Portland Trail Blazers: Nurkic’s best games against Portland’s upcoming opponents

Vs: Denver Nuggets

Date: 17/03/28

Result: Blazers win: 122-113

Nurkic:  33 points, 15 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steals

Even after everything Nurk has done, I still think this is my favorite game.

With 9 regular season games to go, the Blazers were chasing a playoff spot, and came up against a division rival chasing a similar goal. Add in the ugly culmination of Nurkic’s time in Denver, and this game promised a few fireworks.

Jusuf Nurkic came out like a man possessed, and inspired the Blazers to a 9 point win, tallying 33 points and 15 rebounds. Nurk was 12-15 from the field, 9-11 from the line, and most certainly proved his point to his former team. ‘You were wrong’.

Nurkic also outplayed Jokic, the guy Denver prioritized as their main man, ultimately leading to Nurkic’s departure. Jokic was no slump, as the Serbian put up a neat 17 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists, but Nurkic had the upper-hand, and seemed to target his European opponent all night long.

Aside from CJ McCollum’s hot hand (39 points), the Blazers game-plan became very simple: give the ball to Nurk, and let him go to work. If Jokic was on him, even better. Nurkic had his mind made up, he was proving a point tonight.

His post-game was the cherry on top.

In Nurk’s words, “See you next summer”. Later Denver.