Game Thread PLAYOFFS: ROUND 1, GAME 6: NUGGETS @ BLAZERS - JUNE 3, 2021 - THURSDAY, 5:00, TNT & NBCSNW

[Darkwebs]

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_____________________________
---------PROBABLE STARTERS---------

2020-21 REGULAR SEASON RECORD
PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS
42 - 30
(22-14 Road)
DENVER NUGGETS
47 - 25
(25-11 Home)

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------- JERSEYS -------

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WHEN: 5:00 PM (PDT), THURSDAY, 6/3/2021

WHERE: Moda Center, Portland, OR

TV BROADCAST:

AND

RADIO BROADCAST:

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--------------BENCH--------------

---- DENVER NUGGETS ----

MORRIS , HOWARD , DOZIER

BARTON , HARRISON , CANCAR

GREEN , MILLSAP , NNAJI

McGEE , BOL

-- PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS --

SIMONS , BLEVINS , ELLEBY

LITTLE , HOLLIS-JEFFERSON , JONES Jr.

ANTHONY , LEAF

GILES III , KANTER



INJURIES
TRAIL BLAZERS
Zach Collins (left ankle stress fracture): OUT
NUGGETS
Will Barton (right hamstring strain): QUESTIONABLE
P.J. Dozier (strained right adductor): QUESTIONABLE
Jamal Murray (torn left ACL): OUT




HEAD COACHES

- VS –

MICHAEL MALONE--- TERRY STOTTS



OFFICIAL NUGGETS' GAME NOTES
OFFICIAL BLAZERS' GAME NOTES ​

SEASON SERIES NOTES
• Denver won the season series against Portland in 2018-19, 3-1. All four games were decided by single digits.
• In four games against the Nuggets, Damian Lillard averaged 21.3 points (37.1% FG, 28.6% 3-PT, 95.8% FT), 3.8 rebounds and 7.0 assists. Lillard shot 23-of-24 from the free-throw-line against Denver this season.
• CJ McCollum averaged 20.0 points (45.3% FG, 26.3% 3-PT, 100% FT), 4.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists in three games against the Nuggets this season.
• In four games against the Nuggets, Al-Farouq Aminu averaged 16.0 points (50.0% FG, 31.6% 3-PT, 94.7% FT), 11.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.00 steal. His 16.0 points per game was his highest scoring average against a Western Conference opponent this season.
• Nikola Jokic averaged 25.7 points (62.0% FG, 38.5% 3-PT, 76.9% FT), 9.7 rebounds, 8.0 assists and 1.00 steal in three games against the Trail Blazers this season.

PLAYOFF SERIES NOTES
• Portland and Denver have faced each other twice previously in the postseason, with each team winning one series.
• The Trail Blazers and Nuggets are 5-5 against each other in the playoffs, all-time.
• The Trail Blazers defeated the Nuggets 4-2 in the 1977 NBA Western Conference Semifinals despite Denver holding home court advantage. Portland won the NBA Championship that year.
• The Nuggets took a five-game first round series vs. the Trail Blazers in 1986, 3-1.
• Former Trail Blazers Will Barton and Mason Plumlee have playoff experience with the Trail Blazers. Barton averaged 6.4 points, 1.7 rebounds, 0.4 assists and 11.6 minutes in six games during the 2014 postseason vs. Houston and San Antonio. Plumlee posted averages of 7.0 points, 11.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 1.00 block and 27.8 minutes in 11 starts vs. the LA Clippers and Golden State in 2016.
• The series is only Portland’s second playoff matchup against a divisional opponent since facing the Lakers in 2002 as members of the Pacific Division. Entering this postseason vs. divisional rivals Oklahoma City and Denver, the Trail Blazers had never faced a Northwest Division opponent since the division was formed in 2004-05.

CONNECTIONS
• Portland center Jusuf Nurkic averaged 7.5 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 139 games (59 starts) in two-plus seasons with the Nuggets. Nurkic was acquired by the Trail Blazers in exchange for Mason Plumlee and a 2017 first round pick on Feb.13, 2017. Plumlee averaged 9.9 points, 7.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 136 games (all starts) across two seasons in Portland.
• Denver guard Will Barton was selected by the Trail Blazers with the 40th pick of the 2012 NBA Draft. He averaged 3.8 points, 1.8 rebounds and 0.8 assists in 144 games (five starts) in two-plus seasons with Portland.
• Trail Blazers forward/center Skal Labissiere and Denver guard Jamal Murray were teammates at the University of Kentucky for the 2015-16 season.

PREVIOUS MEETINGS IN THE SERIES ​

GAME #1: WIN 123-109


GAME #2: LOSS 109-128


GAME #3: LOSS 115-120


GAME #4: WIN 115-95


GAME #5: LOSS 140-147

​

 

[Darkwebs]

Despite a nuclear performance by Lillard in Game 5, the Blazers have now been pushed to the brink of elimination.

I don't wanna doubt Dame, but it's really hard to imagine him having another transcendent game like the previous one, so I hope to see at least a couple of his teammates step up their level of play and help the Blazers secure a victory to send this series to a Game 7.

This is it: it's do or die time. The Blazers either win or they go (stay?) home!

RIP CITY!

 

[THE HCP]

Denver in 6

 

[Darkwebs]

NBA PLAYOFFS BRACKET

​

 

[Tince]

Denver in 6

Homer!

Denver has been favored in 3 games, Portland in 2 games. The series is 3-2 Denver. I'm going with Vegas: This thing is going 7!

 

[THE HCP]

Too bad the Nets and Bucks have to meet in the semis. Thats the conference finals in my opinion.

 

[BlazerBeav]

It's bullshit that we have a weeknight home game at 5PM. My job is flexible enough to where I can make it work, but that's nonsense scheduling by the league.

 

[blazerkor]

Well this is the end. I predicted Denver in 6. The guys on TNT including Draymond think that an effort like Dame gave at altitude will likely take more than a day to recover from. I think that loss will have taken a lot of the wind out of the sails on the team. So I think we'll likely lose this one and look forward to next season.

Or I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about and we win this one and the next going away... who knows.

 

[Strenuus]

Give you mad props darkwebs... you don't fuck around with these poll questions. That's a damn good one.

 

[Strenuus]

It's bullshit that we have a weeknight home game at 5PM. My job is flexible enough to where I can make it work, but that's nonsense scheduling by the league.

Itd of been later had the Nets celts series went another game. But now Dame gets to be on primetime so there's that.

 

[Mr. Robot]

as much as i like nurk, game 5 loss is entirely his fault, had he not fouled out, blazers would won that game

i didnt watched the ots and i see fans are pissed at cj mccollum, but like i said, if nurk was in the game, blazers would surely won that game

how can you be that stupid to make 5 fouls in like 6 minutes, hes really retarted sometimes and theres no salvation for him

but if terry stotts gets fired after a potential loss in the 1st round, ill give him credit for that

 

[blazerkor]

as much as i like nurk, game 5 loss is entirely his fault, had he not fouled out, blazers would won that game

i didnt watched the ots and i see fans are pissed at cj mccollum, but like i said, if nurk was in the game, blazers would surely won that game

how can you be that stupid to make 5 fouls in like 6 minutes, hes really retarted sometimes and theres no salvation for him

but if terry stotts gets fired after a potential loss in the 1st round, ill give him credit for that

The word I put in bold isn't cool to use in the way you used it and ironically you misspelled it.

As far as Nurk taking all of the heat for the loss, I think you're right that it really hurt our chances when he fouled out but it obviously didn't kill them since we had the lead after he was fouled out. So maybe watch the whole game if you want to make bold claims like one person is solely responsible for a loss.

 

[Mr. Robot]

The word I put in bold isn't cool to use in the way you used it and ironically you misspelled it.

As far as Nurk taking all of the heat for the loss, I think you're right that it really hurt our chances when he fouled out but it obviously didn't kill them since we had the lead after he was fouled out. So maybe watch the whole game if you want to make bold claims like one person is solely responsible for a loss.

i live in a different part of the world, one wheres everything normal

im one of nurks biggest critics there is, but thats only cause i like him and want him to succeed

im a blazers fan, but im also a bosnian, so im more focused on nurk (when he plays good or bad or does idiotic things), than on rest of the team... so at the moment, cj mccollum & others are not the persons of interest to me

 

[Fairly-Hard]

Well this is the end. I predicted Denver in 6. The guys on TNT including Draymond think that an effort like Dame gave at altitude will likely take more than a day to recover from. I think that loss will have taken a lot of the wind out of the sails on the team. So I think we'll likely lose this one and look forward to next season.

Or I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about and we win this one and the next going away... who knows.

Ride the fence much?

 

[Fairly-Hard]

as much as i like nurk, game 5 loss is entirely his fault, had he not fouled out, blazers would won that game

i didnt watched the ots and i see fans are pissed at cj mccollum, but like i said, if nurk was in the game, blazers would surely won that game

how can you be that stupid to make 5 fouls in like 6 minutes, hes really retarted sometimes and theres no salvation for him

but if terry stotts gets fired after a potential loss in the 1st round, ill give him credit for that

Cannot disagree with you. Nurk has got to stay engaged and play smart. Some of those fouls are complete bone head moves.

 

[Scalma]

For the amount of money CJs getting paid he should be getting a lot more heat than he is. I see people talking about Nurk and Powell but they were the primary reason the team won game four. CJ hasn’t done anything more than contribute. For $30m a season, more should be expected. Lucky for him he’s got another opportunity in 24 hours. Time to step the fuck up and shoulder the load.

 

[Fairly-Hard]

Blazers need to dig deep and take game 6.
I'm of the school of thought If they get down early (like in the first half) Stotts needs to bring in some fresh legs. Little, DJJ, RHJ, and ugly the game up a bit. Do not wait until the fourth to bring in energy.

Some how some way Nurk needs to stay out of foul trouble. I would say only play him in the second half but he only had one foul at the half last game and still fouled out.

 

[Fairly-Hard]

For the amount of money CJs getting paid he should be getting a lot more heat than he is. I see people talking about Nurk and Powell but they were the primary reason the team won game four. CJ hasn’t done anything more than contribute. For $30m a season, more should be expected. Lucky for him he’s got another opportunity in 24 hours. Time to step the fuck up and shoulder the load.

I think you have called it and that is exactly what you are going to see. Dame will rest a bit and CJ will work this game. If CJ is on the Blazers are in good shape. If not? ....

 

[TBpup]

I think the Blazers somehow get Game 6. The NBA likes 7 game series and since neither is a very large market, the longer the better.
Dame's teammates feel the embarrassment and pick him up for the night but he still has a pretty good game.

Once you get to Game 7.....who knows. The Blazers still have more talent. It just needs to step up. Enough of getting beat by 3rd string guards, 10-day contract guys and undrafted Free Agents.

 

[crandc]

If things weren't bad enough, YouTube TV went down. I watched game using NBA league pass. Contacted YouTube. Rep ran me through various suggestions that not only did not work, they completely shut down Roku connection, can see channels but not connected. Contacted Roku and they suggested factory reset after which nothing worked. Now Roku won't restart. They are saying remote the problem although it worked perfectly until people tried to "help". They are sending new remote which takes a week and might not solve problem. Comcast sent me their streaming device which I kept as backup but it doesn't have NBA league pass and apparently no way to add channels. If You Tube TV can fix their problem I can watch on Comcast device, otherwise will miss all NBA TV and ABC games.

You know things are bad when I start wondering if I should go back to Comcast despite expense.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Too bad the Nets and Bucks have to meet in the semis. Thats the conference finals in my opinion.

Kind of like Suns-Denver?

 

[Chris Craig]

Kind of like Suns-Denver?

If Denver wins the Championship so help me God

 

[TBpup]

Blazers win Game 6.....because Nurk doesn't foul out?

 

[Chris Craig]

Blazers win Game 6.....because Nurk doesn't foul out?

If that's what the NBA wants

 

[crandc]

I won't be able to watch.

 

[THE HCP]

 

[Chris Craig]

 

[DDolla]

Dame Deserves Better… but Go Blazers!

 

[Kano John]

It's bullshit that we have a weeknight home game at 5PM. My job is flexible enough to where I can make it work, but that's nonsense scheduling by the league.

5:00 works well for me. Starts after my nap time and ends before my bedtime! LOL