Denver Nuggets: Portland Trail Blazers series preview

Nikola Jokic vs Jusuf Nurkic is a storyline that writes itself, as the two were supposed to be the bigs of the future of the Denver Nuggets. Nurkic requested a trade after Jokic’s dominant rookie season and he did not want to compete with his minutes.

Now Nurkic has fought off a plethora of injuries and is anchoring the defense of the Portland Trail Blazers and the Joker is competing for an MVP trophy.

The real X-factor in this matchup is the battle of the backup bigs. While Jokic is not expected to play any less than 40-42 minutes, those eight minutes could be big swings for Portland.

JaVale McGee will need to run the floor and protect the rim and be prepared to battle Nurkic or Enes Kanter. McGee will need to be efficient in the pick-and-roll in his time on the floor, with the offense needing to go through their guards.

Kanter is a physical center who is known to wear on defenders. This season he is averaging 11 points and 11 boards on 24 minutes per game. He’s an effective rebounder and finisher who can put a game away with his production off the bench. While he is not quick enough to hang with Aaron Gordon if the Nuggets go small, he does however provide an interesting matchup if Portland decides to run the ‘twin towers’ lineup with Kanter and Nurkic.

While Nikola Jokic is better overall than both of these bigs, he is tasked with facilitating the Nuggets entire offense and will have two strong bigs waring him out on the other end of the floor. His recent slimming and increased endurance will definitely be put to test this round. It will be interesting to see how Jokic and Nurkic handle each other, it is definitely something to keep your eye on in this series.