The Portland Trail Blazers fell to the Denver Nuggets, dropping to 13-9.
The Portland Trail Blazers continued their struggles against the better teams in the Association Friday night. Damian Lillard and company fell at home to division rival Denver Nuggets in a 113-112 thriller.
The contest was a tale of two halves, with Denver outscoring Portland in the first half 68-53 and Portland owning the second half 59-45. CJ McCollum finished with a game-high 33 points but missed a solid mid-range look off a Damian Lillard feed as time expired to finish just short of what could have been a fantastic comeback.
The loss extended Portland’s losing streak against opponents at or above .500 to six games. The Blazers have also lost five consecutive games to Western Conference opponents.
The Good
Starting power forward Al-Farouq Aminu turned in his best offensive performance of the season. The 6’9″ Aminu poured in 20 points on 7-9 shooting from the field and 2-4 from behind the three-point line. Normally, a high-energy defensive presence, the offensive explosion was a pleasant surprise.
The Blazer forwards have struggled mightily offensively so far this season, and such an efficient showing should help Aminu hold onto his minutes when the inevitable rotational shake-up takes place.
Along with Aminu, CJ McCollum’s 33 largely kept the Blazers in the game in the second half. McCollum scored 6 points in the final minute including a two-handed slam off a Meyers Leonard feed to bring Portland within one with 10 seconds remaining in regulation. The 33-point mark for McCollum marked his second highest of the season behind only his 40-point scorcher in an early season win against the Milwaukee Bucks.
Rounding out the positive contributions was center Jusuf Nurkic, who continued his best season as a pro with yet another double-double. Nurkic banged around inside on his way to 17 points, 11 rebounds, 2 blocks and 2 steals in the losing effort. A former Nugget himself, the stat line represented the latest of several highly productive games for the Bosnian Beast against the team that traded him away. Led by Nurkic’s strong inside presence, the Blazers finished with a bruising 66 points in the paint for the game.
The Bad
Damian Lillard struggled to find his shot for most of the game. The franchise cornerstone finished the game 6-16 from the field and did not attempt a free throw, a rarity for a player as aggressive as Dame. While the lack of free throw attempts can be chalked up partially to officiating, the 6-16 mark (including 0-3 in the fourth quarter) would indicate that Lillard just never got going. The lone bright spot of Lillard’s night came from his distributing, as the three-time All-Star had eight assists and only one turnover in 40 minutes of action.
Starting small forward Maurice Harkless also struggled against the Nuggets. Harkless, still working his way back from injury, ended the game with just 2 points in only 14 minutes of action. A key factor in Portland’s 13-game winning streak a season ago, Harkless has been largely underwhelming since returning to the lineup. With non-existent games such as Friday’s piling up for Harkless, it may only be a matter of time before head coach Terry Stotts moves the veteran swingman into a bench role.
The Ugly
The Blazers’ bad habit of getting off to slow starts flared up again Friday. Down 15 at halftime, the loss to Denver marks the 5th time in the past 6 games that Portland has trailed at halftime. The Blazers are 2-4 across those games, with the only wins coming against the woeful New York Knicks and streaky Orlando Magic.
Portland’s three-point defense also remained atrocious in the loss to the Nuggets. Offensive rebounds and solid ball movement burned the Blazers and led to Denver shooting 47% from three-point range for the game. Denver became the eighth Blazer opponent in the last nine games to shoot above its season three-point average against Portland’s defense.
In fitting fashion, shooting guard Gary Harris provided would what ultimately be the dagger as he drained a corner three with 17 seconds left to put the Nuggets up three. Blazers forward Evan Turner was late on his rotation, a problem that haunted the team for most of the game.
While the overall defense for the Blazers improved from the first half to the second half, lapses such as Turner’s late rotation persisted and proved too much for Portland to overcome. Worse yet for Portland, the defense will have to be fixed up quick. The team’s next two opponents, San Antonio and Dallas, both rank in the top 10 in the NBA in 3PT field goal percentage.
Portland will have Saturday to consider rotational defensive adjustments before their next contest in San Antonio on Sunday.