Denver on the road but looking no worse for wear
The Denver Nuggets (49-21) are on the road Saturday, facing the Portland Trail Blazers (19-51). Denver took a five-point lead into the half and poured it on in the second half, outscoring New York by 12 points. Denver was hitting from all over the floor, connecting on 53.6% of their field-goal attempts and were 17-20 from the free-throw line. A 42-31 edge on the glass proved to be a huge factor in the game.
"But Cabo was a great break," said Michael Porter, who attributed breaking the team's 3-point mark to being healthy and playing in a career-high 69 games this season. “I needed it for sure.”
Nikola Jokic had a huge game, recording a triple-double with 30 points, 14 rebounds, and 11 assists. Jokic has been on fire of late, averaging 27.7 points, 12.3 rebounds, and 7.4 assists over his last 10 games. Porter led the team with 31 points.
Portland struggles continue
Portland had a one-point lead after one quarter but was dominated over the next two quarters, as the Clippers outscored them by 11 in the second and 14 in the third. That proved to be too much of a deficit to overcome. Portland shot 48.1% in this contest, including 44.1% from three-point range. However, they were 10-15 from the free-throw line and allowed the Clippers to hit 52.3% of their shots.
Portland was led by Scoot Henderson, who had 18 points off 6-15 shooting. Henderson is averaging 11.9 points over his last 10 games, but with so many injuries this team is finding it hard to compete.
Injury Report
The Nuggets may be out their two stars tonight but Portland is out pretty much every player they had design for helping their young roster. Robert Williams out for the year before the season got started, Grant has missed fourteen games and likely does not play tonight, Brogdon has missed twenty-nine games and is out tonight, Ayton is questionable, Anfernee Simons went down with a knee injury in last night’s game. The injury bug has devastated this team and there was zero margin for that error in their roster. The Blazers are also the team on a back to back. Zero excuses for the Nuggets to not come away with a victory tonight.
Same result expected in the fourth matchup
The Nuggets have dominated Portland of late, winning six straight and eight of the last nine. They have also done so with pretty sizable victories, winning four of the last 6 by 11 points or more. That included a 15-point victory the last time these teams met in Portland.
With the Trail Blazers playing on Friday and with so many injuries, this should be an exhausted Portland club. They simply cannot keep up with Denver, especially if Jokic is healthy.
