Jusuf Nurkic gets his revenge, Trail Blazers handle Nuggets

The Denver Nuggets meeting with the Trail Blazers at the Moda Center in Portland was not a normal divisional matchup.

This game meant so much more.

Denver was in a do-or-die matchup with the Trail Blazers where a win confirmed the future potential of the Nuggets and a loss would signify that Denver was further away from contending than originally thought. Denver needed to come out and prove to themselves that they belonged in the Western Conference playoffs.

Instead, Denver ran out of gas watched their playoff chances fall away to the tune of a 122-113 loss.

The first quarter was all about the battle of the Balkan centers. Both Nikola Jokic and Jusuf Nurkic were everywhere to start the game and were doing their best to one-up the other. Jokic hit a three and Nurkic responded with an and-1. Jokic dropped a perfect pass from the high-post and Nurkic follows with power post move for a bucket. The start of the highly-anticipated matchup between Nurkic and Jokic lived up to the hype to start, as Jokic finished the first quarter with nine points, two rebounds, two assists, and one block while Nurkic had 13 points, four rebounds, and two assists of his own.

Both Portland and Denver were playing at a torrid pace but the Nuggets were able to take a lead of 35-32 into the second quarter despite the Trail Blazers having six offensive rebounds lead to 11 second-chance points. Denver shot 62 percent from the field in the first quarter behind 10 points from Wilson Chandler and outscored Portland 7-3 from the foul line.

The second quarter was all Kenneth Faried and Will Barton. Within the first two minutes of the second quarter Faried had already accumulated nine rebounds and was the remedy for the six offensive rebounds Denver gave up in the first quarter. Faried looked like the “Manimal” of old. He was scoring off his own misses with a thunderous put-back dunk and was playing with energy that completely altered the momentum of the game.

The second that Faried’s energy began to fall off it was former Trail Blazer, and self-proclaimed “baller”, Will Barton who stepped up his energy that allowed Denver to stay on the gas and hold onto their lead. Barton came in and immediately added ten points for Denver.

Denver led by as much as seven points but Nurkic came in and Portland proceeded to go on a 10-0 run leading to a timeout being called from the sideline by Michael Malone. The Nuggets came out of the timeout with an 8-0 run of their own but Nurkic was too much for Denver as he put up 21 points, eight rebounds, and two assists in the first half while Jokic paced Denver with 11 points, five rebounds, and five assists as Denver went into halftime down 64-62.

The third quarter was pure survival for Denver. The Nuggets were playing mostly isolation basketball and had abandoned their high-motion and lightning-quick ball movement style of play entirely. Every break was going the Trail Blazers direction and Denver could not scrape together anything that resembled positive momentum.

Thankfully, a Harris steal that led to a breakaway dunk and a three that kept Denver’s hopes alive but Lillard hit a three from 30-feet out that allowed Portland to carry a lead of 95-85 into the final quarter of the game. Denver’s’ playoff hopes were hanging on by a thread and Denver desperately needed a strong start to the fourth quarter.

Instead, Denver continued to look lost as their inexperience showed. Back to back three-point shots from Chandler and Murray gave Denver life but the Nuggets had absolutely no chance to stop the Trail Blazers 1-5 high pick and roll as Nurkic and McCollum dissected Denver’s defense.

Denver fought and got the deficit as low as six but did not have what it took to beat the Trail Blazers. The effort was there but they simply did not have the roster to stop Portland in the pick and roll and did not hit enough shots to make up the difference.

Ultimately Nurkic and McCollum, who finished with 39 points, five rebounds, and three assists, were too much for Denver to handle and the Nuggets playoff hopes are nearly gone. Portland won 122-113.

Footnotes

The matchup between Jokic and Nurkic was as explosive as hoped but ultimately Nurkic won the battle with 33 points 16 rebounds and two assists.

Jokic finished with 17 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists of his own.

Plumlee had what seemed to be his worst game as a member of the Denver Nuggets posting zero points, two rebounds, three assists, and two turnovers in 16 minutes and was a -15 in the game.

Playoff Outlook

With Denver’s loss to Portland, it’s now the Nuggets that are a full game behind in the standings, which is essentially a two-game lead for Portland being that they own both tiebreakers over the Nuggets.

It is going to take a sizable winning streak for Denver to regain the final playoff spot in the Western Conference and their playoff hopes have nearly vanished with the loss in Portland.

What’s Next

Denver continues their five-game road trip with a Friday night game in Charlotte against the struggling Hornets.