The combination of Serbian center Nikola Jokic and Canadian point guard Jamal Murray was once again decisive in the Denver Nuggets’ attack by contributing 60 points that helped their team win 121-113 over the Portland Trail Blazers in the first game of the semifinal tie of the Western Conference.
Jokic contributed 37 points, nine rebounds, six assists, three recoveries and two blocks that left him as the leader of the Nuggets, who take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
The Nuggets’ All-Star center, who averaged 23.1 points; 12.1 rebounds and 9.1 assists in the first round tie against the Spurs, against the Trail Blazers, he started the series perfect from the personnel line by scoring the 12 free throws he made.
The second game will be played on Wednesday on the same stage at the Pepsi Center in Denver.
Murray had another 23 points with eight assists, which made him the second leading scorer for the Nuggets, who also had the support of power forward Paul Millsap, who reached 19 points, captured six defensive rebounds and gave three touchdown passes.
Forward Gary Harris scored 11 points and completed the list of the four Nuggets players who had double-digit numbers, as well as grabbing five rebounds, giving two assists, recovering a ball and putting up two decisive blocks down the stretch of the game.
The Spanish power forward Juancho Hernangómez was left without seeing action with the Nuggets, by decision of the coach of the Denver team, Michael Malone.
The point guard Damian Lillard with 39 points was the leader of the attack of the Trail Blazers who also had the support of the Swiss Turkish center Enes Kanter, who contributed 26 points and seven rebounds, which in the end could not avoid defeat.
Lillard, who had scored 50 points in Game 5 of the first-round tie against the Oklahoma City Thunder, this time missed the decisive baskets, missing 8 of 12 3-point attempts, including his last down the straight. end of the game, which Harris blocked and could have kept his team in the fight for victory.
“Last Saturday night we had a very emotional game in the seventh of the series against Spurs and I didn’t know how the team was going to react,” said Malone. “I was worried, but our players did a great job.”
Lillard made two consecutive penetrations that put the Trail Blazers with just five points and nine minutes to go.
But Jokic scored two personnel shots from a flagrant foul that pointed to guard CJ McCollum, in the middle of the two dunks that reserve center Mason Plumlee achieved gave the Nuggets the advantage of 11 points that would be the definitive one (107-96) because the Trail Blazers couldn’t get close on the scoreboard the rest of the way.
The Nuggets maintained consistency in their game after they beat the Spurs 90-86 on Saturday, in what was their first victory in a seventh game since May 3, 1978 when they did so against the Milwaukee Bucks.
Meanwhile, the Trail Blazers, who are in the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season, were resting after eliminating the Thunder in five games and for the first time in three years they made it to the semifinals.
However, the Nuggets grew in all facets of the game and of emotions and won for the fourth time in the last five games they have played.
The Trail Blazers were always in the game thanks to the excellent work of Kanter, who despite having suffered the separation of his left shoulder during the fifth game against the Thunder, returned to the starting lineup and contributed 14 points in the first half, which that allowed the Portland team to go into halftime with only three goals down on the scoreboard (58-55).
“Enes has done an exceptional job, despite the injury, his movements around the basket have been brilliant,” said Terry Stotts, coach of the Trail Blazers. “I could not have asked him to do more, his contribution has been exemplary.”
But the Trail Blazers did not have their best control of the ball, losing it 18 times and the Nuggets took advantage of it with 23 points scored.
“We played a good game in the offensive section, but the turnovers really made the difference in the final score,” admitted Stotts.
The Nuggets and the Trail Blazers meet for the third time in the final phase, with a winning distribution.
Portland beat Denver in 1977 in the Western Conference finals, when with Bill Walton and Maurice Lucas they won the title of the NBA, while the Nuggets beat the Trail Blazers (3-1) in the first round of the 1986 playoffs.