The Portland Trail Blazers take on one of their toughest remaining opponents tonight, traveling to Ball Arena to take on Nikola Jokic and the burgeoning Denver Nuggets.
The Nuggets Report
The Nuggets are very, very, very good at basketball. It is bad writing practice to use the word “very” as an amplifier, much less use it three times. However, that’s the only way to emphasize how the Nuggets are currently rolling. Three-time MVP Nikola Jokic still possesses the ability to “turn it on” come playoff time, a quality evident
by the Nuggets’ most recent matchup with the 2nd-seeded San Antonio Spurs. This contest revealed that there are, in fact, levels to this game, and the top seeds in the Western Conference operate on that level.
The Nuggets, plain and simple, are better than the Blazers. Much like every other team that exists – and has ever existed – the Blazers do not match up well with Jokic. On the back of the world’s best player, the Nuggets possess the league’s best offense over the last two weeks of play, trailing only… the Hornets?? Anyway…
This matchup is going to depend on how the Blazers are able to contain the Nuggets’ three-point shooting. Having to worry about matchups like Cameron Johnson, Jamal Murray, Tim Hardaway Jr., Bruce Brown, and Aaron Gordon makes that containment easier said than done. Not to mention Jokic’s knack for doing a pirouette into a 720 spin-move before throwing up a one-footed dagger, as he did over Victor Wembanyama on Saturday night. All of that is to say, the Blazers will be relying upon some poor shooting luck to remain in this contest.
The Blazers Report
In their first contest with the Nuggets, during the Emirates™ NBA Cup Group Stage, the Blazers won through exactly this manner, containing the nuggets to 24% shooting from three. Granted, the Blazers also shot 28%, but it was an advantage, nonetheless! As with most successful games, Portland also won the turnover battle, committing only 12 turnovers and grabbing six more offensive rebounds than the Nuggets. First, I didn’t know the Blazers were capable of committing only 12 turnovers. Is this stat sheet real? Are we pulling a reverse-90s and deflating statistics? Second, now that both teams have settled into their respective identities of “really good contending basketball team,” and “oh my god we might be .500” (I’ll let you decide who’s who), it is unlikely that the Blazers will once again win the turnover battle. The question will be: How many times can they cough the ball up to the league’s most offensively competent team and get away with it?
If the Blazers do find the secret sauce against the Nuggets tonight, then they will be guaranteed to finish with at least a .500 for the first time since the 2020-2021 NBA Season. That’s incredibly depressing, but also optimistic! Things are beginning to look up for the Blazers. In the immediate term, a win against one of the league’s true contenders would be a good vibe-boost heading into the Play-In Tournament.
What you Need to Know
Portland Trail Blazers (40-38) vs. Denver Nuggets (50-28) – Mon. Apr 6th – 6pm Pacific
How to watch via antenna or cable: See your options on the Rip City Television Network.
How to watch via streaming: BlazerVision in Oregon and Washington; League Pass or NBA TV everywhere else.
Trail Blazers injuries: Jerami Grant, Vit Krejci, Damian Lillard, Shaedon Sharpe (Out).
Nuggets Injuries: Bruce Brown (Questionable); Spencer Jones, Zeke Nnaji, Peyton Watson (Out)
What to Watch For.
The Jokic Plan. What approach will the Blazers take with Jokic? There are typically two schools of thought: First, allow Jokic to score as much as he wants, which restricts the involvement of the rest of his teammates. Problems begin to arise when he scores too much, but Toumani Camara and Donovan Clingan have as good a chance as anyone to slow him down. Second, you try to limit his individual scoring impact, which frees him up to throw no-look baseball passes directly into his teammate’s shooting pocket from 70 feet away. It really is a “pick your poison” kind of matchup. Which one will the Blazers choose?
Slow Starts. The Blazers cannot afford to come out of the gate sluggish, as they did in their previous contest against the New Orleans Pelicans. The Nuggets are less forgiving than the Pelicans when it comes to winning basketball games. I’m guessing the Blazers understand this, but need to channel it into poised, energetic play. A slow start is a losing start against the most efficient offense in the league.
