The Portland Trail Blazers are finding ways to win and continue to buy time until LaMarcus Aldridge gets back. The Blazers beat the struggling Denver Nuggets 100-95 in Denver Tuesday night. The Trail Blazers improve to 39-18 on the season and sport an 18-11 road record. The Nuggets, as I mentioned, have now lost eight of their last nine games and now have a 25-31 record. After having such a dominant record at home last season with 38-3, the Nuggets are just .500 at home. Portland now has won the season series 3-0 and will face against Denver again at the Moda Center in just a couple of days.
A win is a win any way you can get one, but this was just flat out ugly. Portland was in love with the odd quarters tonight as they scored 32 in the first quarter and 30 in the third. However, in the second and fourth quarters, they combined to only score 38. Not the way you consistently win basketball games.
Once again playing without LaMarcus Aldridge, Portland had to find some way to win. As you watch more of these games, you realize just how important LA is to this team. Not only is he Portland’s go to guy when they need a basket, but he is also a threat on the defensive end. Something that I think Portland fans didn’t really give him enough credit for. Not only does he have quick hands to attempt steals, but he also is averaging 11.4 rebounds a game. Tonight was one of those nights where he would have exceled. Denver opted to start Timofey Mozgov, their one true big man sine JaVale McGee is out with injury, instead of former Blazer JJ Hickson. Well, if you look at results, maybe Denver should consider bring JJ off the bench all the time. He finished with 16 points and a career-high 25 rebounds (15 offensive).
The Blazers’ offense started off well. They outscored the Nuggets by 11 in the first quarter, but it was the way they did it by hitting three-pointers and playing very unselfish basketball. Portland made six three-pointers in the first quarter alone and looked to be running Denver out of the building already. Having a couple of weeks of games where the three-pointer was off-limits, it has been a sight for sore eyes to see the three-pointer return as a weapon. Now, that should not really surprise you. Denver is actually ranked lower in defense than the Blazers if you can believe that. They give up 104.7 points a game and are ranked 28th.
In the second quarter, Denver made a push as everyone expected. However, they only outscored the Blazers by four. This game was very streaky. The Blazers would have a 14-point lead and before you knew it Denver has made it a one-possession ballgame. Then the Blazers would come out and move the basketball and seemingly hit every shot and bring the lead back up to double digits.
Like I said above, the odd quarters were Portland’s friends. In the third quarter, they outscored Denver 30-24. Coming right out of halftime holding on to a seven-point lead, the Blazers quickly pushed it to 17 with 8:53 remaining. They would end the quarter with a 13-point lead. Feeling comfortable yet? Try not to be.
The fourth quarter was about the ugliest quarter I have seen this season for both teams. The Blazers succumbed to their massive fourth quarter cold spell and couldn’t hit a shot. Portland finished the quarter shooting just 4-for-21 and still ended up pulling it out. Wow. Turnovers and missed opportunities were all over the place and simple tip-ins would roll on out. Denver made it interesting by only being behind by two with 4:05 remaining. However, the FT line and Batum’s clutch three-pointer held off Denver just long enough to get a victory. Talk about running off the court after you were done.
If I told you that the Blazers would be outrebounded 64-41, go 4-for-21 in the fourth quarter and would be playing without LaMarcus Aldridge in Denver, I think you would immediately say that Portland would lose that game. Well, thanks to Denver being equally as cold in the fourth quarter considering how many extra opportunities they had, somehow the Blazers found a way out of there even though plenty of stats were against them. Denver had 54 points in the paint to Portland’s 26. There are two stats that say it all. Portland went 12-for-31 from three-point land and shot 39%, while Denver went 4-for-20 and shot just 20%. Portland abused the FT line by going 32-for-38 and shooting 84% (which is pretty low all things considered), while Denver, who is a pretty bad FT shooting team, went 17-for-26 and shot 65%.
Individually, Robin Lopez and Damian Lillard had monster games.
Damian finished with 31 points on 8-for-20 shooting, 4-for-11 from three, 9 assists, 7 rebounds and went 11-for-13 at the line. Lillard continues to play sensationally in LA’s absence. He is finishing at the rim and is becoming quite a threat from anywhere on the court. The only nit-pick that I have would be that in the fourth quarter he took some unnecessary three-pointers as Denver was getting back into the game. I would like to see some more ball-movement there. He will be getting a triple-double. It is just a matter of time.
Robin Lopez almost had a triple-double of his own by scoring 12 points on 4-for-10 shooting, 10 rebounds and an impressive 7 blocks. Those blocks were huge considering how Denver almost came back. Lopez eventually ended up fouling out, but I think this stretch of games without LA is really showcasing what Lopez has been doing all along. He deserves a lot of the credit for these three wins Portland has had without LA.
Portland doesn’t get a whole lot of time as they fly back to Portland to take on the Brooklyn Nets at the Moda Center on Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. PST. This game really depends on what Brooklyn team shows up. They have started to gel and win more games as of late, but against pretty poor teams. Beating Utah, the Lakers and Charlotte is nice, but their losses consist of Golden State, Chicago and Indiana. Again, it just depends on what team shows up. The Blazers will need to get rest regardless as they will be a bit winded going into this game. Stay tuned!