Lillard Wills Trail Blazers Past Nuggets 125-115

Paul Millsap and Troy Daniels joined Jamal Murray, Gary Harris and Will Barton on the sideline Thursday night as the Nuggets fell to the Portland Trailblazers.

Millsap (rest) and Daniels (right hip tightness) were late scratches to the already short-handed Nuggets, so Jerami Grant got the start in place of Millsap.

For the third straight game, Nuggets’ rookie Michael Porter Jr. came out firing in the first quarter, scoring ten points in just six minutes. But Portland’s Damian Lillard did him one better, scoring 14 points in the first quarter alone. Denver trailed Portland 27-26 at the end of one.

With Nikola Jokic getting a breather, Denver fell into a hole during the first six minutes of the second quarter, trailing by eleven (43-32) before taking their second timeout of the period. Despite having Jokic back on the floor, Denver allowed 19 points in the final 5:47 of the first half, and a last-second three by Lillard pushed Portland’s lead to 13 (62-49).

Lillard led all scorers with 20 points at halftime, Jokic totaled six points and eight assists in the first two quarters and Portland’s Gary Trent Jr. shot a perfect 6-for-6 from the floor and dropped in 15 points off the Blazers’ bench.

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The Nuggets looked sound offensively in the third, but for the majority of the quarter, they could not contain the Blazers’ offense. Almost every comeback effort was thwarted by either a Portland three or a trip to the free-throw line. But Denver’s bench went on a run with nearly three minutes remaining.

Led by third-string point guard P.J. Dozier, the Nuggets cut the Blazers’ lead down to two (89-87), but a last-second three by Trent Jr. pushed the lead back to five (92-87). The Nuggets shot 64 percent from the field in the third quarter.

During the fourth, Denver’s bench plus Porter Jr. got the Nuggets their first lead since the first quarter (92-93). After much back-and-forth that included two Porter Jr. threes, and a Bol dunk, the Blazers took a timeout with 5:38 remaining as Denver led by one (106-105).

Out of the timeout, Nuggets’ head coach Mike Malone kept his bench unit in and the Blazers subsequently took over the game. Jusuf Nurkic scored seven points in the final four minutes of the game and the Blazers took down the Nuggets 125-115.

Porter Jr. continued his streak of dominant performances, posting a stat line of 27 points and 12 rebounds, but Lillard had a game for the ages. He scored 45 points, knocked down 11 threes and dished out 12 assists in the Blazers’ win.

Jokic, who sat the entire fourth quarter, finished the game with eight points and 13 assists and Dozier, who had 12 points Tuesday against the Spurs, finished the game with 13 points, the second-highest total of his young career.

Portland as a team shot an absurd 23-39 from three (59 percent) and now sit just half a game back of the eighth-seeded Memphis Grizzlies.

For their next match up, Denver takes on the fourth-seeded Utah Jazz this Saturday who will be on the back end of a back-to-back, as Utah faces San Antonio Friday afternoon.