Denver survives wild finish in Portland
NUGGETS 106, TRAIL BLAZERS 105
Dramatic is about the only way the Nuggets seem to play nowadays.
Not that Wednesday night’s affair in Portland was a beauty contest.
The Nuggets survived another frenetic finish, this time hanging on 106-105, as the Blazers’ Norm Powell missed a layup at the buzzer. Powell got a look following a jump ball on the other end of the court that ricocheted into Denver’s backcourt. The Nuggets owe no apologies after winning their fourth game in a row and improving to 38-20 on the season.
Nikola Jokic finished with 25 points and nine rebounds, and Michael Porter Jr. added 17. All five Nuggets starters managed at least 12 points in the tense contest.
Portland’s Damian Lillard had 22, but finished just 2-of-10 from 3-point range.
Wednesday’s win was a testament to Denver’s depth more than anything having to do with its star power.
When the Nuggets’ offense gets cold, it’s almost always out of an overreliance on 3-pointers. They did it again Wednesday night, settling for numerous 3point looks instead of playing their typical inside-out offense. Eventually, after an 18-2 Portland run that threatened to blow the game open, Barton and Jokic starting forcing the offense inside, getting to the free throw line and chipping away.
Barton led the Nuggets with 11 points in the quarter, weather
ing an ugly stretch that saw the Nuggets turn it over six times. But after Portland’s run, the Nuggets entered the fourth down just 84-82.
Without their typical guard depth, Nuggets coach Michael Malone has repeatedly said it would take a collective effort to make up for the lost production.
Free agent guard Austin Rivers debuted Wednesday night, and the Nuggets got a noticeable boost from recent acquisition Shaq Harrison, who’s already flashed moments of reliable twoway play. Depending on matchups, the Nuggets might need both combo guards over the final few weeks of the season.
Malone said he spoke to Jamal Murray on Wednesday, only hours before his ACL surgery.
“He was at the point where he was just anxious to get it over,” Malone said. “It’s been over a week.”
The Nuggets had wanted to wait until Murray’s swelling went down to perform the surgery. He had it done by renowned Dr. Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles.
“The doctor was really impressed with the state of Jamal’s knee,” Malone said. “The surgery was a success. Very clean operation. Luckily for us, there was not a whole lot else going on in there. It was a pretty clean tear when he did tear it at Golden State. And now begins the long road of recovery.”
The Blazers had no answers for Porter in the first half. Using his size, length and supreme confidence, Porter bullied his way for 17 points on 8-of-8 shooting across the first two quarters. Jokic, who came on strong in the second quarter, added 15 points of his own. Together, Denver’s top-two scoring options built a 60-57 lead going into the break.
For emphasis, Jokic threw down one of his more athletic dunks of the season, soaring past Portland’s frontcourt and into open space.
Despite a slow start from Denver’s second unit, the Nuggets maintained pace with Portland’s potent offense thanks to their 3point shooting. After a 1-of-7 night in Monday’s dramatic win over Memphis, Facundo Campazzo drained all three of his first-half 3-pointers.
Mike Singer: msinger@denverpost.com or @msinger