TEAM • Denver evened the best-of-seven series against the Trail Blazers at 2-2. Game 5 will be played on Tuesday, May 7 in Denver followed by Game 6 in Portland on Thursday, May 9. • The Trail Blazers shot 47.6% from the field (39-of-82) while holding the Nuggets to 43.5% shooting (40-of-92). • The Trail Blazers made 12 three-pointers (of 28) to Denver’s 11 three-pointers (of 25). • Portland had five blocks and four steals while Denver recorded four blocks and seven steals. • Portland outscored the Nuggets on the fast break, 12-9. • The Trail Blazers bench outscored the Denver reserves, 27-23.
PLAYER • CJ McCollum led the Trail Blazers with 29 points (10-20 FG, 4-8 3-PT, 5-6 FT) to go with five re- bounds, one assist and one steal. He scored 11 points in the fourth quarter. • Damian Lillard finished with 28 points (9-22 FG, 2-7 3-PT, 8-11 FT), three rebounds, seven assists and two steals. He scored 15 points in the fourth quarter on 5-of-8 shooting (1-2 3-PT, 4-6 FT). Lillard has scored at least 28 points in seven of nine games this postseason. • Al-Farouq Aminu recorded 19 points (6-10 FG, 1-4 3-PT, 6-7 FT), eight rebounds and two blocks. It matched his highest-scoring game this postseason. • Seth Curry scored a postseason career-high 16 points (6-9 FG, 4-6 3-PT) to go with three rebounds and one assist in 27 minutes off the bench. All 16 of his points came in the first half. • Enes Kanter notched five points (2-5 FG), 10 rebounds and one block. • Rodney Hood had seven points (3-4 FG, 1-1 3-PT), four rebounds and three assists in 24 minutes off the bench. • Maurice Harkless registered four points, five rebounds, two assists and one steal in 17 minutes. • Nikola Jokic recorded his second consecutive triple-double, finishing with 21 points (8-15 FG, 1-1 3-PT, 4-4 FT), 12 rebounds and 11 assists to go with two steals. It was his fourth triple-double of the postseason. • Jamal Murray scored a team-high 34 points (10-20 FG, 3-7 3-PT, 11-11 FT) to go with five rebounds and four assists. It matched the highest-scoring game of his postseason career (5/3/19 vs. Por.). Mur- ray scored 12 points in the final period. • Paul Millsap had his third consecutive double-double, finishing with 21 points (6-10 FG, 2-3 3-PT, 7-8 FT), 10 rebounds, one steal and two blocks. It was his highest-scoring game of the 2019 playoffs.
HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS What have they done to make it difficult for Lillard this series? “I don’t know, I think he’s been having some good looks. He had 39 the first game. Give them credit to their defense, they really help in the paint. They’re aggressive on the pick and rolls. But it’s nothing we haven’t seen.” Last series, Lillard let fly on a lot of deep shots with confidence, have you seen him hesitating on those this series? “I think they’re picking him up pretty high. They need to be open. For Dame, an open three is a good three. They’re picking him up across half court, they’re not giving him a lot of space, so I don’t think those same threes are there.” Denver has been successful offensive rebounding, have you thought about playing a bigger lineup or what can you do? “I think our matchups are fine, they’re a little bit more aggressive going after the ball. We play our lineups and we play our guys and our starting lineup is a pretty big lineup. When you have Moe and Chief and either Enes or Zach, that’s a pretty big lineup. Their guards can rebound. We’ve got to do a better job of putting bodies on them. Sometimes it’s bad bounces. Sometimes they’re more aggressive going after the ball, but I don’t think it’s a question of size.” How disappointing is it to not get win and 3-1 lead? “It is disappointing. You go up 3-1 and you have a lot of momentum and obviously that would be a great position to be in, but they’re a good team. They came out and played well. We had a bad third quarter and that kind of made the difference. We made a good comeback but now it’s a three game series. So yeah, wouldn’t we all love a sweep too? That didn’t happen. So now it’s 2-2 and we move on.” When you look at the box score, what do you think was the biggest difference tonight? “The third quarter. Our offense in the third quarter, our turnovers, our shooting percentage. We didn’t have a lot of pop in the third quarter, we were a little flat and that gave them some momentum. We went into the locker room at halftime with that momentum and we kind of gave it away.”
DAMIAN LILLARD & CJ MCCOLLUM Do you feel like Denver is taking away your space more than last series vs. OKC? Lillard: “Yeah. I think it’s obvious they’re trying to show bodies and make me play in a crowd, find an open man and that’s what I’ve tried to do. Try to see where the help is coming from, see where the other guy is coming from, make that play and still just find a way to be aggressive, look for shots. Just don’t let them turn me into a passive player. But I can definitely see that they’re trying to be a little more aggressive and I have more bodies around me.” What is the balance of not trying to force the issue but also trusting the pass? Lillard: “I think when you see a defense come at you that aggressively, you’ve got to identify what they’re trying to do, what you think they’re trying to do and try to make them pay for it. Try to attack them with the pass. Maybe the weak side or wherever the help is coming from, attack them there and try to take advantage of it. That way it brings down and maybe they go away from it or it softens up because they’re caring about the other side or us hurting them on the other side. And then get more aggressive after that to score the ball. If that’s not working, then you’ve got to figure it out. Maybe attack and try to get downhill more, get some contact. That’s pretty much what it is – try to make them pay with the pass and see if it’ll work out by giving the ball up and then if not, got to stay aggressive.” How important is it to remain calm and focused in a disappointing loss to make sure you come back strong in game 5? Lillard: “I mean, it happens. In the playoffs, it’s going to be competitive. It’s not always going to go your way. The good thing for us is that we won a game on their court, so it’s not like we lost both there, they came here and won one and we’re going back facing elimination. So I think we’re in a good space, 2 to 2, we know we’re capable of winning on their floor and that’s what we’ve got to go get done. Obviously it’s disappointing like you said, we didn’t want to let an opportunity like this slip but it happens. It’s playoff basketball and we’ve got to move forward.” Fans have said this has been a really entertaining series so far, why do you think that is? What makes Denver tough? McCollum: “I think it’s entertaining because we play an entertaining brand of basketball. We get out and run and shoot threes, we’re in high isolations situations, pretty good home court advantage and I think they play a nice brand of basketball over there – back doors, dribble hand-offs, make the extra pass. I think that’s why it’s entertaining to watch. In terms of the difference in the series, I think we didn’t have lapses like we did tonight in the third quarter in the last series. When you score 14 points in the quarter, it’ll really set you back and I think that was the difference in the game. We didn’t give up as many offensive rebounds in the Oklahoma City series so we have to tighten those little things up. Offensively, get a shot up every possession and defensively, limit them to one shot.” You had momentum going into half time but struggled in the third quarter, what happened in the third? Lillard: “Like you said, we had the momentum but it’s a long game. You’ve got to be able to play 48 minutes. I thought that third quarter, our energy wasn’t where it needed to be. Like CJ just said, it’s going to be hard to keep a lead or keep a team off you when you score 14 points. I think that came from turning the ball over, allowed them to get out, not being as sharp as we needed to be in our coverages and they’ve got a lot of shooters out there. So we know we’re trying to give Millsap and Jokic attention on the block when they have the ball. Our communication has to be right on the weak side or they’re going to take advantage of it with their shooters. I thought there was a lot of that mixed with turnovers, second and third opportunities on the glass. A team that’s as good as they are, if you keep giving them opportunities, they’re going to score. So I think it was a mix of all those things.” When teams are sending that much attention to Lillard, do you take on more focus of trying to score yourself? McCollum: “From the moment I step on the court to the moment I leave, I try to be as aggressive as possible. So my focus is to get downhill, take advantage of the matchup, take advantage of the situation whether that’s trying to score, trying to find the open man, so he and I approach the game the same way, whether it’s good intentions or not, have to be aggressive in order for us to have a chance to win.” We’ve seen some series be about things that are more than basketball, is it fair to say this series has been more about hoops? Lillard: “Every series is about hoop, regardless of what else is happening because we’re playing basketball. It’s two good teams trying to advance. That’s all it is. We’ve got an even series, so we’ve got to go back on their floor, we’ve got to win one on their floor, regardless of what happens so we need to try to make that happen Tuesday.” Seth Curry got going tonight, how important will that be moving forward? Lillard: “It’s huge. Obviously with the attention that’s going to come on the ball, if I’m handling or CJ’s handling it, it’s huge when he’s making shots, Rodney’s making shots. You’re getting guys off the ball scoring, give them something to worry about. Going forward, that’s going to be huge for us. It was really good to see him get hot out there.”
HEAD COACH MICHAEL MALONE On getting a win tonight after the quadruple overtime loss on Friday: “I’m so proud of our group, and in the closing moments I really was confident because in close games this year we’re 13-3, decided by three points or less—best record in the NBA. We’re 12-1 in the second nights of a back-to-back, best record in the NBA. Our guys are tough; to come in here and win this game 36 hours after losing a four-overtime game speaks to just how tough we are. So I wasn’t worried, we had our starting group out there; Jamal Murray, who I thought was phenomenal tonight, goes 11-11 from the foul line in a hostile environment and really kind of the series hanging in the balance. You go down 1-3, we all know how that story ends. I think the confidence of doing the same thing in the first round against San Antonio helped us, but our guys stepped up. We never frayed, we stayed together, and I can’t speak enough about the resiliency and toughness of our team.” On Jamal Murray’s performance tonight and in this series against Damian Lillard: “It shows you that Jamal Murray has got tremendous amount of grit, toughness; and I know I use those words all the time, but I think it really applies to our group. You think about how young we are and what we’re doing, going on the road and winning a tough game in a hostile environment, and for Jamal to be the centerpiece of that has been phenomenal. This was our 11th playoff game and in our wins, Jamal Murray’s stats are off the charts. If you’re a Denver Nuggets fan, how excited are you about this team now, but more importantly how excited are you for our future? We have a chance to be a really good team for many, many years, and Jamal’s going to be a big part of that.” On Nikola Jokic serving as the leader for this team: “Nikola Jokic is a great player, because you know why? He makes every one of his teammates better; he raises their level of play, he finds the open man, he doesn’t force it, and he’s so unselfish and his I.Q. is off the charts. That is just another example of where he’s not forcing it, he’s making the right play, and that’s what I love about him. He is a basketball purist, if you will; he is always going to make the right play, he’s drawing a crowd, he finds the open man. Will Barton’s threes tonight were really, really impactful; the confidence that we talked about prior to Game 4 carried over into tonight, and I thought he was really instrumental in this win. When I saw [Nikola Jokic] limping to the sideline, yes, your heart skips a beat—Nikola [Jokic] is the face of our franchise, but he just got kneed, it was nothing serious, and we were able to hold on for the win. This series, just like San Antonio, lot of basketball to be played, but to get this win, what a great feeling, especially after that low of losing the four-overtime game just 36 hours ago.” On realizing that his team was ready for Game 4: “[I knew] when we started the game. The first six minutes of the first quarter we came out, the crowd was ready to go, but we came out and played really solid basketball at both ends. The end of that first quarter, they went on a run and took the lead, but I could tell right away. I really had no doubts; I’m not just saying this after the fact.”
Nikola Jokic & Jamal Murray On how his leg is and the thought process during the Gary Harris And-1 with 1:14 left.. Jokic: “We were using the clock and there was a moment I had Dame to myself. Gary had Curry and I faked the hand off, tried to shoot, and saw Gary’s cutting because he always does that. My knee is good.” On limiting Lillard’s opportunities.. Murray: “We have Craig, Gary, and Malik. Guys that come in and play great defense. He’s a hell of a player. He might have some struggling shooting nights because of those guys. They rotate, fresh legs guard him every time, and run him down. He’s still doing what he’s doing, it’s not like he’s putting up bad numbers. Just need to keep making adjustments, keep making him uncomfortable, and all that. Jokic: “Brother, he scored 30 points.” On the pressure at the free throw line.. Murray: “It wasn’t the first time. I think free throws are my thing. My dad and I do a lot of training free throws. Blindfolded, he’ll talk to me just like how the crowd is, put pressure on me. I take 1,000 free throws in practice to make one or two and tonight it ended up being 6. On thriving emotionally and playing better under pressure.. Murray: “I think when players get frustrated, they get taken out of the game mentally. That’s where I’m the opposite. When I get pushed around or challenged, that’s when I take my game to the next level. Tonight was just a must win game. We had to go in today after a long game 3 with the same energy and I try to bring that to my teammates. I try to pick everybody up, everybody’s tired, they’re just as tired as we are and they have home court advantage with their energy and their fans. We did that and we thrived today. On playing 55 minutes and bouncing back so soon.. Murray: “I told Gary before the game let’s get out and run. Just taking that challenge and knowing this isn’t the regular season where we’re just playing a back to back and we’re going to come out and just use the bench. We had to find a way to grind through it and play hard. We have a day’s rest and we have to go back to game 5. On being boo’ed.. Jokic: “I really don’t know. I have nothing to say. They have a great crowd and they have a really good home court. Their fans help them a lot of the times. That’s what fans do.” On the second straight series going down 2-1 before tying it.. Murray: “We’re not planning on doing that. We have to protect home court better. We did a good job of doing that during the regular season. The best thing about us is we can come back, fight back, and know that we can win on the road. It’s just a blessing to be able to go back home for game 5.”
