Portland Trail Blazers couldn’t get the job done against the Denver Nuggets

The Portland Trail Blazers had no answer for Nikola Jokic down the stretch in a first up 108-100 loss against the Denver Nuggets.

After some great battles with the Nuggets in preseason, the Portland Trail Blazers just couldn’t get across the line in the season opener tonight.

In the first quarter, Hassan Whiteside immediately put pressure on Nikola Jokic. Whiteside was playing physical and was not allowing Jokic to do anything on offense. Jokic ended up with 3 fouls in the first 3 minutes of the game was taken out immediately after the third foul. Denver was still able to keep the game close without Jokic. Portland struggled to get defensive rebounds early.

Offensively, it took the Blazers a while to get going, until CJ McCollum caught fire and scored 7 of the first 13 points for the Trail Blazers. Damian Lillard started taking over the game later in the first quarter. Dame made multiple great passes to Whiteside in the pick and roll. Then, Dame had one of the dunks of his career.

In the second quarter, the Blazer’s second unit struggled against Denver’s bench. Not a major issue, given that Denver has a top three bench in the league. Portland spent a chunk of time without a single point in this quarter. The bench couldn’t get the job done on offense. The Blazers also struggled against Denver’s transition offense. Too many, open fast-break lay-ups.

The Blazers continued to struggle until the starters checked back in. Damian Lillard put the team on his back and was the only player who looked on offense for the majority of the quarter. This was very disappointing to watch Portland not take advantage of the Nuggets without Jokic. The Trail Blazers turned things around in the last two minutes of the half. Kent Bazemore had back to back defensive possessions with a steal and those steals forced two fast-breaks, one of them resulting with a big dunk by Rodney Hood.

The Denver Nuggets started the second half on fire. Jokic makes the Nuggets offense tremendously better. Portland continued to struggle to stop the fast-break and were having a rough time to find an open shot. The ball is not being moved around enough. The Trail Blazers are constantly burning the entire shot clock and forcing a bad shot in the final seconds of the clock. After a timeout in the middle of the third, the Blazers came out firing and went on a run to bring the Blazers back to almost tying the score.

During this run, Zach Collins and Dame made some good jump shots and the Blazers have stepped up on defense. Portland was playing with a ton of energy and shut down the entire Denver Nuggets offense.

Portland is still playing with a ton of energy to start off the fourth quarter. The Trail Blazers continue to succeed from the perimeter. Whiteside struggled to pass the ball in the three quarters but has made a couple of nice passes early in this quarter. Sloppy play by both teams. Lots of turnovers and offensive fouls. The Blazers are constantly leaving Jokic wide open at the three-point line and Jokic is making them pay.

Down the stretch, nobody can score besides Lillard. Dame desperately needed help late in the game. The Denver Nuggets close it out and win 108-100.

Overall, the Blazers starting lineup played well, but struggled on defense in transition and defending the perimeter. The bench struggled to get anything going in the first half and then turned things around in the second.

Bazemore had a great defensive game and Dame looked unstoppable as usual. Whiteside was impressive in the paint on both ends of the floor. I would like to see Hassan Whiteside improve his passing this season. I would expect the Blazers to be a great offensive team this season, but struggle to defend opposing three point shooters. Hopefully, the bench can produce more points in their next game against the Sacramento Kings.