The Nuggets regain the home court factor. Mike Malone’s team had a fabulous game that closed, of course, Nikola Jokic: the Serbian slapped a second consecutive missed free kick by Monte Morris and sentenced a match that, without that rebound, would have given the Blazers the option (no timeouts and three seconds to go) to tie the game and force the extension. There was no luck and those of Colorado deservedly prevailed against a team whose fans shouted that of “defense“Without much conviction. At the end of the day, we are talking about a squad that, what it is to defend, defend little. The Blazers were 94-96 thanks to a basket from Carmelo Anthony with less than five minutes to go. but then they got the inherent pájara of a team with numerous disconnections and they ran out of possibilities, despite the last triples of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, which gave some excitement to the matter. Now, they lose the home court factor and are forced to win the fourth game. Of course, things change very fast in the NBA.
The Nuggets scored 39 points in the first quarter and 36 in the last, another symptom of what the Blazers are capable of and what they are not capable of. The local team, grown up in front of their public, came out emboldened, but immediately diluted. The expulsion of Jusuf Nurkic cleared things up for the Denver team, who looked for Nikola Jokic too much to supply him with balls and cause damage in the area. At that point Terry Stotts preferred to put Robert Covington on top of the Serbian giant over Enes Kanter, who is practically out of the rotation in another playoff series. A classic too big and a blemish on the career of a cool guy, but what worth what it’s worth and, in tune with the team to which he currently belongs, defend what you defend. And with that, unfortunately, everything is said.
Nikola Jokic set another scandal performance: 36 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists, with 12 of 24 in field goals and 4 of 7 in triples, in addition to scoring the eight free throws he tried. And it was well accompanied, partly by Austin Rivers (5 of 10 in triples, one at the end key that served to give a lot of air to those of Mike Malone) and partly by Facundo Campazzo, who played a very prominent role and was freer by not having the responsibility of defending Damian Lillard: 11 points (with two free throws without failure within the last minute), 8 rebounds and 9 assists, one fool with triple-double, 2 steals and 1 stopper. In addition to the Argentine, who goes growing During the series, Aaron Gordon scored 13 points and Michael Porter Jr. 15. And good performance also on the bench for JaMychal Green (8 points) and the aforementioned Monte Morris, despite the missed free throws at the end, with a lot of environmental pressure: 8 + 5 + 5, a bit of everything and a clear and key participation in the most important minutes of the crash.
And in the Blazers, with Nurkic out when he was essential (13 + 13 + 6, +9 with him on the court), the participation was the usual. Damian Lillard had another great role and went to 37 points, with 15 of 31 on field goals and 5 of 16 on triples, a too large slab in which the locals did not stand out especially: a 31% success rate in contrast to the local team, which exceeded 52%, an unusual statistic. McCollum had 22 points and 9 rebounds, but it is increasingly difficult to see him next to Lillard, while Normal Powell went to 18, and Carmelo Anthony improved, contributing 17 from the bench. It was no use: the Blazers, who won the first game, lose their field advantage and have a dog-face duel in which they only need to win or die, well because cannot travel to Denver with match ball or because of how immensely complicated it is to raise a 3-1. One way or another, he has no solutions for Jokic. Neither them nor anyone else, of course. That is the issue.
