After last night’s match up against the Denver Nuggets, the Trail Blazers have only eight regular season games left. Considering the playoff crunch that they are in, it’s fair to say that it’s paramount that the Blazers win them all. But last night’s game against the Nuggets, was the biggest and most important win they needed. The Blazers tug of war with the Nuggets for the eighth seed in the western conference is far from being decided. Pitting them head to head was a chance to prove which of the two is truly worthy of a playoff appearance. Going into last night’s game the Blazers were sitting in the eighth seed, but since the Nuggets record was identical to theirs, there was zero reason to relax because their thrown was certainly not comfortable.
Looking at the stat lines, the Nuggets’ numbers are spread much more even than the Blazers. Denver has seven players that have an average of ten or more points per game. The Blazers only have three. Their starting big man Nikola Jokic is just shy of averaging a double-double in points and rebounds. Denver has a foundation that is not made of sand. Pushing them over was gonna be a chore.
Thankfully, the Blazers have pretty much steamrolled their last three opponents. They’ve acquired leads early, pumped them up to 20+ points, and held them for the duration. For a team that typically deals in nail-bitters, it’s been refreshing seeing them step on the gas in the second half of games rather than barely pinching off a win. Since they’ve developed a taste for authoritarian victories, it would’ve been tasty to see the Blazers vanquish the one team that’s really standing in their way of a post season for them.
After a viciously contentious contest, the Blazers held their playoff slot with a 122-113 win, and Denver slid a little more down the chain.
Photos swiped from trailblazers.com
The crowd tends to trickle into a Blazer game. Folks are leisurely about getting their refreshments squared away, and taking the little ones for one last squirt and a foam finger before they get settled, so you usually don’t see the place really fill up until a few minutes into the game. Last night everyone was in their seats and roaring before the official tossed up the tip. All attendees were hot and ready for a rumble. As soon as the clock started ticking, anything going the Blazers’ way was met with an eruption of cheers, and anything less saw passionate, vitriolic jeers.
The first quarter kicked off with the big boys battling. Jusuf Nurkic and Jokic puffed themselves up big and started going to work on their respective opponents, and eachother. Jokic made himself known by mangling everyone in the paint on either side of the court. Apparently he can shoot threes too. He drained one in the first, and scored a total of nine points. However, Nurkic won in the first quarter cramming down 13 points and pulling four boards. He was clearly out to show his former squad that he shouldn’t have been riding the pine so much when he was there.
Noah Vonleh continued his nasty habit of posterizing people. He had a ridiculous dunk over Jokic in the opening quarter that was probably just thunderous and scary enough to make the Serbian center pee himself a little.
Denver tipped the scales in their favor for the first half of the second period, but about half way through the quarter CJ McCollum and Nurkic decided they weren’t having it. By the end of the first half McCollum and Nurkic would finish with 41 of the Blazers 66 points. The Blazers took a two point lead into the locker room. It was a thin cushion that need a lot more padding.
Nurkic continued to pound on the Nuggets with both fists once the third quarter started. With just over seven minutes left in the quarter he chalked up an early double-double with 25 points and ten rebounds. He even got some faint MVP chants during a free throw attempt. It was a little premature for that, but he was doing much more than pulling his weight last night. He sat with three minutes left in the quarter holding 29 points and 14 rebounds. He got a huge, well earned ovation from the Moda Center.
Nurkic passed the baton to CJ once the fourth started. He started the quarter off with 26, and had 35 by the seven and a half minute mark. He dropped floaters, threes, lay-ups, and generally bounded around the offensive side of the court like a gazelle. He ended up finishing the game with a whopping 39 points.
The Nuggets desperately tried to keep the Blazers at bay in the final minutes, but it was nothing doing. The home team wanted it more, and had the ammunition to do it. With the help of another career topping game for Nurkic, 33 points and 16 rebounds, the blazers subjugated another opponent. It would appear that their path to the playoffs is gonna be drenched with the flop sweat and failure of anyone that stands in front of their whirlwind.
