The Denver Nuggets have been making good comebacks all season.
Not even a grueling loss with four overtime periods could keep this team at bay.
Nikola Jokic added 21 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists, his second consecutive triple-double and the fourth in the playoffs, as the Denver Nuggets tied the Western Conference semifinal 2-2, beating 116-112 on Sunday. the Portland Trail Blazers.
It was less than 48 hours after Portland’s epic 140-137 victory in fourth overtime that put them 2-1 up in the series. That was the second game in playoff history to go to four overtime. The other was in 1953.
“I think it’s not giving up. We have a lot of competitive men who don’t want to lose. I think we don’t want to lose more than we want to win, which is rare, ”commented Jokic. “We just didn’t want to have the excuse that we lost by four overtimes, because we were tired.”
Jamal Murray led all scorers with 34 points and made his 11 free throws for the Nuggets, who handed Portland its first home loss of this postseason. The series is now heading back to Denver for the fifth game.
CJ McCollum had 29 points and Damian Lillard added 28 for the Blazers, who missed an opportunity to take a 3-1 lead in a conference semifinal, something they haven’t had since 2000.
“Our men are tough. We are resilient, ”said Nuggets coach Michael Malone. “I mean, getting here and winning this game 36 hours after losing in four overtime, that shows how tough we are.”
Malone recited several statistics from the season to back up his claims: Denver is 12-1 in the second game of consecutive games, the best in the NBA. The Nuggets also did well in tight games: 13-3 in games decided by three points or less, he said.
“We said to ourselves, ‘If we win today, then the last game doesn’t matter that much,'” Jokic said. “Yeah we played a four overtime game, it was exhausting, but we won tonight so the last game doesn’t really matter.”
Denver outscored the Blazers 27-14 in the third period to take an 84-77 lead at the start of the last. Malik Beasley started that quarter with a triple for the Nuggets.
Al-Farouq Aminu pushed the ball to the basket to bring the Blazers closer to 99-96 with 4:12 minutes to go. Lillard cut the lead to one unit with a pair of free throws, but Will Barton hit a 3-pointer and the Nuggets resisted Portland’s reaction attempts down the stretch, thanks in large part to Murray’s shooting from the line. punishment.
Rodney Hood hit a 3-pointer that brought the Blazers closer to 110-107 with 52 seconds remaining. A Lillard layup put the score closer, 112-110, with 7.7 seconds left.
But Murray’s free throws gave Denver a four-point lead. McCollum hit a long shot, which nevertheless remained as a double after consulting the replay, and Denver took the victory.