The Portland Trail Blazers dropped game 5 of the series to the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night. The Nuggets have now taken the series lead 3-2 and will play Game 6 at the Moda Center in Portland.
The Portland Trail Blazers played their worst game of the entire NBA Playoffs so far in Game 5. With this loss, the Blazers are on the verge of elimination as now they have to battle from being down 3-2 in the series. The Nuggets had their way with the Blazers all night. Here are some key takeaways from the Blazers 124-98 loss in Game 5:
Blazers Got Beat…Bad
The Blazers were beaten by 26 points and were held under 100 points this game, struggling the entire game from the opening tip. This was a very one-sided game.
There was no consistent production from any players on the team, and they struggled to find their rhythm. The Blazers shot 36.7 percent from the field and 27 percent from 3 as an entire team.
The Nuggets big 3 was too dominant for the Blazers to handle. There are still no answers for the Jamal Murray, Nikola Jokic, and Paul Millsap. The trio totaled 67 points. After coming off of two triple-double games in Games 3 and 4, Jokic continues to be dominant in this series as he had another monster game with a double-double, 25 points, and 19 rebounds. The Nuggets also received major contributions from Gary Harris.
Shooting Struggles
With the Blazers numerous problems in this game, they struggled as an entire team from the charity stripe. They shot 53.3 percent from the free-throw line and weren’t a threat from anywhere on the court.
The 3-pointers did not drop at all this game and to combat the three-headed beast in Denver, the Blazers has to make consistent shots. We’ve seen a lot of ups and downs in this series from the players. One player would step up one game and the next contribute little. There has to be consistent scoring for the Blazers to win.
In the upcoming Game 6, the Blazers must prioritize not leaning on Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum too much, and look for major production from their role players.
Everyone Struggled
Everyone in this game struggled. Right out of the gate, the Nuggets jumped out and applied pressure to the Blazers. The Blazers never responded, nor were they able to get on a run to get back in the game. There were no lead changes in this game, so for the whole night, it was a one-sided fight with the Nuggets winning.
The highest leading scorer in Damian Lillard, who scored 22 points, shot 42 percent from the field, 40 percent from the free-throw line, and 22 percent from beyond the arc on a total of 9 attempts.
Lillard continues to struggle in this series shooting the basketball. The Blazers are hoping he gets back on track for Game 6 as they are going to need everything from him to push a Game 7. Lillard is due for a major outburst game.
McCollum, who has played well this series, only scored 12 points on 31.2 percent shooting. McCollum just never found a consistent rhythm. Two starters, Enes Kanter and Al-Farouq Aminu, both were non-factors. Aminu shot 12.5 percent for the game only scoring 3 points. Kanter shot 22 percent for the game and only scored 7 points. Kanter was completely shut down in Game 5 but granted, he is taking on a big task guarding Nikola Jokic on an injured shoulder.
Game 6 is do or die for the Blazers, they must figure out to shoot consistently to challenge the Nuggets.