{"id":1310044,"date":"2019-05-07T23:24:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-08T05:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/millsap-jokic-spark-nuggets-124-98-blowout-of-blazers\/"},"modified":"2019-05-07T23:24:00","modified_gmt":"2019-05-08T05:24:00","slug":"millsap-jokic-spark-nuggets-124-98-blowout-of-blazers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/millsap-jokic-spark-nuggets-124-98-blowout-of-blazers\/","title":{"rendered":"Millsap, Jokic spark Nuggets\u2019 124-98 blowout of Blazers"},"content":{"rendered":"
Denver Nuggets forward Paul Millsap, right, looks to shoot the ball as Portland Trail Blazers forward Maurice Harkless defends in the first half of Game 5 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series, Tuesday, May 7, 2019, in Denver. (AP Photo\/David Zalubowski)<\/strong>
AP | AP<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

DENVER \u2014 Nikola Jokic scored 25 points and tied a team playoff high with 19 rebounds, and Paul Millsap injected some experience into a series dominated by youth, sparking the Nuggets\u2019 124-98 blowout of the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday night that gave Denver a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.<\/p>\n

The Nuggets can secure their first trip to the Western Conference Finals in a decade with a win in Game 6 on Thursday night in Portland.<\/p>\n

Millsap scored 19 of his 24 points in the first half of the first lopsided game in a series that was so evenly matched coming in that Denver held a cumulative scoring advantage of 464-462.<\/p>\n

The Nuggets never trailed and stretched a six-point lead after one quarter to 18 at the half and 28 heading into the fourth quarter. They led by as many as 31 before a parade of backups gave the starters some much-needed breathers.<\/p>\n

Damian Lillard led Portland with 22 points but again struggled from the arc, going 2 of 9 on 3-pointers.<\/p>\n

Coming off a resounding Game 4 win that followed that epic quadruple-overtime loss, the Nuggets were focused and efficient just as coach Michael Malone promised when he said Denver wouldn\u2019t dare let up and exhale at home after reclaiming the home-court advantage.<\/p>\n

Millsap came out hot, scoring a dozen points in the first quarter. Just before halftime, he gathered a behind-the-back pass from Jamal Murray (18 points) and swished a 3-pointer while being knocked to the floor by Rodney Hood.<\/p>\n

His subsequent free throw gave him a four-point play and 19 first-half points as the Nuggets took a 20-point lead. Lillard, who had 18 points at the break, scored an uncontested basket just before the end of the half to pull the Trail Blazers to 65-47 heading into the locker room.<\/p>\n

Whatever adjustments Blazers coach Terry Stotts tried to make at the half didn\u2019t take as the Nuggets outscored Portland 28-18 in the third quarter, and before long, the Blazers were thinking more about salvaging Game 6 and hoping to regroup for a return trip to Denver in hopes of a different outcome.<\/p>\n

HEAVY HEART<\/p>\n

Malone lives in the neighborhood where a school shooting left one student dead and several wounded Tuesday in suburban Denver. Malone and his wife have two daughters who attend school nearby.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen kids go to school, they should be going to school to learn, have fun, be with their friends, not worried about an active shooter,\u201d Malone lamented during a heartfelt pre-game news conference .<\/p>\n

Malone didn\u2019t want to address the tragedy with his team before tip-off, saying it was \u201ca conversation and a subject maybe on an off day.\u201d He also was struggling with how he\u2019ll talk about it with his kids: \u201cI\u2019m texting my daughter, telling her she\u2019s going to be OK \u2014 I don\u2019t even know if she will be OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

FASTING<\/p>\n

Blazers center Enes Kanter said he reached out to NBA great Hakeem Olajuwon for advice on performing in the playoffs while fasting during Ramadan.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe gave me tips,\u201d said Kanter, who is avoiding all food and drink from sunrise to sunset, which was about a half hour before tip-off Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile I\u2019m playing in the game, I will be able to drink water and eat food,\u201d Kanter said. \u201cI might have someone get a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on the bench for me to eat in timeouts.\u201d<\/p>\n

TIP-INS:<\/p>\n

Portland: The Blazers missed their first five shots and fell behind 9-2, setting the tone for a tough night. \u2026 Lillard had a shot at a four-point play in the first half but missed the free throw, continuing his struggles from the stripe. \u2026 The teams hollered at each other after Jokic took offense what he felt was an excessive shove from Meyers Leonard in the closing minutes. Officials called Leonard for a flagrant 1 foul for excessive contact.<\/p>\n

Denver: Coming off back-to-back 34-point games, Jamal Murray followed up a scoreless first quarter with an 11-point second quarter. \u2026 Murray picked up a technical in the third quarter while demonstrating a move by Lillard to an official, who took offense.<\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Denver Nuggets forward Paul Millsap, right, looks to shoot the ball as Portland Trail Blazers forward Maurice Harkless defends in the first half of Game 5 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series, Tuesday, May 7, 2019, in Denver. (AP Photo\/David Zalubowski)AP | AP DENVER \u2014 Nikola Jokic scored 25 points and tied a team […]<\/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-1310044","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-17 00:39:33","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\/1310044","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=1310044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1310044\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1310044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1310044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1310044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}