Nikola Jokic, Nuggets pound Blazers in Game 2, head to Portland 1-1
Jokic #Jokic
Facing a playoff deficit once again, the Nuggets responded the only way they know how: With an uppercut.
Monday’s Game 2 at Ball Arena against Portland was chippy – just as the Nuggets had promised. And once Denver’s 128-109 drubbing was over, the Nuggets had a 1-1 series and a brand new perspective ahead of Thursday’s Game 3 in Portland.
“It was chippy, and that’s the way it should be,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “We’re both fighting for something. … I loved it.”
Nikola Jokic, once again, plastered Portland’s frontcourt, this time for 38 points on 15-of-20 shooting from the field. Jokic’s efficiency was Denver’s response to Damian Lillard’s nine 3-pointers that led to 42 points.
“It seems like we like it,” Jokic said, when asked specifically about the physicality. “When they started picking up the aggressiveness, we did it too.”
The Nuggets’ Michael Porter Jr. added 18 points on three 3-pointers, and the Nuggets survived Lillard’s 3-point parade by burying 12-of-28 from outside. All five Denver starters knocked down at least two 3-pointers which served as a perfect balance to the Nuggets’ 54 points in the paint.
The buzz from a first-quarter skirmish lingered deep into the game.
After Portland center Jusuf Nurkic nudged Porter, which drew a retaliatory shove from Denver’s second-year forward, both teams chirped while the animosity brewed. Later, Carmelo Anthony drew a flagrant one after knocking Jokic to the ground, which didn’t help his case for Denver’s public enemy No. 1.
The tension extended into the third quarter, when Portland’s C.J. McCollum shoved Facu Campazzo, drawing another flagrant one. When Campazzo got up, Malone was the first to greet him with a high-five. He, Austin Rivers and Aaron Gordon injected a surplus of energy to the Nuggets’ second-half effort.
Despite months away from the game, Rivers never lost his shake. His first step was as quick as ever when he found pay-dirt on a driving layup to start the third. Later, Gordon buried two 3-pointers — an added bonus to his swarming defense on Lillard. Gordon was Malone’s choice after Shaq Harrison stymied him to end the first half. The Nuggets carried a 101-87 lead into the fourth, eschewing a season’s worth of third-quarter woes.
The damage inflicted by reserves Anthony and Anfernee Simons in Game 1 was enough to swing the result in the opener. Malone was so cognizant of their impact he called it an “X-factor.”
“I would hope you start with ‘How do we stop their bench?’” Malone joked before the game. “… For us, the second unit, Monte (Morris), Paul (Millsap), JaMychal (Green), Markus Howard, I tried to keep Nikola or Michael Porter on the floor at all times, so we had a go-to player. When you’re not getting stops, it makes it really hard to get out and run and attack and play with pace.”
Denver’s second unit more than did their job in the first half, not only surviving the non-Jokic minutes but extending the lead to double digits. When Jokic checked out in the first quarter, the Nuggets were up just 8. When he checked back with 6:40 left in the half, Millsap, Morris and Porter had stretched the lead to 17. After a quiet Game 1, Millsap turned back the clock for 11 first-half points.
And then Lillard happened.
Portland’s superstar went supernova. He rained in six 3-pointers in the second quarter alone, singlehandedly giving the Blazers life. His fireworks only momentary paused when Malone plucked Harrison, his defensive ace, off the bench to bottle him up over the final few possessions of the first half. But after erupting for 32 points in two quarters, not even Denver’s 73-61 lead felt safe.
Jokic was almost every bit as special as his Blazers counterpart. The presumptive MVP steamrolled Portland’s frontcourt for 25 points on 10-of-12 shooting, five rebounds and four assists in the first half. When he splashed a 3-pointer with 1.9 seconds left, it sent Ball Arena into a frenzy and tied a bow on a riveting first-half response from the No. 3 seed.