The Portland Trail Blazers open up their 2021 postseason with a 123-109 victory over the Denver Nuggets. The game was closer than the final score indicates, but the Blazers played like the favorites, even if Vegas said otherwise.
The two MVP candidates in the game put up MVP-level box scores. Damian Lillard finished with 34 points and handed out 13 assists, playing in all but eight minutes. Nikola Jokic went to work with his sidekick, Jamal Murray, sidelined; he put up 34 points and 16 rebounds.
Michael Porter Jr. looked like a future number two option on a championship level team, at the least. He poured in 25 points with 9 boards and was the only other Nugget who could create offense. CJ McCollum added 21 points, hitting floater after floater to keep the Blazers offense rolling.
The NBA is in store for a historically great playoffs
On a night brimming with great games, the night cap might have been one of the worst. Portland came away with the largest victory of the day at 14 points. The Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets game was pretty much over with half of the fourth quarter left to play, but an absurd Kemba Walker run brought the score within single digits with less than a minute to go.
From what we saw, the Trail Blazers-Nuggets, Clippers-Mavericks, and Bucks-Heat series all look to have multiple games go down to the wire.
Winning game one probably makes Portland the favorite to win the series. If the Blazers can just take care of business at home in the Moda Center, they’ll be advancing into the semifinals.
Here are the takeaways from game one that can keep Portland’s win streak alive: