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Lillard’s Heroics Aren’t Enough to Save Game 1 for Blazers

Source: www.blazersedge.com - Monday, April 29, 2019
Turnovers and spotty defense spoil great games from several Portland scorers, including Damian Lillard. The Portland Trail Blazers put up a good fight against Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets in Game 1 of their second-round NBA playoffs series. Denver’s center looked fantastic, notching 37 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists. Damian Lillard led all scorers with 39. Enes Kanter marched to 26 points while playing with a separated shoulder. It was everything Blazers fans could have hoped for, except the win. After all the scoring and energy expended, turnovers, defensive weakness, and muddled contributions from the supporting cast put Portland on the wrong end of a 121-113 final score. First Quarter The Nuggets telegraphed their intentions early, running Kanter through three separate screen attempts before Jokic launched a perimeter jumper over his outstretched arms, all on the first play of the game. Kanter kept pace, delivering 10 points of dunk-fueled damage in the quarter off of pick and rolls. Jokic would only score 9. A couple of unfortunate switches aside, the Blazers actually handled screen and roll defense decently. They had a harder time with Paul Millsap posting the smaller Al-Farouq Aminu. Like Kanter , Millsap would score 10 in the period. The Blazers were saved by CJ McCollum , who hit a couple of threes, then drove to the rack on the way to 10 of his own. Portland blistered Denver in the paint, then Lillard hit a co

Source: Breaking News

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