Tag:

Nikola Jokic

Portland Trail Blazers

Blazers run out of gas in Game 6. Nuggets win series 4-2.

by Miles DeCaro
written by Miles DeCaro

Coming off an emotional double overtime loss in Denver, the Blazers need to win tonight to keep their season alive.

10,000 fans cheered them on tonight for the most of this bizarre pandemic season in what could be the last Blazers game of the year.

Pre-game, Damian Lillard was given the 2020-2021 Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year award and which recognizes “the player deemed the best teammate based on selfless play, on- and off-court leadership as a mentor and role model to other NBA players, and commitment and dedication to team.” After his 55 point performance in Game 5 including scoring 17 of the teams 19 points in both overtime periods, it seemed all the more fitting.

Congratulations, Dame. This award is very well deserved.

First Quarter:

Michael Porter made news before the game by saying that he was going to get better shots and be more aggressive.



He wasn’t lying. On the first play of the game, he hit a 3. He would go on to hit his first 6 of the game. Not just first 6 shots, his first 6 three pointers en route to 22(!) first quarter points.

Not to be outdone, Damian Lillard didn’t miss his first shot until the 3:45 mark of the first and started 4-4. He finished the quarter with 12 points.

Despite Porter’s first quarter explosion, the Blazers led for the majority of the quarter and actually shot better as a team from the 3 point line in the quarter at 6-9 (.667) to the Nuggets 6-12 (.500).

Jokic picked up two quick fouls in the first 7 minutes including a sneaky attempt to wrap his arms under Nurkic to draw a foul on Nurk and get him out of the game. He got those types of calls in Denver, but not tonight on the road.

CJ continued to struggle from 3 but was very aggressive getting to the basket and finished the quarter 2-5 FG after hitting his first 2 shots.

Jokic gets an offensive foul at 9:24 trying to sneak a foul on Nurk build grabbing his arms and pulling through. He got the opposite call in Denver. He picks up his second foul at the 5:22 mark and Michael Malone immediately took him out.

Michael Porter continued to score at will to keep them afloat. The Blazers end the quarter with only a 4 point lead despite shooting over 65% from 3 in the quarter.

Heavy minutes for the starters of both teams in the first quarter. You wouldn’t expect anything less in an elimination game.

33-29 Blazers.

Jokic had 0 points, 3 assists and 2 rebounds. That’s seems like a win for Denver to only be down by 4.

Second Quarter:

The 2nd unit came in and held things down for the Blazers including a great back door play for a CJ two handed dunk. Good pass from Melo.



Jokic and Nurk continued to have their minutes matched by each coach and came back in together at the 10:30 mark. 2 fouls on Jokic. None on Nurk. That’s unusual this series as Nurk has seemed to constantly be in foul trouble.

Immediate whistle, but on Monte Morris.

Clear foul on Jokic that isn’t called. Tried to steal it from Nurk and got a lot of arm.


Melo with back to back buckets.  

Jokic’s first points at the 9 minute mark of the 2nd quarter. Weird.

Facundo Campazzo somehow got a definitive block on CJ. That may have been his first block in the NBA.



(Editor’s note: According to Basketball Reference, Facundo Campazzo somehow was credited with 14 blocks this season. He also had a famous block on Kobe Bryant in the Olympics) 

CJ continues to struggle from the 3 point line and finishes the have 2-8 from 3, but with 11 points after continuing to stay aggressive and attack the basket.

The good news is the rest of the team is on fire from 3.

Anfernee Simons had 3 including back to back bombs toward the end of the half.

The last minute of the half was very representative with no missed shots, a Porter dunk, Lillard layin, Jokic 3 pointer and tough step back 3 for Dame to finish the half.

This is fun.

68-61 Blazers.



MPJ led the Nuggets with 26 on 10-14 FG, 6-9 from 3pt. Wow.

Dame quietly has 19 on 7-11 fg and 3-5 from 3pt with 7 assists. Maybe we just expect that from him at this point.

8 man rotation for Blazers. Heavy minutes for all 5 starters each over 18 minutes played in the half.

Nuggets going 10 deep, but all 5 starters played more than 17 minutes.

Third quarter:

The Blazers start the 2nd half quickly on a 5 point run to stretch the lead to 12.

Jokic seemed to know that he needed to pick things up for his team and started with back to back easy buckets in the lane. You don’t want him to get going.

Denver won’t go away though. Jokic won’t let them with 11 points in the first 6 minutes including a beautiful Tim Duncan style back shot to answer.

Campazzo and Powell both sit with 4 fouls at the 7:15 mark.

Jokic is putting the Nuggets in his back in the 3rd. 11 points in the first 6 minutes.

Back to back 3s for Lord Covington quell the rally temporarily.

back-to-back pic.twitter.com/jx9Gg2cQaJ

— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) June 4, 2021

I can’t believe there are still nets on these hoops because everyone is on fire!

4th foul on Nurkic at the 2 minute mark in the 3rd. All four happened in the 3rd quarter.  Clearly a charge.  Smh.  

 

5th foul on Campazzo at the 1 minute mark in the 3rd.

Monte Morris hits a running 3 pointer at the buzzer to end the quarter and this does not bode well.

101-98 Blazers.

Fourth Quarter:

Paul Millsap floater to start the quarter. Nuggets only down 1. Shot clock violation on first possession for the Blazers. Uh-oh. Not a good start.

Nuggets take the lead on a Monte Morris pull-up. 102-101 at 10:03.

Back to back vintage pull-up midrange jumpers for Melo. Fouled on the second by MPJ for the and-one. Vintage.



MPJ is falling back to earth after missing 2 straight 3s and a turnover.

A Monte Morris 3 cuts the lead to one at 7:06 and Jokic, Nurk and Norman Powell are coming back in for the closing stretch.

Jokic hits a Dame distance 3 to take the lead. That’s not fair.



Nurk gets a bucket off a pretty assist from Lillard.

Jokic misses a contested lay-in and the rebound is pushed out of bounds by JaMychal Green.

Refs call it off the Blazers and Stotts uses his challenge.

Call stands. Unbelievable.

Really bad time for a turnover by Nurk.

Dubious foul call on Norman Powell underneath His 5th. Green hits both.

5th foul on Nurk at 4:01.  Smh.  This isn’t looking good.  

Austin Rivers follows that with a 3 to stretch it to a 9 point lead after a 22-7 run.  Two straight Blazers’ turnovers and then Jokic hits a spinning 5 footer to stretch the lead to 11.

Lillard hits a layup. Next time down, he’s fouled on a 3. Hits all three. Does he still have some magic left?

119-113 with 2:30 to go.

Jokic finished the pick and roll in traffic for a 121-113 lead with 1:24 to go.

After a CJ McCollum layup, Jokic misses and the Nuggets get the offensive rebound. It leads to a Aaron Gordon corner 3.



Dame misses a pull-up 3. 1-6 in the 4th and 1-9 in the 2nd half.  He wasn’t the same after falling hard and hitting his head.  He also played 43 minutes tonight.  

Carmelo and Dame exit at the 30 second mark.

Is that the last time we see Carmelo in the NBA?

Another missed 3. Nuggets rebound.

126-115 Nuggets.


Great win for the Nuggets to close things out on the road. Too much Jokic in the second half. He played like he was the MVP of the league.

Blazers looked tired in the 4th and just ran out of gas. Despite setting an NBA record for most 3 pointers made in a playoff series with 35 and averaging 34.3 PPG Damian Lillard couldn’t summon the late game magic again.

Going into the offseason, this team has a lot of questions to answer.

Do you trade Nurk?

Or CJ?

Does Stotts get another season?

It’ll be interesting to see what Jody Allen, Neil Olshey and company come up with.

A first round exit is not what this team wanted at the beginning of this season, but it’s now happened 4 of the last 5 years.  .  .  .

Nevertheless, a big thank you to all the players and coaches for performing each and every night during a global pandemic. It was fun to watch and we appreciate you, no matter what happens.  

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Portland Trail Blazers

Blazers dominate Denver to tie series at 2-2

by Charlie Folkestad
written by Charlie Folkestad

After a frustrating Game 3 gave the visitors a 2-1 series lead in Portland, the Trail Blazers were back in action to try and even the tie on Saturday afternoon. 

They did so in impressive fashion. It was a team effort that paid massive dividends on both ends. Powell’s aggression, CJ’s shotmaking, and Nurk’s controlled chaos were the biggest differences from Game 3, but some timely shots from Melo and only 16 from Jokic certainly helped. 

Game Summary

Portland leapt out to a 23-13 lead in the first quarter behind 10 quick points from Norman Powell. Powell, who struggled in Game 3, had a pair of quick layups and canned two threes to give the Blazers an early edge. 

Jusuf Nurkic was also winning the early battle against his former teammate, Nikola Jokic. The likely MVP started 1-for-7 from the field, while Nurk began 4/4. Most importantly, the Bosnian Beast was able to match Jokic for minutes while committing only one foul in the first quarter. 

Denver’s second rotation cut Portland’s once-double-digit lead to two—led by five points in two possessions from JaMychal Green—but Portland’s starters would retake the advantage and lead 57-47 at the half. 

While Dame’s midrange game was not paying dividends, Portland’s defense was. Holding Jokic to 11 points on 12 shots was a huge advantage, especially given the 13 points from both Nurk and Norm. 

Powell would continue his impressive performance to start the third, and Portland’s lead swelled to 21 at the 9:05 mark. Jokic was still struggling as well, and although Dame’s shots weren’t falling, CJ picked up the slack offensively. 

In Game 3, Carmelo Anthony hit a clutch three to tie the game with about five minutes remaining. On Saturday, he swished his second triple to give Portland a 30-point advantage: 88-58 with 2:23 left in the third. CJ McCollum almost maintained the lead, but the buzzer beat his three at the end of the quarter. 

Nassir Little, Derrick Jones Jr., and CJ Elleby got their first Playoff minutes as they checked in with under five to go and an insurmountable lead. Keljin Blevins and TJ Leaf would follow soon after. 

Little’s rejection of JaVale McGee was the icing on the cake for a dominant Portland performance, a much-needed 30-point victory for a team that struggled in their last two performances. 

Game 5 on Tuesday will obviously be crucial, but this was a great way to tie the series at two games apiece. 

 

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Portland Trail Blazers

Portland’s pathetic defense and coaching costs them Game 2 in Denver

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda

On a night when the Portland Trail Blazers could have really put the Denver Nuggets in a deep hole in these playoffs their terrible defense and even worse coaching. The Blazers couldn’t use the record-breaking night from Damian Lillard to take a 2-0 series lead at Ball Arena in Denver.

Terry Stotts made some decisions tonight that would have had rookie middle school coaches scratching their head.

First Quarter Thoughts

As expected the Nuggets started out red hot and lept out to a double-digit lead in the first four minutes of the game. The Nuggets were hitting all their threes and Nikola Jokic was doing his typical MVP-type things. The Blazers did not have the energy early on to keep up with the Nugget onslaught.

Nate Tibbets and Michael Porter Jr decided to get into it a bit after a timeout. It’s not often that you see an assistant coach get into it with an opposing player. Both individuals were assessed technical fouls and we are allowed to move on with our lives.

Nikola Jokic is ridiculous. There is a shot that he could go for somewhere around 700 points tonight. Not sure if defensive mastermind, Terry Stotts, has it in his constitution to put together a game plan that can stop Jokic.

Logo Lillard knocks down a three from well, the logo. Anfernee Simons follows up with a three of his own and the Blazers are only down six to end the quarter. All things considered, things could have gotten way out of hand. It might have been a success only being down by around 11.

Second Quarter Thoughts

Lillard goes to the bench and the Blazers begin to turn the ball over again. The Denver defense has been solid tonight, but some of these turnovers by Portland are definitely self-inflicted. They are going to need to start taking care of the ball to keep things close.

Denver took advantage of the turnovers to push the lead up to 16 points. Michael Porter Jr. is really becoming that second and third option that the Nuggets needed.

I also don’t like how this game is being called both ways. The officials are keeping their whistles in their pockets on some stuff that would have been a foul in a Knicks-Heat series back in the 90s. I like letting them play, but not when dudes are getting knocked out into the covid riddled fans of Denver.

Carmelo Anthony and CJ McCollum knock down a couple of baskets to give the Blazers some hope. Paul Milsap decided he didn’t like to give hope to anyone and had back-to-back three-point plays to push the Nuggets’ lead up to 18 points.

It might just be time to take a shower and head off to bed.

Damian Lillard was not ready for bed and he did not care that the bus was warming up. He hit three straight threes to cut the Nuggets lead down to 11, 57-46 with 4:45 left in the half. It seems like it’s been since February since we’ve seen this Damian Lillard. It looks like that hamstring might finally be healthy.

Oh hey, Derrick Jones Jr. finally was allowed to get into the game. They needed someone to slow MPJ down.

Lillard hits another three and goes to the line for two free throws. The Denver lead is down to only eight points, 61-53. The man is absolutely ridiculous right now. He has 29 points for the game and 19 in — he hit another three before I could finish typing out this sentence.

My god! I have a feeling I’m going to need a cigarette after this and I don’t even smoke.

Lillard single-handed led the Blazers back within four points. it doesn’t matter where he is shooting from they are all going down. There is no better step-back three in all of the league.

The Nuggets were forced to call a timeout and Mike Malone got Denver to pick up the defensive intensity. This led to some big plays by the Nuggets who finished the half on a 9-0 run to take a 73-61 lead into halftime.

Third Quarter Thoughts

Portland is focusing on getting CJ and Nurk going to start the third quarter here. I like the move to get their other two main scorers going, but Lillard had the hot hand — it’s a damned if you do and a damned if you don’t situation. I’d like to see Norman Powell get going as well.

It might also be because Aaron Gordon is now on Damian Lillard.

The Nuggets have only outscored the Blazers by three points (8-5) so far here in the third quarter, but it feels so much more than that. I’m having flashbacks to that 94 series of the Sonics and Nuggets with how loud the crowd is getting into this. If I were the Blazers I’d start using Norm as the point guard and play both Dame and CJ off the ball. Make their defenders work a bit more.

Austin Rivers and Facundo Campazzo have both been pretty annoying in various ways this game. I’d love Campazzo if here were a Blazer, but he’s not.

Looking at the box score and Robert Covington has not taken a single shot this game. He’s not done much else either. Enes Kanter with only two points and three boards in this game as well. Only seven points combined from the Blazer bench. Eesh, Carmelo Anthony and Simons really need to get going.

Greg Anthony with the Bobby Heenan “ham and egger” reference. Damn, I miss that dude. His work at Royal Rumble 92 is some of the best wrestling commentary work of all time.

Campazzo gets a flagrant on CJ by just running into CJ. That is one of the worst calls I’ve seen in a game of bad calls. This leads to a four-point play by the Nuggets and they are back up by 17 points. Yet again, this is another really bad Blazer third quarter.

Threes by both Dame and CJ to end the quarter cut the Nugget lead down to 14.

That was not pretty whatsoever. I can’t wait until Stotts is fired and third quarters might not be something to be scared of anymore.

Fourth Quarter Thoughts

Portland had some nice defensive energy to start the fourth quarter. Nurkic with a big move to start the quarter, Powell attacking, and Nurkic fouls Milsap for no apparent reason… this was his fifth foul. About 15 seconds later he fouls out of the game.

No idea why Stotts didn’t pull Nurk out with so much time left and Jokic not on the court. Stotts makes some of the dumbest coaching mistakes I’ve ever seen in games. Nurk was playing well to start the fourth, but not to the point of leading the Blazers back on his own. He’s best served using that last foul on Jokic at some point in the final six minutes of the game after Kanter gets a rest.

Stotts then challenged the foul and it was unsuccessful. It was an obvious foul so the challenge was just a waste of the challenge and a timeout. The Nuggets of course go on a 9-0 to get the lead back up to 20 and ice the game.

Monte Morris, Shaquille Harrison, and Jokic finished off the game as the Blazers brought in the back end of the bench. At least Harry Giles, Nassir Little, and CJ Elleby got some playoff minutes. That’s about the only positive for the night.

Not a good look at all tonight.

Up Next

Game 3 is on Thursday at 7:30 PM — the series switches to Portland.

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Portland Trail Blazers

Damian Lillard and Gary Trent Jr. shoot Blazers past Denver Nuggets

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda

Tonight could have been a big let down. The Nuggets were missing five rotation players and had a tough game against the Spurs the night before. Throughout the year these are the types of games that have been tough for the Blazers and down the stretch it did get tough with Denver taking a lead late in the fourth

Key three pointers from Damian Lillard and Gary Trent Jr. put the Blazers ahead for good and Jusuf Nurkic ended the scoring with one of his many dunks on the night as the Blazers defeated the Denver Nuggets, 125-115.

The Blazers are now only a half game out of the eighth seed.

First Quarter Thoughts

Coming into the game I had some worries that Michael Porter Jr. was going to have a good game against pretty much whomever the Blazers threw out there against him. Porter has been one of the better players in these bubble games over the last week.

He rarely hit rim in the first.

Porter had 10 points on 4-7 shooting. He came off screens well, beat both Carmelo Anthony and Zach Collins to spots on the floor to knock down some jumpers. Porter did exactly what I thought he was going to do against Portland in this game.

Speaking of Collins… I know he’s just coming back from an injury and he’s not as polished of a player as Jusuf Nurkic, but Collins has been dreadful so far in the restart. He hasn’t been able to finish at the rim, his jumper is off, his defense is non-existent. I’d like to see Hassan Whiteside start along with Nurk, but then Portland doesn’t have any good bigs to come off the bench. Collins might need to be traded for something. A second round pick might be more valuable now.

Damian Lillard finally got off to a hot start tonight. He hit his first four threes tonight and had 14 points. The BLazers are going to need a big game from him tonight. Gary Trent Jr. did come in half way through the quarter and locked down Porter. MPJ did not score against him.

I continue to think that Trent is the future at the two for Portland.

Blazers were up 27-26 after one.

Second Quarter Thoughts

The Blazers really have something with Gary Trent Jr. He’s the Blazers best defender the Blazers have on the perimeter and the confidence in his shot is currently through the roof. Early in the season I thought Anfernee Simons was going to be the one pushing for a starting spot in the rotation, but Trent Jr. has started to make a case for him to start in the place of CJ or maybe he moves to the three.

Lillard and Trent Jr. are simply feeling it tonight for the Blazers. They are a combined 9-12 from three and have combined for 35 points in the half. Trent Jr. has not missed in the half and his defense has been spectacular. He was the main defender on MPJ again in the second and held him to two points. He might have had a block had not Porter used the rim to protect against the defender.

Bol Bol might be the smoothest big man to ever play the game. He’s got great range and can put it on the floor to get to the rim. But his defense could use a little help because Jusuf Nurkic murdered him on a dunk toward the end of the quarter.

The Blazers headed into the half up 62-49. This was one of the better halves I’ve seen the Blazers play all year. The Nuggets are missing five rotation players at the moment, but the same could be said for the Blazers throughout the first part of the season.

Third Quarter Thoughts

Jusuf Nurkic has played well since coming back from that gruesome broken leg. He’s rebounding well, passing well, his jump shot looks as good as it has in a while. The one thing that’s off and it’s probably just a comfort thing, but it is touch within a couple feet from the hoop. He’s missed quite a few layups and gimme hook shots. This will probably work itself out in the near future.

At least I hope so.

Lillard looks like he’s having a shoot around session in this game. He’s calm, collected, and determined tonight. If Dame can get into one of those stretches where it doesn’t matter who is guarding him, he’s going to put up 50 points. And there won’t be damn thing anyone can do it about.

In the third quarter any time the Nuggets have made a run Lillard responded with a big basket. Nuggets would cut the lead down to six or seven and Dame would just run it back up to 10-12.

Until the end of the quarter. Nuggets got some solid contributions from Bol Bol, Jerami Grant, and Tori Craig to cut the Blazer lead down to five at the end of the third.

Blazers lead 92-87.

Fourth Quarter Thoughts

The Nuggets continued their hot shooting and excellent ball movement ways. Michael Porter Jr. converted an old school three point play for the Nuggets to get their first lead in the game. Denver made some excellent halftime adjustments to start picking the Blazers apart on the offensive end. There is a lot of movement off the ball that is forcing the Blazers to switch. The Nuggets then either find an open cutter or takes advantage of a mismatch. Something they were not doing at all in the first half.

I have to say it again, Damian Lillard is outstanding. The man has no quit in his body. A team without him might get blown out at this point in the game. We’ve seen this happen in numerous games over the years. Damian Lillard flat out doesn’t allow the Blazers to fall apart. He’s going to fight until the very end, every night.

Gary Trent Jr. has guarded all five positions tonight. He’s got two steals, but the most impressive stat so far on the night is that his man is only 2-8 against him tonight for four points. In the fourth quarter he had two dagger three pointers to keep the Blazers safely out front.

Lillard had 45, Trent with 27, and Nurkic had 22.

Next Up

Blazers have a rare 10:00 AM game on Saturday against the Los Angeles Clippers.

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Portland Trail Blazers

Blazers destroyed by the Nuggets

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda
Damian-Lillard.jpeg

It’s that time of the year when the Portland Trail Blazers are on fire and better than anyone else in the league. They have big wins over the Lakers and Jazz in the last week and are now facing off against the team that they’ve had a lot of trouble with this year, the Denver Nuggets.

The Nuggets are without Blazer killer Paul Millsap and rookie sensation Michael Porter Jr.

If my coverage is a little sparse tonight and sometimes a bit incoherent I’m battling a nasty chest infection.

The Nuggets and Blazers are going to slug things out tonight by the looks of things. Hassan Whiteside has six points in the paint in the first six minutes of the game. Damian Lillard is in attack mode. He’s looking more to score in the paint over shooting threes tonight. He’s also working the midrange. He’s frustrating Nikola Jokic.

Jokic is wanting a foul called at almost every possession on each end of the court. He’s killing the Blazers tonight. He has 12 points already and Whiteside is doing a great job of guarding him and not fouling. He goes for the block high but is staying straight up when guarding him.

Nassir Little hits a three 10 seconds into his first trip out on to the court. His shot is looking so much better compared to a couple of months ago. He’s definitely the future at small forward.

Hassan goes to the bench and the staff are looking at his left knee or calf. Hopefully, it’s not his achilles. That would not be good for the Blazers. He’s been a big part of the Blazers’ success in the last few weeks. Actually the whole season. He’s been the anchor on defense. He should be considered for defensive player of the year.

Lillard is a man of fire tonight. He’s in attack mode. Going to church has brought the demons out of him.

The Blazers do not close out the quarter well and are down by nine, 37-28. This might need to be a game that Dame plays 40 minutes. Cj McCollum has started off slow again and had zero first-quarter points. Also to note that Whiteside was in pain on the sideline. Having his left knee or calf looked at.

The Nuggets are attacking the basket to start the second quarter and have three quick dunks.

The game has been really physical to start out and the Blazers have been getting hammered. CJ decides he’s going to shoulder check Torey Craig into the first row and gets the flagrant foul. So now we know the threshold for the rest of the game. I thought it was a good foul because Dame has been body checked two rows deep and Little was audibly slapped in the head on a layup and nothing has been called.

Oh boy, the Nuggets are just destroying the Blazers in most facets of the game tonight. They are getting killed on the defensive glass, Nuggets are getting to the glass at will, and that’s leading to wide open threes. They have held the Blazers to only six points nine minutes through the second quarter thus far. CJ is 1-7, Dame is 4-13, Melo is 0-3, the bench is a huge net negative.

Maybe they need to make a win-now trade but keep Whiteside.

Jerami Grant loves playing the Blazers, the Blazers do not love playing him.

CJ has come out aggressive, but so has Denver. The Blazers really needed to come out hot and cut this lead down, but the lead has extended to thirty in the first few minutes of the third. Carmelo Anthony fouls Jamal Murray pretty hard. Blazers definitely are not taking this lying down.

This is the worst I’ve seen the Blazers play all year. They had been hot and I think they might have got a little in their head so maybe this loss will set things going forward.

The Blazers offense did awaken in the third quarter, but their defense did not. Both teams scored 36 and the Blazers are down by 26 points at the end of the third quarter. Going to need a hell of a comeback in the fourth. Not sure they can outscore the Nuggets by 27.

Gary Trent Jr. is in double digits again. Anfernee Simons has been kind of cold recently. I think Trent is going to be a player in the league. A nice role player and will help out the Blazers big time next year.

The starters didn’t play the fourth quarter and the Blazers take on the Spurs on Thursday night at home.

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Portland Trail Blazers

Portland Trail Blazers blown out again by the Denver Nuggets, 114-99

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda
Terry-Stotts-e1572934604494.jpg

The budding rivalry is once again renewed tonight between the injury-riddled Portland Trail Blazers and the knicked up Denver Nuggets. The Blazers are coming off giving an ass whipping to the New York Knicks and the Nuggets are losers of three in a row.

Though the rivalry might have been short-lived as the Nuggets behind a big night from Jerami Grant blew out the Blazers, 114-99.

The Blazers needed to get off to a hot start tonight and boy have they. Hassan Whiteside has 11 points and a three pointer made already in the first six minutes of the game and Carmelo Anthony put in a quick five points as well.

The Nuggets are making a three every minute to start the game. It’s good to see that the Blazers have not shored up the perimeter defense hasn’t improved at all with Kent Bazemore getting starter minutes. But he can’t guard the entire length of the three point line all by himself. Nikola Jokic is bruising up the Blazers on the interior too. Terry Stotts decides to play both Whitside and Skal Labissiere at the same time. Jokic has killed them inside and outside since they’ve both been on the floor.

CJ McCollum goes to the bench and both Anfernee Simons and Gary Trent Jr. join Damian Lillard in the backcourt to end the quarter. The Blazers might want to take a look at Jamal Crawford and play him a few minutes a game. At least Jusuf Nurkic is close to coming back.

The Blazers end the first quarter down 33-25. A lot of great effort to start the quarter, but the lack of depth really showed as it went on. Portland doesn’t have anyone like Jerami Grant to come off the bench to play all three areas of the floor.

The Nuggets start the 2nd on a 10-2 run, Michael Porter Jr. took offense to Melo destroying him on the block by knocking down a couple of three point shots.

Blazers take a much needed time out and come back on fire. A couple of threes by CJ and some attacks by Melo and the Blazers go on a 10-2 run themselves to get back within seven points again. Carmelo had a gorgeous steal of a Porter pass that he took coast to coast for a layup.

Stotts decides to take Anthony out when the Blazers cut the Nuggets lead down to three and a few seconds later the lead is back to eight. Lillard is ice cold right now. He’s 0-5 from three and he’s forcing things. The offense in the second half should flow through Whiteside and Antony in the second half. The Blazers trail at the half by 9, 62-53.

The Blazers came out hot to start the third quarter and have upped the defensive intensity. Damian Lillard started to come life too. He was scoring and getting the ball to both Whiteside and Melo in the right spots.

I”m not sure what it is tonight, but CJ looks slow and maybe disinterested. His body language is terrible. It’s usually lax, but not like this. I wonder if he has a nagging injury or is part of that nasty flu bug that is going around. Or maybe he’s just over it.

Whiteside has been playing killer defense on Jokic tonight too. So far he’s held him to 13 points three quarters the way through the third. Yes, Jokic is having a down year. His offensive game is also on point tonight.

Tory Craig played some of the best defense I have seen all year on Damian Lillard and Dame casually knocks down a three over him. That’s a will breaking shot.

The Nuggets have 13 threes made so far tonight. The Blazers really need to challenge those shots better. It’d be one thing if they were contested threes, but for the most part, they are wide open. The shots are just killers too. Blazes cut the lead to one point, they give up three threes in the final minute of the quarter and they are down 11 heading into the fourth.

The third is a quarter they should have won. They had the Nuggets on their heels for most of the quarter and had a chance to take the lead going into the fourth. The Blazers defense stepped up big and had the Nuggets all out of sorts on offense to start the third. Then the Denver bench knocked down some big shots in the final minute.

The Nuggets bench has outscored the Blazers bench 35-7 through three quarters.

The fourth quarter did not start much better. The Nuggets pushed the lead out to 17 in the first few minutes. For some reason, they have decided to not guard Jerami Grant. He’s just leading the team in scoring. No reason to guard the guy who hasn’t missed a three tonight and is shooting 70% from the field.

Tonight it seems that only Hassan Whiteside and Carmelo Anthony gave a damn. Whiteside had a career-high in points with 33 and Carmelo chipped in 20.

The Nuggets bench outscored the Blazers bench 46-9.

Next Up

The Blazers get three days off before heading to Phoenix to take on the Suns. Tip is at 6:00 PM.

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Portland Trail Blazers

Thoughts on the Blazers opening night loss to the Nuggets

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda
Damian-Lillard-dunks-on-Jamal-Murray.jpeg

Tonight the Blazes and Nuggets met for the 100th time in the last six months. Well, it feels like it doesn’t it? Without the Sonics in the Northwest, the Blazers are starting to form a good rivalry with the Nuggets. The Blazers did not start their 50th season off on a great foot, losing their first home opener since 2001.

The Nuggets came into Portland tonight and won 108-100.

First quarter thoughts

A lot of energy to start the game. Hassan Whiteside looked really good early. He had the first basket of the night and then got Nikola Jokic to commit three fouls in the first three minutes of the game. Whiteside would himself pick up a couple fouls and spend a good chunk of the first half on the bench himself.

CJ McCollum (current owner of the Nuggets according to Wikipedia anyway) started off right where he left off against the Nuggets in the playoffs last year. He scored from three, midrange, and down low early.

Torie Craig started going off as the Blazers were flowing offensively and this changed the momentum for a good middle chunk of the quarter. The Nuggets took a slight lead.

Toward the end of the first quarter Damian Lillard got his first basket. Jamal Murray was smart to get out of the way on this one.

My god Dame. Welcome to the 2019 NBA season. This switched the momentum back, Zach Collins made a nice little up and under on Paul Millsap. I have hopes for this kid for this season.

The Blazers had a 27-24 lead heading into the second quarter.

Second quarter thoughts

The Blazers went with all five reserves to start the second quarter. Anfernee Simons, Anthony Tolliver, Mario Hezonja, Skal Labissiere, and Kent Bazemore. hell their own against Denver’s own subs before the starters came back.

I have zero worry about Simons being the backup point guard this year. He’s aggressive defensively and such an athlete. The steal and dunk combo from him with about six minutes left in the second was amazing.

That was the highlight for the middle of the quarter. The Nuggets behind their bench and trickling in starters opened up a ten-point lead. Murray, Monte Morris, and Malik Beasley did whatever they wanted. Plus the Blazers helped out by contributing a couple of turnovers and Rodney Hood took a few bad shots.

Lillard and Whiteside come back in and the Blazers start chipping away. Whiteside with ten points and ten rebounds already in the second quarter. He’s busting his ass out there tonight. Safe to say his head is in the game so far tonight.

Bazemore had three straight steals with about a minute left in the half. The place is alive and the Blazers are only down at half, 50-54.

Halftime thoughts

Some of the issues that plagued the Blazers last season have through this year. When the bench came into the game last year at the end of the first and through the first few minutes of the second quarter they were susceptible to the opposing bench going on runs. That happened here again. The Blazers have a deep bench, but they only have a few games playing together. The chemistry isn’t quite there yet.

Labissiere is turning into a decent product off the bench. He had four points and five rebounds off the bench.

I love Bazemore’s energy. That dude is going to be able to bridge the gap between the first and second unit really well. Rodney Hood had a quiet eight points in the half.

I’m curious if we’ll see a lineup of Simons, Dame, and CJ at some point in this game. I feel that would be a high energy, frenzy lineup. The more I think about this, the more I want to see it.

Third quarter thoughts

The Blazers seem flat-footed to start the third quarter. An easy three and an easy bucket by Jokic to start the half. Hood and Dame answer back with a couple of threes and Will Barton hits another three! Millsap three! The Nuggets have four threes in three minutes of the third. The Blazers are not closing out on shooters very well at all right now. They are all collapsing in at Jokic and leaving the shooters open.

Whiteside has been the Blazers’ best player so far. He has 14 points and 15 rebounds with six minutes left in the third quarter.

At the first media timeout of the quarter, I am not impressed with the energy at all from the team to start the half. They are jogging, sloppy passes, hands down on shots, not closing out, not chasing rebounds. It’s not like they can be tired, they’ve had since May off.

Have we talked about Zach Collins yet? Well, he just had his own 6-0 run to pull the Blazers with three, 64-67. Collins has eight nice points so far tonight. There were a couple of times that he also had to guard Jokic in the low block and held his ground. Jokic did not score on Collins in the post in the third.

Denver has another three-pointer. They have 13 threes and only 10 twos with three minutes left in the third quarter.

When Lillard and Simons are on the court together can we call them the Binary Brothers? We can workshop that one, I’m not married to it. The duo brings the Blazers back to give the Blazers a 74-73 lead heading into the fourth.

The energy really picked up with about four minutes left in the quarter. This allowed the Blazers to flow a lot better on offense. Simons is not shy about shooting and that’s good. And Dame Time started a little early tonight.

Fourth quarter thoughts

Terry Stotts is going to let Labissiere shoot from that far out? That’s cool. I didn’t know he had that type of range. I rally like Skal as a backup center.

The game is slowing down into a halfcourt, playoff-type slugfest now. Scoring has slowed way down. Though I think we had more scoring in the playoffs last year. This is reminding me a little bit of the old Bulls-Pistons-Knicks games from the early ’90s.

The refs are calling every borderline screen and arm extension on every drive. Players are really going to have to account for this going forward.

Jokic hits two wide-open threes with about three minutes left in the game. Whiteside did not close out with any urgency on either shot. Whiteside is going to always look for the block, so he’s going to hang around the paint. He’s such a good offensive rebounder that you don’t want him to be off the court in that situation, but he’s never going to close out on a three-point shooter. Thankfully there aren’t many centers who shoot threes like Jokic.

Dame starting to turn it on now. Blazers down six with 1:41 left. But he splits a pair of three throws and misses a challenged layup. Jokic follows up with a tip-in. Nuggets up 101-94 with 47 seconds left. This one is more than likely done.

Post game thoughts

After a great first quarter CJ McCollum was pretty much non-existent the rest of the game. He only had 12 points on 5 of 18 shooting tonight. He has five turnovers too. This was not the game that CJ needed to start the season. There were moments that I thought he wasn’t even on the floor and then he’d miss a shot, then disappear until he missed his next one.

The Nuggets were 18 of 32 from three tonight. A lot of these were wide open. Sometimes their ball movement was so quick that Portland was just chasing the ball around the top of the arc until it ended up in someone’s hands that were wide open. Then there were times that Portland sank so low on Jokic that it left multiple shooters wide open. Denver is a good shooting team. No excuse to give up so many opening three pointers.

The Blazers could not take advantage of Nikola Jokic only playing four minutes and not scoring in the first half. This just shows how deep the Nuggets are. They can lose their best player and still get a ten-point lead up on a really good Blazers team. The Nuggets are going to need to be watched for sure. Don’t had the Western Conference to the Clippers just yet.

The Blazers bench only scored 19 points tonight. That needs to be closer to 30 for the Blazers to be successful this year.

Whiteside had 16 points and 19 boards tonight. That’s a really good start for the biggest question mark in the starting lineup. Yep, a lot of people didn’t think he’d do much. He still needs to work on pick and roll chemistry with Dame. There were a few times he got in the way of the drive off the pick.

The Blazes play 13 of their next 17 away from home, starting Friday night in Sacramento. The Kings got roped by the Suns tonight. Did not see that one coming.

What jumps out to you about tonight’s game?

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Portland Trail Blazers

Trail Blazers vs. Denver Nuggets opening night preview

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda
Moda_Center_1.jpg

The Portland Trail Blazers face the Denver Nuggets at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon at 7:30 p.m. PT on Wednesday, October 23rd. The game will be broadcast on ESPN and streaming on espn.com or the ESPN app. This will be the first game of the season for both teams.

The last time the Blazers and Nuggets faced each other was in Game 7 of the Western Conference Semifinals, where Portland snatched a nail-biting victory thanks to heroic performances from CJ McCollum and Evan Turner, among others. Unfortunately, this was also the last time the Blazers won a meaningful NBA matchup.

https://youtu.be/BdNuf5tCuKc

Although the Blazers’ roster has undergone drastic changes since last season, Terry Stotts & co. are ready to compete at the highest level.

Portland will be without starting center Jusuf Nurkic for at least half the season, but they picked up another starting-caliber center, Hassan Whiteside, on an expiring contract. General Manager Neil Olshey also signed point forward Mario Hezonja, wing Kent Bazemore, and veterans Anthony Tolliver and Pau Gasol. Youngsters Zach Collins, Anfernee Simons, Skal Labissiere, and (rookie) Nasir Little are also expected to get more minutes.

Since the relocation of the Seattle SuperSonics, the Blazers have struggled to find a geographic rival, but Denver may be the best candidate, especially after the heated seven-game series from last season.

As always, the gameplans are clear for both sides: Portland will need to shut down Denver’s dominant frontcourt of Nikola Jokic and Paul Millsap, while the Blazers will look to outscore the Nuggets with the legendary backcourt punch of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum.

The Blazers are favored by 1.5 points. Portland will face four straight road games after opening the season at home.

Time: 7:00 PM
Where: Moda Center
How to watch: ESPN or NSNW

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Portland Trail Blazers

Blazers-Nuggets preseason game observations

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda
Terry-Stotts.jpeg

For the first time since the spring of 1995, the Portland Trail Blazers played a game in Memorial Coliseum. The team wore throwback uniforms to commemorate the 1977 championship team. Those uniforms need to work their way into the regular rotation, by the way. Terry Stotts need not wear that Dr. Jack suit ever again, though.

Oh, and the Denver Nuggets were back in town without Nikola Jokic to play a game. They’ll also be back in two weeks to open the regular season, but back at Moda Center the Blazers lost 105-94.

No one really cares about the outcome of a preseason game. So I wanted to throw out some observations of the game. Feel free to add your own in the comments.

Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum

The faces of the franchise played like it was the first game of basketball they have played in a few months. Dame and CJ combined for only 12 points on 5-15 shooting, six rebounds, and four assists. That’s not important, there were some new things being tried out tonight.

Dame has said he wanted to improve his game below the free throw line and he spent a lot of time below the free throw line. Jamal Murray was bullied on many possessions as Lillard got into the paint at will and made a lot of great passes and moved larger defenders out of the way. When he attacked the paint, he was looking to pass with four defenders collapsing on him on most drives. He found Zach Collins for a couple of nice mid-range jumpers.

CJ also worked on attacking the paint and was looking more to shoot when he got there as the defenses did not collapse on him like they did Lillard. He also showed off some new range to his three point jumper. I’m looking forward to CJ shooting more thirty footers.

It is worth noting that they missed a combined ten shots, but they didn’t miss by much. Look for those jumpers to get locked in soon.

I would have loved to have seen Dame and CJ play more minutes and work on chemistry with the new starters in the frontcourt, but this is only the first preseason game and there are 82 regular-season games plus I’m guessing at least ten playoff games.

The new starting frontcourt

I was a big fan of bringing back Rodney Hood as the new starter at the small forward position. He’s an upgrade over Maurice Harkless on this roster. Hassan Whiteside is the starter until Jusuf Nurkic returns, and Collins is the new starter at the power forward.

Hood had a quiet six points tonight but played some pretty decent defense against the revolving door of small forwards that the Nuggets produced. Hood is going to be relied upon to be the third scorer for the Blazers. His jumper was a little off tonight, but he’ll find that.

Collins looked great on offense tonight. He flashed well and found lots of holes on drives from guards to get himself some easy jumpers. He crashed the boards well and got six rebounds. Defensively, he still reaches and he looks like he did not spend enough time in the weight room and was pushed around by Paul Millsap and Tyler Zeller in the low block. Tonight he was a negative defender and he needs to get better fast. We’ll see how he does in the second game.

Whiteside looked like a guy who did not have a lot of practice time with his teammates. He has been suffering from an ankle injury that he suffered in the offseason. You could see the lack of time and chemistry together with Dame. They ran a couple of pick and rolls together and Whiteside was not ready for the passes.

He also looked a little disinterested at times. Yes, it was preseason, but I’m not a big fan of the start from Whiteside. Let’s hope it’s the ankle that is limiting him.

The bench

The Blazers are going to be deep this year and I’m saying this before Pau Gasol and Nurkic come back and limit the playing time of Whiteside and Skal Labissiere. The bench played with a lot of energy tonight and hustle. They are also a scrappy defensive unit.

Kent Bazemore was 1-7 from the field, but he had seven steals! SEVEN STEALS! When he was on the floor he was in a passing lane and playing lockdown defense on the perimeter. Bazemore is such a huge upgrade over Evan Turner.

Labissiere had a very respectable ten points and twelve rebounds tonight. He didn’t make any dumb fouls but was a step slow on some defensive rotations. That’s not a big deal and he should be okay fixing that as the season goes along.

One of the more questioned signings this summer was of Mario Hezonja. Tonight we might have seen the best of what a lot of people had considered a bust. He was nothing but energy. That dude was running full speed at every moment. He had 12 points and six boards tonight. Got into the lane at will, made some great passes (that weren’t finished) from the paint and got to the line six times. He’s not going to be the star that many (myself included) thought he was going to be. I think we are going to see the best season out of Mario this year.

When Seth Curry left during the summer there were a lot of questions on who the Blazers back up point guard was going to be and I think through Summer League and the game tonight Anfernee Simons is that answer. He made three threes tonight and showed good handles of running the second team in slower sets. He’s not bashful about shooting either.

Anthony Tolliver was the other main rotation man tonight and he did what you expect Anthony Tolliver to do off the bench. He had a couple of points and a couple of rebounds, played decent defense and set a couple of solid screens.

Overall I’m pretty happy with this bench unit. I thought Gary Trent Jr. would get more of a shot at some two-guard minutes, but those obviously belong to Bazemore.

Defense

In the NBA preseason it usually the offense that is way ahead of the defense. That is not the case with the Blazers. The defense was scrappy tonight. I will not say it was good, that is hard to judge, but they were scrappy. I thought the rotations with both Collins and Whiteside to be acceptable. Even though the starters didn’t block a single shot, they changed a lot of shots. There wasn’t a whole lot of open shots by the Nuggets tonight.

The bench wasn’t half bad either, especially with Bazemore stealing everything that came his way.

The Blazers are going to score a lot this season off of turnovers. Tonight they had 29 points off turnovers. Again, this is preseason. It is, however, worth noting that is a lot of points off turnovers.

The rest

The camp invitees had themselves a decent ballgame. Moses Brown is probably the most notable name to watch. He has limited offensive game but had eight points tonight. His worth is on defense. He’s good on the block and is a threat to block a shot anywhere on the court. He’s going to be a great G-League player for the Blazers. He could be a guy to look out for next year.

The 25th pick of the draft, Nassir Little, didn’t see the floor until late in the second half. I thought he would also get some more run with the rotational guys. He scored six of his eight points from the free throw line and had four rebounds. I’m not sure what the plan is for Little, but we can see him splitting time in Portland and the G-League.

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Portland Trail Blazers

Portland Trail Blazers and Denver Nuggets: Game 7 Preview

by Kevin Nesgoda
written by Kevin Nesgoda


Damian-Lillard-Playoffs.jpg

Here we go Trail Blazers! Game 7! It’s only fitting that the Blazers post-season journey has been against only division rivals thus far. You win this game; you own the division and move into the Western Conference Finals. They lose? Fans will always wonder “what if” with a healthy Jusuf Nurkic.Yet here we are on the pinnacle of the Blazers greatest post-season run since 99-00 when they lost to the Lakers 4-3 in the Western Conference Finals. There has been no shortage of Iconic moments between Damien Lillard’s goodbye shot to Rodney Hood sealing the deal on a 4-OT victory over earlier in the series to get to this point. Will we witness another iconic moment? Can the Blazers get back to the Western Conference Finals again? In order to make the idea a reality, there are a few key areas the Blazers must execute on to bring games back to Portland.In a series that makes it to game 7, both teams typically have experimented and know what works and what doesn’t. It all comes down to who can execute better in the finale.

What the Blazers need in game 7

Limit Jokic’s passing – Jokic will get plenty of touches, Blazers need to disrupt the passing lanes and get him out of rhythm. The Blazers found some success with this by being physical with him away from the basket and not letting him get the ball at the top of the key where he can go anywhere with the ball. Don’t let Jamaal Murray get to the foul line – Zach Collins must be patient at the rim. He’s been a big difference maker this series and the Blazers can’t allow easy buckets from Murray. Damien Lillard must also stay in front of him. In Game 6 Collins was patient and waited for Murray to come to him and didn’t close out in an over-aggressive fashion. Collins had five blocks, a few of those shots were Murray’s. Bench scoring – The Blazers will need Rodney Hood, Evan Turner, Collins, and Seth Curry and the remainder of the bench to continue producing. Some have wondered if Hood and Collins should move into the starting rotation as they have been much more productive against the Nuggets in the last few games. Interior scoring – Enes Kanter will be key in keeping pressure off the guards by producing easy buckets in the paint. Here it would be nice to see Terry Stotts use Collins and even buy some minutes from Meyers Leonard. Leonard is a big dude and if he’s pounding down on you for a few minutes it’s going to tire you out. Making Jokic work on both sides of the floor will be an advantage to Portland. At some point, those 65 minutes from Game 4 are going to catch up to him. Have someone else guard Paul Milsap – I don’t know what Terry Stotts fascination is with having Evan Turner guard and be humiliated by Milsap is. I do not understand it at all. Milsap has eaten Turner alive all over the court. One of the reasons Portland’s bench falls behind is because Milsap has feasted on the Portland second unit. Collins has done a decent job at slowing down Milsap when he’s on him, but far too often it is Turner who draws the assignment and when he isn’t the one on him Denver does a fantastic job getting a switch.Things could get nasty for the Blazers if they allow Jokic easy passes, Murray and Will Barton open looks at the rim and allowing Millsap room to work.Gametime starts at 12:30 Sunday, 5/11 on ABC. One thing is for certain, the Blazers have left their mark as a contender in the NBA this season.

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