Game Thread GAME# 44: BLAZERS @ NUGGETS - JANUARY 13, 2019 - SUNDAY, 5:00 PM, NBCSNW

• Sunday’s game marks the second of four meetings between the Trail Blazers and the Nuggets during the 2018-19 season. Denver leads the season series, 1-0.

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• LAST MEETING: The Nuggets edged past the Trail Blazers at Moda Center on Nov. 30, 113-112. CJ McCollum missed a 21-foot jumpshot at the fi nal buzzer that would have given Portland the victory. Gary Harris led Denver with 27 points (9-21 FG, 4-10 3-PT, 5-6 FT), including a three-pointer to give the Nuggets a 113-100 lead with 16.5 seconds left in the game. CJ McCollum had 33 points (14-21 FG, 5-5 FT) and four rebounds for the Trail Blazers.

• Al-Farouq Aminu had 20 points (7-9 FG, 2-4 3-PT, 4-4 FT), seven rebounds and one assist against the Nuggets in the Nov. 30 meeting.

• Jusuf Nurkic had 17 points (7-15 FG, 3-5 FT) and 11 rebounds against Denver on Nov. 30.

• Paul Millsap recorded 22 points (9-16 FG, 2-3 3-PT, 2-2 FT), 10 rebounds, four assists and four steals against Portland on Nov. 30.

• HEAD-TO-HEAD HISTORY:
ALL TIME: Trail Blazers lead, 97-80
IN PORTLAND: Trail Blazers lead, 68-22
AT THE NUGGETS: Nuggets lead, 58-29

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Enough feasting on the East, it's time to face the best in the West. Wrapping up a 5-game homestand, the Blazers finished with a more-than-respectable 4-1 record.

Suffice to say, this match-up against Denver will be the toughest challenge the Blazers have faced in quite a while. This is going to be an epic game, as the #1 Western Conference team battles against the #4 team. Both clubs have been playing well (both winning 7 of their last 10 games).

If anyone can beat the Nuggets right now, it might just be the Blazers, who have been red-hot and rolling. Portland has just matched their season high win streak of 4. They have won 7 of their last 9 games, and last night's victory was their third 30-point win of the season. The Blazers have 7 straight games of 20+ assists (5 straight with 25+), so they have been executing team-ball impressively.

The bad news is that the Blazers have played more home games than any other team in the entire league, so it may only get more challenging as the season rolls on, as road games, like this one at Denver, start to mount up.

The Nuggets will be on the second night of a back-to-back, and they will be traveling from Phoenix (whom they face on Saturday) to Denver for this game. So the Blazers will actually arrive in Denver before the Nuggets. Thus, the Blazers will have a real shot at a victory in a venue where those come rare.

In their previous meeting earlier this season at the Moda Center, the Nuggets edged out the Blazers in a tight game that saw Portland lose by a single point, giving the Nuggets a 5-game win streak at that time. So this will be a revenge game for the Blazers. And this time, Portland will be the team going for 5 straight wins.

WIll the Blazers achieve the improbable and beat the West's # 1 team on the road?
Can Nurkic continue his torrid play and make Denver regret casting him away? Or will Jokic show why he is considered one of the best centers in the NBA?

Tune in to find out. And get hyped for RIP CITY in the Mile-High City!

Bias aside, Jokic is better. I think it is pretty close though

Jokic is the better passer and that’s about it. Jokic shoots threes but he’s not very efficient at it. Last years percentages look more like a fluke.

Jokic is easily the best big man passer in the league imo. Would I trade Nurk for him straight up? Yes I would, but this new aggressive around the rim Nurk is starting to sway me a bit. Plus I like Nurks personality more.

Having gone to the Game in Denver many times over the last 9 years, i've watched a number of tight games where the Blazers have either lead, or come back to make the game close. And in the game that featured a game stoppage due to a power outage, came back and finished the deal and win. The key in many of those games was finishing the game. If the Blazers continue to get quality bench play, they can return the favor, and give the Nuggets an "L" to take home after the game.

Scalma said:

Jokic is the better passer and that’s about it. Jokic shoots threes but he’s not very efficient at it. Last years percentages look more like a fluke.

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Jokic is slightly better at passing the ball, but is a more pure shooter from outside. Nurk is stronger, and has really nice footwork down low. Nurk is, BY FAR , a better defender, and is head and shoulders above the Joker as a shot blocker. It's offense vs. defense.

Nurk is a beast. Jokic is not. I like my center to be a badass so I take Nurk.

We're going to win this game. All of their strengths are countered by ours. I think Nurk will have a big game and I think Dame will score 30+. GO BLAZERS!!!

I think the starters are fairly even. The difference assuming both teams are on their games (no flukey terrible shooting night or incredibly hot shooting) will probably be the benches. The Blazers bench has looked good, but Denver's got quite a bit of firepower too.
I'm pretty excited about this game.

Poll results are ridiculous. Jokic has a legit shot as an all NBA first team player over guys like Davis and Embiid. Come on, now. We are like weeks removed from Nurk going like 1-16 against Gasol. Jokic is carrying that squad to the #1 record in the west.

LayneStaley said:

Jokic is easily the best big man passer in the league imo. Would I trade Nurk for him straight up? Yes I would, but this new aggressive around the rim Nurk is starting to sway me a bit. Plus I like Nurks personality more.

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He's on par with the likes of Walton and Sabonis. Transcendental talent. And people think Nurk is better than him? What

illmatic99 said:

Poll results are ridiculous. Jokic has a legit shot as an all NBA first team player over guys like Davis and Embiid. Come on, now

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Media really does control the narrative. Not saying Jokic isn’t great, he is, but Nurkic is too and he deserves his respect. And these numbers are cumulative. I’d love to see how Nurk stacks up since we’ve been playing through him.

Scalma said:

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Media really does control the narrative. Not saying Jokic isn’t great, he is, but Nurkic is too and he deserves his respect. And these numbers are cumulative. I’d love to see how Nurk stacks up since we’ve been playing through him.

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Media? I don't need the media to tell me Jokic is unequivocally the better player. Nurk has had a great run, but he's the third option on our team at best. Jokic is changing the way teams play defenses in Denver's attack. Nurk is the better defender but Jokic is the better player overall, and frankly, I don't think it's as close as the stats indicate.

I love what Nurks doing but Jokic is the star on his team and has done it all year at a high level. They’re fairly different players and if you wanted to argue that Nurkic is a better fit here than Jokic would be than maybe thats an interesting discussion but just overall who’s “better” thats Jokic.

Here’s Nurk vs Jokic the last fifteen games. I don’t know the specific date we started playing through Nurk but this is probably close enough.

Scalma said:

Here’s Nurk vs Jokic the last fifteen games. I don’t know the specific date we started playing through Nurk but this is probably close enough.

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Nurkic and the Blazers keep it up and he keeps being so efficient on offense and playing great defense maybe by the end of the year its the right time to have that conversation?

I adore Nurk, but could Nurkic be the best player on a number 1 team in the western conference which has had multiple long term injuries to 3 out of the 5 starting lineup players? Nah fam.

DollaBel said:

I adore Nurk, but could Nurkic be the best player on a number 1 team in the western conference which has had multiple long term injuries to 3 out of the 5 starting lineup players? Nah fam.

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If Nurkic was on Denver instead of Jokic he’d be their best player. Murray isn’t even as good as CJ.

Scalma said:

Here’s Nurk vs Jokic the last fifteen games. I don’t know the specific date we started playing through Nurk but this is probably close enough.

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Jokic leads Nurkic in nearly all categories there. Yet, Nurk has more than twice the +/-

Scalma said:

If Nurkic was on Denver instead of Jokic he’d be their best player. Murray isn’t even as good as CJ.

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He'd be their best player, but would they be #1?

Chris Craig said:

He'd be their best player, but would they be #1?

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Sure, why not? They’re good because they’re deep, not because they’re top heavy.

Denver had both of them and essentially traded Nurkic and Collins for Plumlee.

This isn't really meant as a comparison of the two, more of just a comment, but I have a hard time calling someone great when they've never even played in a single playoff game yet in Jokic's case or if they haven't even won a playoff game yet either like in Nurk's case.

tykendo said:

Having gone to the Game in Denver many times over the last 9 years, i've watched a number of tight games where the Blazers have either lead, or come back to make the game close. And in the game that featured a game stoppage due to a power outage, came back and finished the deal and win. The key in many of those games was finishing the game. If the Blazers continue to get quality bench play, they can return the favor, and give the Nuggets an "L" to take home after the game.

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I was gonna go to this game but been too busy with work. I’m going to the one in April tho.

Harkless out tomorrow.

SO! Everybody is all happy again, right? We are a good team again, right?
We just got done playing 3 middle school rec league teams, so I hope we are taking it all with a grain of salt. Never too low, never too high FAMS!

THE HCP said:

SO! Everybody is all happy again, right? We are a good team again, right?
We just got done playing 3 middle school rec league teams, so I hope we are taking it all with a grain of salt. Never too low, never too high FAMS!

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Absolutely, I really like the offense going through Nurkic more. They're winning the games they should for the most part. You still got them at 40 wins for the year?

THE HCP said:

SO! Everybody is all happy again, right? We are a good team again, right?
We just got done playing 3 middle school rec league teams, so I hope we are taking it all with a grain of salt. Never too low, never too high FAMS!

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#40wins is looking pretty bad for you right now FAMS.

THE HCP said:

SO! Everybody is all happy again, right? We are a good team again, right?
We just got done playing 3 middle school rec league teams, so I hope we are taking it all with a grain of salt. Never too low, never too high FAMS!

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After a good comeback win against a scrappy Kings team on the road, a blowout over Philadelphia, and a win over Golden State in Oakland.

But it's not necessarily because we're winning, it's how we're winning. We're moving the ball and players really well right now. It's much improved compared to struggles we had in that area in November/December.