The Portland Trail Blazers battled the Denver Nuggets Monday night and continued their path to win the current number one team in the league. Portland defeated Denver 135-110 and weathered an early storm to facilitate a 35-point scoreboard release for the game.
After Damian Lillard’s two consecutive 41-point performances, it was Anfernee Simons’ turn to carry the scoring load. He finished the game with the highest score of the season with 29 points with a shooting percentage close to 65 percent, including 22 points in the third quarter only. The Five Blazers scored in double digits as Rip City went up 4-0 in the year and as the independent number one franchise in the association.
Unlike their first three games that failed, Portland was ahead enough in the early fourth quarter to hold off Mile High City and any run they tried to put together. Denver started the game well, but ended in disaster and was quiet all night under MVP Nikola Jokic’s reign. He scored just nine points and had nine rebounds. Even more worrying were the four-shot attempts. The Joker was passive throughout the entire game and didn’t turn the water on in the middle of the runs when his team needed him most.
first quarter
Both teams came out in traditional man defenses. Denver took advantage of what the defense gave them. Portland, not so much. Halfway through Denver’s 14 points came in a pass before the first timeout at around eight minutes. His first six points came in paint. Lillard made a nice layup after splitting the defense to open the game, but missed a rare free throw minutes later.
Coach Chauncey Billups strategically placed 6’7 Jerami Grant on Jamal Murray, and his attempts to suppress his offense didn’t quite work. The Murray-Michael Porter Jr.-Aaron Gordon show kicks off the match. No other players were able to shoot for a field goal until 4:24 when Jeff Green hit the reverse layup out-of-bounds with a spectacular front pass from Jokic.
At first, Denver fell short in three-point defense, allowing Lillard a 30-yard attempt and both backing off from a missed Anfernee Simons attempt. Shortly after, both players paid them off when they reached 3, respectively. Portland found success in the paint and especially the defensive glass, where they checked the boards while Jusuf Nurkic was inside. He got four rebounds in the first game.
When Drew Eubanks came in, Billups went to the defensive bag and tried 2-3 zones for a few games. It also made Portland promise the ball manager from pick-and-roll, which led to two wide-open dunks for DeAndre Jordan.
second quarter
A trend from the start of the first quarter to the second quarter continued. Nuggets Head Coach Michael Malone brutally put Aaron Gordon or Jeff Green on the left block, exploiting the smaller defenders, whether it’s Josh Hart or Simons. Some they did and some they missed. The big picture is the Blazers’ concern about disrupting their defensive rotations, they’ve managed to get in their place more often.
Bones Hyland came out the doors with great energy, got off the pick-and-roll easier and then hit a three-pointer. Jokic was kept scoreless in the game until 6:25 in the quarter, knocking out Eubanks before easily popping the barrel. If you were born circa 1990, it was an adult male movement. After 1990? You may be scolding the referee for an offensive foul through your TV.
For the Blazers, Keon Johnson landed a monster chase block on Jamal Murray mid-quarter and blocked the fast break. Grant also found continued success in paint with four straight dots in the red outside of the dribble. These were perhaps the only bright spots for Rip City so far. Jusuf Nurkic’s kidnapped two rabbits nearby and failed to catch a lead pass for easy laying. This put him in line early. Sloppy play in the final stages of the quarter, with turnovers, a foul, and Aaron Gordon’s fast-breaking slam dunk, brought the Nuggets’ lead to 13, and Billups requested a time-out to stop the bleeding.
As Mark Jones said, after time out, Portland started cooking with fish oil. Another turnover from Josh Hart was compensated with an assist to Jerami Grant for a quick rebound and a dunk in the pass. Damian Lillard caught fire with a layup one and one followed by a hard 3 turn from the left flank. Jusuf Nurkic, guess who he got a penny share from? Dame Dolla herself. To finish the quarter, Jamal Murray chose not to go two-to-one over 24 seconds on the game clock. In response, he got annoyed and made the ball roll over. A bad call from the referee caught Lillard with a loose ball foul instead of a well-deserved jump ball, infuriating everyone at Moda Center. Karma came quickly. Murray missed both free throws (the ball doesn’t lie), Lillard slumped on the other flank in just over six seconds, slashing the defense once again, cutting the lead to 6: 61- 55, Denver.
third quarter
The Blazers came out with a precise execution of half the game of Coach Billups. They set up a press, forcing Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic to get off the ball before half-court, leading to a player who missed the ball by Murray who later took possession. Anfernee Simons was the biggest catalyst for Portland’s take the lead, scoring or assisting in seven of Portland’s 11 rally points.
In the first timeout of the quarter, called by manager Malone, Simons picked up where he left off and made three three-pointers in a row to increase the lead to nine. All three seemed farther away than the previous one. Portland’s various offensives, especially on the defensive, bothered Denver, with evidence in the pudding called the scoreboard.
The Nuggets coaching team did not call Simons a doubles team during their second timeout. For this, he burned them with a rust-filled pass to Nurkic from behind, which sent the Bosnian tall man to the line for two. Then there were more Simons. Sorry, it was all Simons. If he could speak the game, he would ask Aaron Gordon and anyone else who had the privilege of protecting him, “How would you like it?” would have asked. Anfernee was “boggling” from every spot behind the bow. He scored 22 points in the quarter with 3:27 in the third quarter. The 26-point shot was the biggest of the season for the Blazers.
A wedge by Reed at the back of the quarter explained the Nuggets’ quarters as a whole. Denver had 25 points in the quarter, but it was the quietest 25 ever to be witnessed. Denver’s only bright spots were Bones Hyland and Aaron Gordon, who recorded the most individual field goals for the team.
fourth quarter
The white team shook the Fashion center to start the fourth. The Blazers picked up where runners-up Shaedon Sharpe and Nasir Little had left off with consecutive deep three-pointers. Josh Hart remained an energizing bunny who did all the dirty work. There he was sacrificing his body, diving into the passing lanes and taking second chance points from the timeout.
The Blazers entered the 2-1-2 region mid-quarter. However, he was broken from the right baseline by a comeback jumper from Aaron Gordon. The best way to describe Nikola Jokic’s whole night was that around 8 minutes Jusuf Nurkic spent him on the low block. Nurkic completely bullied the two-time All-NBA First Team member and sent him into the crowds before putting on an easy duo.
Portland closed the game on ice with 4:07 left in the quarter. Simons turned down a drive and inspected the ground, bringing the ball back to the top of the wing. When he passed Jokic, he knocked down a controversial 3 before throwing a dart at Lillard in the corner to take Rip City 124-102. Both teams put out their anthems and that was all he wrote.
Next
Stay tuned for the extended recap coming soon from Dave Deckard.
boxscore
The Blazers will face the Miami Heat on Wednesday night. The game is scheduled to start at 19:00 in the Pacific.