The Portland Trail Blazers almost pulled off a fantastic win against the Denver Nuggets in the Mile High City on Monday night, leading by 16 points in the fourth period versus a clearly-superior foe. But Denver has a habit of making late-game comebacks. They continued the trend tonight. Hot shooting late, plus rediscovering their missing defensive verve, put Denver on top 137-132 over the Blazers. The guys in red and black gave a good accounting of themselves. The Nuggets just had the better numbers
overall.
The loss puts Portland in 9th place in the Western Conference with a 40-39 record. Their main foes in the race for Play-In Tournament positioning, the Los Angeles Clippers, play tomorrow night against the less-than stellar Dallas Mavericks team. It’s likely the Blazers will go down a full game, maybe more, before the two teams meet on Friday night.
Here are a few observations from an exciting game.
Toumani
Deni Avija is the unquestioned star of the Blazers. Donovan Clingan is the backbone, Jrue Holiday and Jerami Grant the safety nets. But if you want one clue that Portland is having a good—maybe unstoppable—night, just look at Toumani Camara’s production. Camara is the ultimate chicken-and-egg guy for the Blazers. He needs a little space to get rolling. It usually happens with the three-point shot. But once he starts stroking that thing, the defense has a near-impossible choice. If they get in his grill, they have to face the reality that 3-4 other Blazers are more proficient at scoring and they’re giving up all those points. But if they don’t, Camara knocks down the defense like a sledgehammer: BAM, BAM, BAM. At that point Camara gives back as many buckets as he received from teammates earlier. That synergy is nice.
Tonight Camara shot 10-16 from the field, 8-13 from the arc on his way to 30 points. He was the biggest reason the Blazers got ahead in this game.
Unfortunately Camara fouled out on a not-too-adept offensive rebound attempt against Nikola Jokic with 2:02 remaining. That took a bite out of Portland’s attack potential on both ends in the late-regulation possessions and overtime.
Denver Slow
All season long we’ve knocked the Blazers for playing intermittent defense. They know what they’re supposed to do. Too often they’ve been caught flat-footed, not communicating or executing well.
Tonight the Nuggets gave Portland a firsthand example of what that looks like from the other side. Denver’s defense was flat, at times almost lifeless. They didn’t rotate to drivers or get out to shooters, accomplishing almost zero things that a normal defense prioritizes. They went on streaks—Blazers fans will be familiar with those too—but it felt like they expected the game to turn their way without every bothering to actually turn it.
The Blazers had moments like this too. On a couple plays in the first half, Portland managed to guard neither the dribbler nor the roller in pick-and-roll sets. (I mean, who’s left? The refs?) But the Blazers started overplaying soon after, at least putting energy into defensive decisions, right or wrong. That was enough to tilt the outcome in their favor.
It’s really good to see the OTHER team slouch their way through defensive sets for a change. The only drawback was, at the tail end of the game, Portland didn’t have the superhuman energy they’d have needed to catch up with Denver’s multi-pronged offensive threat.
Three-Fest
Portland’s grand designs might have come to naught, but their three-pointers were FALLING tonight like snowflakes in a Rankin-Bass special. The Blazers had to shoot 9-17 on threes in first quarter just to earn a 35-31 lead. Denver waited for them to go cold. By halftime the Blazers were shooting 16-30 from distance—the same 53% accuracy rate as they had maintained in the first period—with a 14-point lead. Denver waited for them to go cold. For a while it looked like it wouldn’t happen.
Things evened out a little bit late, but Portland finished the game with 25 three-pointers made on 52 shots, a 48% mark. That was a franchise record for makes, giving them a fighting chance.
Denver got the last laugh, though. Having to watch Nikola Jokic like a hawk, helpless to stop him in single coverage, Portland ended up overcommitting to him during Denver’s crucial late-game run. Out of position, they couldn’t close at the arc themselves. Denver made them pay. The Nuggets hit 6 of their 12 total three-point makes in the fourth period and overtime. That allowed them to steal the game back.
Fast Breaks
When the Blazers have gone on bad streaks against the Nuggets, it’s been by letting Denver run free in transition. They’re too good of a halfcourt team to give extra points to. Portland held their hosts to 7 fast break points at the half, 13 for the game. Way to use that extra time-off energy to make the game easier.
Bench
As has been typical over the last few weeks, tonight demonstrated a stark difference between a couple of bench players.
Matisse Thybulle closed distance on defense like Ricky Henderson stealing bases, darting here, there, and everywhere. He also shot 5-7, 4-6 from distance for 14 points in 33 minutes. Thybulle was the late-game call for Head Coach Tiago Splitter when Camara fouled out.
Kris Murray, on the other hand, drew three fouls in his first shift on the floor, drew another soon after checking in again, and ended up with a stat line of 1 point, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 2 turnovers and those four fouls in 22 minutes of play. The Blazers keep trying with Murray, but man, the experiment is looking rough right now.
Mid Scoot
Speaking of variable players, Scoot Henderson produced 18 in 36 minutes, shooting 4-8 beyond the arc. He had moments out there. His ball-hawking in the middle regions of the court looked good. But he had one of those nights where his drives looked predictable and his shots (too often) random. It’s always forward, then back, with Scoot.
Deni Late
Deni Avdija did all his Deni Avdija things in Denver. The Blazers depended on him like Linus clutching his security blanket late in the game, particularly on his ability to draw whistles and foul shots off the drive. I’m not sure why opponents don’t let him try and make shots going left or sell out to force him to pull up. He missed the big jumper he took in crunch time. But as long as defenders keep playing into his hands, Portland will take it.
Avdija tallied 26 points, 7 assists, and 4 turnovers, shooting 13-14 from the charity stripe, in 40 minutes of play.
Shot Battle
The Blazers shot well tonight but made 89 total attempts. Denver had 101, courtesy of a +6 advantage in turnovers and offensive rebounds. In an otherwise-close contest, that deficit was too much for Portland to overcome.
The Joker is Wild
Jokic is the wildcard answer to every question when it comes to his team’s needs. He finished this game with 35 points, 14 rebounds, and 13 assists. As we mentioned above, his presence bent Portland’s defense so markedly that they couldn’t prevent Denver from scoring in overtime.
Donovan Clingan had a nice enough game but Jokic outplayed him handily. Joker was able to pin DC when Clingan guarded him, often keeping Portland’s center from his critical role helping out teammates on defense. Robert Williams III was far more mobile, of course, but playing Jokic straight up with him was like bringing an oscillating lawn sprinkler to an artillery fight. Jokic is a perennial MVP candidate for just this reason. Fair enough.
Up Next
The last road game of the regular season for Portland comes on Wednesday as they face the San Antonio Spurs at 6:30 PM, Pacific Time.
