{"id":1309948,"date":"2019-05-05T23:08:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-06T05:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/nuggets-even-series-with-blazers-at-2-with-116-112-victory\/"},"modified":"2019-05-05T23:08:00","modified_gmt":"2019-05-06T05:08:00","slug":"nuggets-even-series-with-blazers-at-two-with-116-112-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/nuggets-even-series-with-blazers-at-two-with-116-112-victory\/","title":{"rendered":"Nuggets even series with Blazers at two with 116-112 victory"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery\" readability=\"6.7943502824859\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-977583-298\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/05\/Nuggets_Trail_Blazers_Basketball_14083-b2338-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/05\/Nuggets_Trail_Blazers_Basketball_14083-b2338.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"AP | FR170751 AP | Portland Trail Blazers forward Al-Farouq Aminu, center, shoots between Denver Nuggets forward Paul Millsap, right, and center Nikola Jokic, left, during the first half of Game 4 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series Sunday, May 5, 2019, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo\/Craig Mitchelldyer)\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"12.5\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/05\/Nuggets_Trail_Blazers_Basketball_14083-b2338.jpg\" alt=\"Portland Trail Blazers forward Al-Farouq Aminu, center, shoots between Denver Nuggets forward Paul Millsap, right, and center Nikola Jokic, left, during the first half of Game 4 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series Sunday, May 5, 2019, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo\/Craig Mitchelldyer)\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"20\">\n<p><strong>Portland Trail Blazers forward Al-Farouq Aminu, center, shoots between Denver Nuggets forward Paul Millsap, right, and center Nikola Jokic, left, during the first half of Game 4 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series Sunday, May 5, 2019, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo\/Craig Mitchelldyer)<\/strong><br \/>AP | FR170751 AP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/05\/Nuggets_Trail_Blazers_Basketball_14083-b2338-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/05\/Nuggets_Trail_Blazers_Basketball_14083-b2338-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"AP | FR170751 AP | Portland Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum, left, shoots over Denver Nuggets guard Gary Harris during the first half of Game 4 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series Sunday, May 5, 2019, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo\/Craig Mitchelldyer)\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"10\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/05\/Nuggets_Trail_Blazers_Basketball_14083-b2338-1.jpg\" alt=\"Portland Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum, left, shoots over Denver Nuggets guard Gary Harris during the first half of Game 4 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series Sunday, May 5, 2019, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo\/Craig Mitchelldyer)\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"15\">\n<p><strong>Portland Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum, left, shoots over Denver Nuggets guard Gary Harris during the first half of Game 4 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series Sunday, May 5, 2019, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo\/Craig Mitchelldyer)<\/strong><br \/>AP | FR170751 AP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/05\/Nuggets_Trail_Blazers_Basketball_14083-b2338-2-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/05\/Nuggets_Trail_Blazers_Basketball_14083-b2338-2.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"AP | FR170751 AP | Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray, left, collects the ball in front of Portland Trail Blazers forward Maurice Harkless during the first half of Game 4 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series Sunday, May 5, 2019, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo\/Craig Mitchelldyer)\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"10\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/05\/Nuggets_Trail_Blazers_Basketball_14083-b2338-2.jpg\" alt=\"Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray, left, collects the ball in front of Portland Trail Blazers forward Maurice Harkless during the first half of Game 4 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series Sunday, May 5, 2019, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo\/Craig Mitchelldyer)\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"15\">\n<p><strong>Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray, left, collects the ball in front of Portland Trail Blazers forward Maurice Harkless during the first half of Game 4 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series Sunday, May 5, 2019, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo\/Craig Mitchelldyer)<\/strong><br \/>AP | FR170751 AP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/sports\/nuggets-even-series-with-blazers-at-2-with-116-112-victory\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/sports\/nuggets-even-series-with-blazers-at-2-with-116-112-victory\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">PORTLAND, Ore. \u2014 The Denver Nuggets have been good at bouncing back all season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Not even a draining four-overtime defeat could keep this team down.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Nikola Jokic had 21 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists for his second straight triple-double and fourth of the playoffs, and the Nuggets evened their Western Conference semifinal series against the Portland Trail Blazers at 2-2 with a 116-112 victory Sunday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">It was less than 48 hours after Portland\u2019s epic 140-137 quadruple-overtime victory to take a 2-1 lead in the series. It was only the second game in playoff history that went to four OTs. The other was in 1953.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI think it\u2019s not quitting. We have a lot of competitive guys who don\u2019t want to lose. I think we don\u2019t want to lose more than we like to win \u2014 which is weird,\u201d Jokic said. \u201cWe just didn\u2019t want to have the excuse that we lost because of four overtimes, because we were tired.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Jamal Murray led all scorers with 34 points and made all 11 free throws for the Nuggets, who handed Portland its first postseason loss at home this season. The series now heads back to Denver for Game 5.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">CJ McCollum had 29 points and Damian Lillard added 28 for the Blazers, who missed out on taking a 3-1 lead in a conference semifinals for the first time since 2000.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cOur guys are tough. We\u2019re resilient,\u201d Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. \u201cI mean, to come in here and win this game 36 hours after losing in four overtimes, speaks to just how tough we are.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Malone cited regular-season statistics to back up his claims: Denver was 12-1 in the second game of back-to-backs, best in the NBA. The Nuggets were good in close games, too: 13-3 in games decided by three points or less, he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe just said to ourselves, \u2018If we win today then the last game doesn\u2019t really matter that much,\u2019\u201d Jokic said. \u201cYes we played a four-overtime game, it was exhausting, but we won tonight so the last game doesn\u2019t really matter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Denver outscored the Blazers 27-14 in the third quarter to take an 84-77 lead into the fourth. Malik Beasley kicked off the final period with a 3-pointer for the Nuggets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Rodney Hood\u2019s 3-pointer got the Blazers within 110-107 with 52 seconds left and Lillard\u2019s layup got the Blazers even closer at 112-110 with 7.7 seconds to go.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">But Murray\u2019s free throws gave Denver a four-point lead. McCollum hit a long jumper that after a video replay was ruled a 2 and Denver prevailed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIt is disappointing. You go up 3-1 and you have a lot of momentum and obviously that would be a great position to be in. But they\u2019re a good team, they came out and played well,\u201d Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. \u201cWe had a bad third quarter and that kind of made the difference. We made a good comeback, but now it\u2019s a three-game series.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Jokic played 65 minutes in the quadruple-overtime loss, the fourth-most minutes in NBA playoff history and just two short of the record. McCollum led the Blazers with 60 minutes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Fatigue was more of a concern for the second-seeded Nuggets, who had just one day off after their seven-game, first-round series against San Antonio. The Blazers dispatched of first-round opponent Oklahoma City in five games, clinching their first trip to the conference semifinals since 2016 on Lillard\u2019s buzzer-beating 3-pointer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Enes Kanter started for Portland despite ongoing concerns about his left shoulder, which he injured in Game 5 against the Thunder. He and Jokic have been physical adversaries through the first three games, and Kanter said after Friday\u2019s game that the shoulder separation was worse and wasn\u2019t sure he could play.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Seth Curry made three straight 3-pointers \u2014 all in the space of a minute \u2014 to put Portland up 53-46 in the second quarter. Curry added a 3 at the buzzer to send Portland into halftime with a 63-57 lead. Curry had 14 of his 16 points in the second quarter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The Nuggets opened the second half with an inspired 10-2 run to go up 67-65. Paul Millsap\u2019s 3-pointer gave Denver a 78-72 lead, and after a couple of calls that went against Portland and drew the ire of the Moda Center fans, Jokic added a bank shot.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Subhead\">TIP-INS<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\">Nuggets: Torrey Craig, who got a bloody nose in Game 2 and wore a mask in Game 3, didn\u2019t wear it on Sunday. \u2026 The Nuggets finished 3-1 in the regular-season series against the Blazers. \u2026 The two teams have met twice in the playoffs before, with each team winning once.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\">Trail Blazers: Jusuf Nurkic, who broke his leg late in the season, was at the game and got an ovation when he showed up courtside late in the opening quarter. Kanter, who signed with the Blazers just before the All-Star break after he was waived by the Knicks, replaced Nurkic in the starting lineup. Nurkic was awarded with the Maurice Lucas Award for the player that best represents Lucas\u2019 indomitable spirit both on the court and in the community.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Subhead\">MURRAY MAKES THE DIFFERENCE<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Malone praised Murray, who also had 34 points in the 4OT loss. Murray has been tasked with guarding Lillard.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cYou think about how young we are and what we are doing, going on the road and winning a tough game in a hostile environment, and for Jamal to be the centerpiece of that has been phenomenal,\u201d Malone said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Subhead\">SCARE<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Jokic went to the bench late in the game holding his right knee, but later came back and appeared fine. Asked about it later, he said it was a bit numb. \u201cI just got hit on the side of the knee but it\u2019s OK,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Subhead\">UP NEXT<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The series moves to Denver for Game 5 on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">More AP NBA: <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/NBA\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/apnews.com\/NBA<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AP%E2%80%94Sports\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/twitter.com\/AP\u2014Sports<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/sports\/nuggets-even-series-with-blazers-at-2-with-116-112-victory\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Portland Trail Blazers forward Al-Farouq Aminu, center, shoots between Denver Nuggets forward Paul Millsap, right, and center Nikola Jokic, left, during the first half of Game 4 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series Sunday, May 5, 2019, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo\/Craig Mitchelldyer)AP | FR170751 AP Portland Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum, left, shoots [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1309948","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-16 21:10:55","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1309948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1309948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1309948\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1309948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1309948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1309948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}