Nuggets-Trail Blazers Grades: Denver's starters slay

The Denver Nuggets won for the first time in Portland since Feb. 27, 2013, behind 27 points from Nikola Jokic who dominated the matchup against his former teammate Jusuf Nurkic.

Here’s how each Nuggets player performed.

Jamal Murray (B-) – Denver’s starting point guard had a quiet game. He scored seven points and shot just 3-10 from the field and 1-5 from three. But Murray did a good job of finding Jokic on offense and even though he committed three turnovers (one or two of which were unforced), he was able to run the Nuggets’ offense effectively and put his teammates in the right spots. Murray had his worst shooting night in the midsts of a red-hot December where he’s shot above 50 percent from three.

Gary Harris (A+) – Harris was bothered a bit by an elbow injury that held him out of Denver’s Wednesday night loss to Minnesota but was a crucial ingredient to the Nuggets’ win. Harris scored 17 points on a clean 7-12 shooting and all of his buckets came in the paint. Part of the reason why he kept things close to the rim may have been because of his banged-up elbow but Harris was in attack mode tonight. He also helped limit C.J. McCollum to 15 points on 8-15 shooting.

Wilson Chandler (A+) – Tonight, Chandler pieced together maybe his best game of the season. Chandler has been a rock for Denver on the defensive end of the floor this year and again played that role in Portland. But he was great on offense as well. Chandler realized from the game’s opening tip that he had a big mismatch with Jake Layman guarding him and was able to get to the rim with ease. He shot the ball with confidence and finished with 21 points. Chandler’s biggest bucket of the night came on a three-point play early in the fourth quarter after the Trail Blazers closed to within 10 and Denver’s offense was sputtering.

Mason Plumlee (A+) – What can you say about the job Plumlee has done as of late? Tonight, he controlled the paint on defense and registered five blocks, at least two of which came on Nurkic. Plumlee also played within himself on the offensive end of the floor and finished with eight points on 4-7 shooting. He played just six minutes against Portland the first time these two teams faced each other but was Denver’s anchor tonight. Plumlee was a key factor in holding the Trail Blazers to just 85 points.

Nikola Jokic (A+) – After scoring just six points on 2-9 shooting against Portland in November, all eyes were on Jokic and how he’d perform in the two teams’ second meeting of the season. Jokic showed out in the first half and his 18 points over the game’s first two quarters were as many as the Trail Blazers’ starters scored combined. He took tonight’s matchup with Nurkic personally, scored 27 points, and played with an edge that you rarely see from the Serbian. The highlight of Jokic’s night was his fifth dunk of the season where he blew-by Nurkic off the bounce and jabbed his former teammate with an elbow on the way to the hoop.

Will Barton (B) – Barton was coming off his two worst games of the season but played much better tonight. The sixth-man finished with 12 points on 4-8 shooting. Barton was 1-3 from distance and didn’t force his shot like he had against the Thunder and Timberwolves.

Trey Lyles (A) – Lyles had a nice stretch late in the second quarter where he recovered on the weakside to force a Portland turnover and then hit a three on the other end. He played great post defense in the third quarter while guarding Nurkic and was again effective on the offensive end. Lyles finished with 10 points and nine rebounds. He continues to impress in his role off the bench.

Torrey Craig (A) – The Nuggets’ two-way player came off the bench for the first time in his now four-game stint with Denver in December and only played 11 minutes. But when he was on the floor, Craig brought that same intensity that he has when in the starting lineup. Craig again played great defense tonight.

Denver has a tough back-to-back Saturday in Golden State before returning home for a Dec. 26 matchup versus the Utah Jazz.