In the 2026-27 NBA GM Survey, the Denver Nuggets and the Oklahoma City Thunder tied for first, each with 37 percent of the vote, in response to the question, "Which team has the best home-court advantage?"
Monday, the Portland Trail Blazers and first-year head coach Micah Nori went into that difficult Ball Arena environment and came away with an impressive 118-110 win over the Nuggets. Portland now has a 5-1 record, currently sitting third in the stacked Western Conference.
Micah Nori looks like the right hire in Portland
On paper, this roster had more talent than last year's 42-win team. The Ja Morant trade is a noticeable talent upgrade over Jerami Grant and Kris Murray, and that was proving to be the case early on before Morant's injury. Damian Lillard may not be 100 percent the same player he was before the Achilles tear, but he still looks capable of stepping up as the co-star Deni Avdija was missing last season.
There's also continued internal improvement in their young core, which played a key role in that playoff push last season and proved they're ready to accelerate the rebuild. Avdija looks healthy and is taking another leap; Toumani Camara keeps getting better offensively, especially in shooting and shot creation. Donovan Clingan was the standout performer in Portland's win over Denver, not only making Nikola Jokic work for everything offensively but also making a pleasantly surprising offensive contribution of his own.
Still, there was always the looming question of whether Nori was truly the right man for the job to make all this talent mesh effectively. After all, it never seemed like Portland really gave Tiago Splitter a fair chance considering they were already interviewing potential coaching replacements while he had this team fighting for its playoff life against the San Antonio Spurs.
Say what you will about the process and what Tom Dundon in particular clearly could've done better, but early on, at least it seems like the Blazers ultimately landed on the right man for the job -- no matter how messy that process was.
Micah Nori is using Blazers' unique roster to their advantage
Nori seems to have this ideal blend of creativity and NBA experience that's rare in first-year head coaches. I expected far more growing pains as Nori tries to fit all the imperfect pieces on this roster, particularly in the backcourt.
Some of that is a testament to the unselfishness of the guards general manager Joe Cronin has brought in. There are star names on this roster, but everyone is bought in on their roles and what it takes to win for the team's betterment.
We've seen that with Ja Morant embracing whatever role is asked of him, making the most of it when he's not the offensive focal point like he was as a former two-time All-Star in Memphis. Jrue Holiday is always the perfect example of this as well, someone who didn't complain about his bench role and instead embraced it, even making a compelling Sixth Man of the Year case early on.
But in the bigger picture, the cohesion this group has played with has to be a testament to how well Nori has executed his vision for this roster. It seems like the next evolution of the team Splitter took to the playoffs. Whether that's turnovers, shooting, or defensive rebounding, they've cleaned up key areas.
Offensively, Portland is moving the ball much better, with so many ball handlers and decision-makers on the court at all times. Defensively, the frontcourt size of Donovan Clingan and Robert Williams III, and the versatility of wings such as Toumani Camara and Jrue Holiday, have been able to cover for the offense-minded backcourt.
Portland has found better roster balance under Nori, who deserves a ton of credit, since that was far from guaranteed heading into the season with such a wonky roster full of guards and bigs.
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