is this game going to end?’ It kept on going and going and going.”

The Nuggets had so many chances to close it out, but they could never put their foots on the Trail Blazers’ throat and finish it once and for all. In the final overtime, Hood, who was only in the game because Moe Harkless was cramping up, hit some big shots to push Portland ahead. All of it felt like a fever dream.

The Nuggets can at least take solace in the fact that their 24-year-old and 22-year-old cornerstones showed out. Jokic and Murray were fantastic, even if both committed crucial errors late. It’s hard to fault Jokic for missing the free throw in the final overtime considering long he’d been in the game. Murray’s turnover late in the second overtime and suspect defense were more worrisome.

Still, as Malone said afterward, Denver had nothing to be ashamed of: “If I was at home watching this game tonight, I would’ve been glued to my T.V. This was a great basketball game. It wasn’t pretty at all times. But the effort, the competitive spirit from both groups was outstanding.”

The Nuggets fought hard in a hostile environment. Their Game 4 outlook is bleak with how much energy they burned trying to steal a win Friday, but zoom out a little bit and there was a lot to like even if Denver didn’t get its desired result.