It’s a shame it had to end.
The Portland Trail Blazers and Denver Nuggets engaged in six games of elite offence (and sometimes porous defence) with high-end performers delivering signature performances almost every game, it seemed. It would have been a pleasure to see a seventh game. Alas, with Portland leading by 14 with 4:39 to play in the third quarter, Denver finished the frame with a 19-8 run to pull within three to start the fourth. The Nuggets took over from there, leading by as much as 11 with 3:20 to play to complete a 25-point reversal in just over 13 minutes.
Denver moves on and Portland contemplates how they can improve on failing to get out of the first round for the fourth time in five years.
Here are the biggest takeaways from the series:
Nuggets a long shot with Murray?
Good for Denver, but all its first-round victory does – for me, at least – is make me that much sadder for what this team could do at full strength. Nikola Jokic is Nikola Jokic – the obvious MVP and perhaps the most skilled big man the NBA has ever seen. And Michael Porter Jr. is fast-rising star and the kind of player who will win scoring titles in his future, but who is also incredibly efficient. And Aaron Gordon – acquired at the trade deadline – is the kind of big, switchable wing you need to provide at least some resistance for the league’s collection of Alpha wings. Throw Kitchener’s Jamal Murray into that mix? It’s hard to find a more potent lineup outside of the Brooklyn Nets. And Murray is the Nuggets’ leader in many ways, with full license to take over games as he sees fit. He showed it in the bubble last season and was well on his way to repeating that form when he tore his ACL.
As you look at the landscape of the West, with a limping Los Angeles Lakers team, the Los Angeles Clippers looking vulnerable and the rest, it’s hard not to see how Denver wouldn’t have been the favourite to emerge from the conference and be clear threats to win its first NBA title. The Nuggets just don’t seem to enough pop throughout their lineup to do it now, though they had enough to get past Portland. They lack that next threat if Jokic isn’t scoring, or Porter Jr. Getting back to the Conference Finals seems like a long shot. The worst thing is that if Murray is out for 12 months – the ballpark for most ACL injuries – he won’t return to full health until next April, which means it could affect two playoff runs. Hopefully the Nuggets fly high from here, but if and when they fall short it’s hard to look at Denver — with Murray inactive on the sidelines — and feel a bit sad for him and sad for basketball.
What’s next for Lillard
Can Damian Lillard ever win a title in Portland? Would he ever leave? It’s seems unimaginable. No NBA star is more closely associated with their home market than the nine-year veteran is with the Trail Blazers. He stated repeatedly that he wants to win in Portland and has backed it up with what will undoubtedly be his seventh consecutive All-NBA selection when the awards are announced, not to mention a library of clutch moments, such as his 55-point, 10-assist masterpiece in Game 4’s double overtime loss. That Lillard – almost literally – played a perfect game of basketball and lost as his teammates didn’t step up, and so that it was all in a losing effort was too perfect.
Late in the regular season an article by Yahoo Sports NBA insider Chris Haynes implied that Lillard’s patience might be wearing thin with Portland’s inability to build a winner around him. Haynes is known to be close to Lillard and his agent, so the column was worth paying attention to, even if the star guard played it down. It might be hard to imagine Lillard becoming the latest superstar to force his way out of town, but it’s not hard to imagine him insisting on some changes in search of the playoff success he craves.
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Portland faces decision on Powell
What now for Norm Powell? When we last checked on the long-time Raptor he was struggling to replicate the otherworldly offence that he’d provided in the last two seasons in Toronto. To review: After shaking off a slow start in 2019-20, Powell went on a tear that didn’t end until he was traded at the 2020-21 deadline. Over 83 games, he averaged 18.7 points a game while shooting 51 per cent from the floor and 43 per cent from three with a True Shooting percentage of .643. Sensational stuff. The only players who have scored 18 points with that level of efficiency and at least six three-point attempts a game over a full season are Steph Curry (twice) and Michael Porter Jr. Powell fell off a little bit in Portland as the third or fourth option. He still put up 17 points a game, but on a True Shooting percentage of .576 – solid, but not spectacular.
Would “Playoff Norm” emerge when the Trail Blazers need him most? Sort of. Powell scored 13 of his 17 points in the first half Thursday. He had a wide-open corner three with 1:58 left with Portland trailing by six and dying for offence and didn’t convert. He struggled with foul trouble as well. Now the real test as Powell heads into free agency. The Raptors didn’t want to pay him in part because they came to view him a defensive liability. Portland views him as a solution on defence – which maybe speaks to their standards – but signing him to the 4-year, $80-million deal that some feel he could command on the open market means that Portland would have nearly $100 million a year invested in an explosive though undersized three-headed wing rotation – along with CJ McCollum and Lillard – that couldn’t get them out of the first round. The Raptors didn’t want to pay Fred VanVleet and Kyle Lowry and Powell as another smaller guard/wing. Now Portland must make a similar decision.
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Jokic has complete performance
It’s never not a good thing to know that Jokic will be playing more basketball. He’s on the short list of the most eye-pleasing players in the sport, in part because of the jaw-dropping athleticism that he doesn’t have. Instead of the Lamborghini-like bursts of speed and power normally associated with the best players in the world, Jokic amazes with his unerringly feathery touch inside; his seeing-eye three-point shooting and the kinds of fakes and jukes that open passing angles only he can see. Carrying a team that is missing Murray as well as Will Barton, another key part of the rotation, Jokic rolled to as complete a playoff performance as you’ll ever see Thursday. He finished with 36 points, eight rebounds and six assists, but scored 27 points in the second half as Denver dug itself out from a double-digit deficit. More Jokic means we all win.
Porter Jr. shines in expanded role
The one benefit of Murray being sidelined has been the opportunity for 22-year-old Porter Jr. to expand his role and shine in the process. His 22-point first-quarter explosion was just the latest example of his ability to get buckets in volume. At six-foot-10 he has the length to rise over any defender, but the footwork and quickness to get into any shot. He averaged 23 points a game along with 7.6 rebounds on 55 per cent shooting, including 44 per cent from three on 7.6 attempts a game. He was up and down against Portland, but finished with a bang. In Game 5 and Game 6, Porter Jr. averaged 26 points on 62.5 per cent shooting while going 9-of-17 from deep. His growth gives Denver reason to hope they can make a run even while missing Murray.
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