But they didn't regain the lead until Simons' driving layup made it 74-73 and capped a 16-6 run going in to the final period.ĬJ McCollum's 3-pointer pushed the lead to 79-73 and Portland held on until Murray's 3 made it 83-all. The Blazers closed to 70-69 on Lillard's 3-pointer late in the third quarter and then tied it on Anfernee Simons' free throw. Lillard's first points of the game came on a dunk that made it 21-16. Rodney Hood hit a 3-pointer and made a free throw to give Portland a 19-7 lead. "We just wanted to come out and have a good game and come out with a win." "In the beginning of the game it brought out a lot of memories from last year's series," Jamal Murray said. Jokic collected three early fouls and went to the bench with 8:15 left in the first quarter, and the Nuggets struggled. The Blazers finished 53-29 last season and clinched the West's third seed, playing through to the conference finals for the first time in 19 years. The Blazers also picked up veteran big man Pau Gasol as they await Jusuf Nurkic's return from a broken leg. Portland, meanwhile, has six new faces on the roster, including Whiteside, who started at center. The team's biggest move was acquiring Jerami Grant from Oklahoma City. The Nuggets didn't make a lot of changes over the summer, returning the nucleus of the team that won 54 games last season and earned the West's second seed, ending a six-year postseason drought. "We put ourselves in a position where it was going to be hard to come back from them." "When the game was being decided, we just had too many lapses on both ends of the floor," Lillard said. It was the first meeting between the teams since the Western Conference semifinals, won by the Blazers in seven games. He showed everybody why he's an MVP-caliber player." "Nikola in the fourth quarter was phenomenal," Denver coach Michael Malone said. Lillard landed a 3-pointer with 1:58 left to narrow the gap but the Blazers couldn't catch up. Jokic hit back-to-back 3-pointers to extend Denver's lead to 97-90. But the Nuggets answered with consecutive baskets from Jokic and Gary Harris. Whiteside, acquired in an offseason trade with Miami, tipped in Lillard's 3-point attempt to help the Blazers to an 88-87 lead with just under five minutes left. "I wanted to go out there to be the positive energy to win the game."ĭamian Lillard led the Blazers with 32 points and eight assists, and Hassan Whiteside had 16 points and 19 rebounds in his Portland debut. I just wanted to win the game," said Jokic, who had 16 points in the fourth quarter alone. Will Barton added 19 points for the Nuggets, who also snapped Portland's 18-game winning streak in home openers, the longest streak in league history. He had 20 points and 13 rebounds despite sitting much of the first half, and the Denver Nuggets spoiled the first game of Portland's 50th season with a 108-100 victory over the Trail Blazers on Wednesday night. Early foul trouble in the season opener wasn't going to get Nikola Jokic down. NBA, Portland Trail Blazers, Denver Nuggets Jokic powers Denver past Portland 108-100
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