The Portland Trail Blazers defeated the Denver Nuggets 108-101 in NBA Summer League action on Thursday night, eliminating Denver from championship contention in the process. The already-eliminated Blazers moved to 2-2, with their last game against the Utah Jazz on tap for tomorrow. Seven Portland players finished in double figures. Frankie Fidler, Quincy Olivari, and Flynn Cameron all shared team scoring honors with 16 each. Chris Youngblood finished with eight assists, while four Blazers tied with five
rebounds. Mark Sears powered the Nuggets in a losing effort with 26 points.
First Half
The Blazers got off to a slow start, falling behind by seven rather rapidly. Turnovers were abundant, with four in the first four minutes. Portland was utterly unable to get Yang Hansen involved in any meaningful way. The only thing keeping the Blazers from getting blown out of the gym early was good three-point shooting.
By the end of the first quarter things turned around. The Blazers stopped coughing up the ball, the defense tightened, and the offense became more functional. Give a lot of credit to Jaylen Martin, who came off the bench and scored seven points in just over three-and-a-half minutes in the quarter. After one the Blazers had tied it up, 25-25.
Yang finally got off mark with 6:47 left in the game, getting his first points off a dunk. While not exactly dominating the game on the scoreboard, he picked up a couple of assists, adding some rebounds and a block in the half.
The Blazers were staying comfortably in a game Denver needed to win by 15 to stay in Summer League championship contention. Continued good long-distance shooting was key, with Portland finishing the half at 46.2%. Two-way guard Chris Youngblood stood out for his 9 points, including 3-4 from deep. Quincy Olivari bounced back from a rough start to put 10 points on the board in the half. For the Nuggets, Sears was the main show with 18 points before the break. Denver went into the locker room leading 50-48.
Second Half
The Nuggets needed points in a hurry, but the Blazers played solid team basketball in the second half. Good, unselfish passing found the open man, often for uncontested threes that the Blazers continued to hit at a very good clip. Hansen started to have more of impact, burying a three and raising his block total to four.
Flynn Cameron off the bench was having a game as well, finishing with 16 points on 75% shooting.
Portland was able to start building lead at the end of the third and into the fourth quarter. They got their advantage up to as many as 10 points. It wouldn’t last, as Portland went cold from three and Denver, for all intents and purposes eliminated from the tournament, were playing scrappy ball to try to salvage the consolation prize of a win.
The Nuggets managed to cut the lead to a single point, but the Blazers responded well. A two-hand over-the-head no-look backward pass from Yang to Jayson Kent for a dunk with 1:17 left got the lead to 5, and a Quincy Olivari three pretty much iced it.
Next Up
The Blazers will wrap up their time in Las Vegas tomorrow with a contest against the Utah Jazz. Catch this one on Amazon Prime or KUNP, with the game scheduled for 7:30 PM PDT.
