Portland Trail Blazers stay close but fall 120-115 to Denver Nuggets: Game 3 rewind
Blazers #Blazers
Despite more fans at Moda Center and more time in the lead-up to Game 3 for rest and adjustments, the Portland Trail Blazers left the court on Thursday night with a second consecutive loss to the Denver Nuggets.
The Blazers fell 120-115 to go down 2-1 in this best-of-seven, first-round playoff series, which resumes with Game 4 at 1 p.m. Saturday in Portland.
The score was closer than Monday’s 128-109 loss at Denver, but the patterns were much the same. Denver did whatever it wanted on offense and got more production from its bench through three quarters to build a lead.
The major difference between the two games came at the three-point line. The Blazers shot 14 of 45 (31.1%) while Denver pumped in 20 of 38 (52.6%). In Game 2, Portland shot 48.5% on threes yet still got blown out while Denver made 42.9%.
Surprisingly, despite all of these issues, the Blazers managed to find themselves tied at 91-91 with 6:55 remaining after Carmelo Anthony, who was 1 of 6 from the field through three quarters, scored eight points in 64 seconds. But then Austin Rivers took over for Denver. He made three three-pointers in about two minutes, with his third giving Denver a 102-94 lead with 3:49 on the clock.
A Damian Lillard dunk made the score 108-103, but on Denver’s next possession, Rivers hit another three to put the Nuggets up 111-103 with 1:24 left.
Portland made four threes in about 30 seconds to earn a shot at stealing the game, but Denver held on.
After the tough loss, CJ McCollum said the team remains confident.
“I think we’re in a good space, mentally, physically,” McCollum said. “We just lost a tough game at home and now we’re down one 1-2 and we have another chance at it on Saturday at one o’clock. I think we have a veteran group of guys who understand the importance of each game and understand how each game is different, and you have to kind of make some adjustments and figure it out moving forward.”
Lillard said he felt good about the way the team competed.
“When things didn’t go well we kept fighting,” he said. “We stayed together. We gave ourselves a chance to win a game. It’s the playoffs. It’s gonna be a grind-it-out type of process and it’s gonna be a long series. We got one on their floor, and they came back and got it back. Now we got to make sure that we get the next one.”
Nikola Jokic led Denver with 36 points and 11 rebounds. The Blazers got 37 from Lillard, who made just 5 of 16 threes.
IT WAS OVER WHEN
The Blazers began the game full throttle and led 20-12 after an impressive dunk from Lillard. But the dunk was sandwiched between two Jokic threes. The second one launched the Nuggets on a 17-6 run to take a 29-26 lead on Monte Morris’ three with 3:28 to go in the quarter.
The Nuggets ended up winning the quarter 39-30.
The Blazers pushed back in the second quarter. Norman Powell scored on a strong move inside and then Jusuf Nurkic followed his missed shot to score and draw a foul. His free throw reduced Denver’s lead to 40-35 with 9:50 left in the first half.
Minutes later, Anfernee Simons scored the first basket for the reserves on an alley-oop pass for a layup from Nurkic. To that point, the trio of Simons, Enes Kanter and Anthony were a combined 1 of 8 from the field. They had just six points through three quarters.
The Simons basket made the score 45-40, but then Denver got rolling again. A Jokic dunk gave Denver a 53-43 lead and forced Portland coach Terry Stotts to call a timeout with 5:01 left in the half.
The Blazers trailed 64-52 when Michael Porter Jr. made a three for Denver with 1:47 to go. But the Blazers managed to close the quarter with a 7-0 run that included a three from CJ McCollum and a breakaway dunk from Lillard, set up by a steal from Nurkic, with 10.5 remaining in the half.
The Blazers trailed 64-59 at halftime, but the game felt like the Blazers were having to work hard to remain close. Denver went 12 of 20 on threes in the first half, while Portland shot 5 of 17.
In the third quarter, a Jokic three gave Denver a 75-64 lead, but the Blazers chipped away. When Lillard scored on a layup, Denver called a timeout leading just 75-72 with 3:43 to go. Soon after the timeout, Anthony made a three and Denver was up just 77-75 with 2:33 remaining in the third quarter. But the Blazers could never take the lead and trailed 84-79 heading into the final quarter.
Anthony, who was 1 of 6 from the field through three quarters, scored eight points in 64 seconds. His second three during that stretch tied the game at 91-91 with 6:55 remaining and led to Denver calling a timeout.
That’s when Rivers took over and the Blazers couldn’t quite answer.
Now it’s back to the drawing board for more adjustments.
SHOWED UP AND SHOWED OUT
Lillard shot 15 of 31 from the field but got to the line just twice. He added five assists t his 37 points.
Nurkic, who ultimately fouled out for the second consecutive game, went for 13 points, 13 rebounds and six assists in 32 minutes.
Rivers finished with 21 points on 7 of 14 shooting. He made 5 of 10 threes for Denver.
Jokic went 12 of 24 from the field after going 15 of 20 in Game 2.
SHOWED UP AND FIZZLED
Kanter had a plus-minus of minus 15 in six minutes of action.
Simons made just 1 of 3 shots in 16 minutes.
McCollum scored 22 on 8 of 20 shooting but made just 3 of 10 threes.
SERIES SCHEDULE
Game 1: Portland 123, Denver 109
Game 2: Denver 128, Portland 109
Game 3: Denver 120, Portland 115 (Denver leads 2-1)
Game 4: 1 p.m. Saturday in Portland.
Game 5: Tuesday, June 1, at Denver, time TBD.
Game 6: Thursday, June 3, in Portland, time TBD (if necessary).
Game 7: Saturday, June 5, at Denver, time TBD (if necessary).
— Aaron Fentress | afentress@Oregonian.com | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook).
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Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic (#27) watches his offensive tip-in drop as the Portland Trail Blazers take on the Denver Nuggets in Game 3 of their first-round NBA playoffs matchup at Moda Center on Thursday, May 27, 2021.
© Sean Meagher/The Oregonian/Sean Meagher/The Oregonian