Trail Blazers at Nuggets
The Portland Trail Blazers should be well-rested when they visit the second-seeded Denver Nuggets for Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals on Monday, and are hoping some momentum carried over the long break. The Trail Blazers last played on Tuesday after dispatching the Oklahoma City Thunder in five games while the Nuggets needed all seven to escape the San Antonio Spurs in the first round.
Portland point guard Damian Lillard exploded for 50 points in the Game 5 clincher against the Thunder, with the last three coming on a step-back 3-pointer at the buzzer from 37 feet away. "It was a great feeling. When it left my hands, it felt good," Lillard told reporters. "I felt good about it. The last five or six minutes of the game, I just keep telling myself, like, for us to get this game, we were going to have to really, really dig to come out on top. The fact that I kept telling myself that and then we came out on top when the shot went in, I was like, 'man, it really happened.' We really dug and pulled it out. So, it was a great feeling." The Nuggets proved just how important home-court advantage can be when the home crowd was so loud in the final seconds on Saturday that San Antonio players could not hear their coach calling for a foul. "Every time we played a little bit of defense, we won the game," Denver star Nikola Jokic told reporters after the 90-86 Game 7 triumph. "Three times we lost, they averaged 120 points, so every time that we put some effort in on defense, we were winning the game."
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, TNT
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS: Lillard and backcourt mate CJ McCollum carried the scoring load in the first round, but the team was able to overcome the loss of starting center Jusuf Nurkic thanks to the play of Enes Kanter, who is now dealing with his own injury. Kanter reportedly played through a separated shoulder in the Game 5 win on Tuesday and received treatment all week while practicing on a limited basis. "It's getting there, it's a process," Kanter told reporters. "I think the Blazers are doing a very good job taking care of it. Obviously, I'm not going to lie, it hurts pretty bad. I'm having a hard time changing my shirt or even eating food. It's a process, just taking it day-by-day, seeing how it feels."
ABOUT THE NUGGETS: Even a fully-healthy Kanter would have a difficult time dealing with Jokic, who recorded a triple-double with 21 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists in Game 7 and averaged 23.1 points, 12.1 boards and 9.1 assists in the series. "I think the team expected me to do something, so I'm just trying to go out there and play my best basketball," Jokic told reporters after Game 7. "(Are the numbers) something I live for? No, it's just really good stats." Point guard Jamal Murray was inconsistent in the first round but came through with a team-high 23 points in the clincher.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Trail Blazers are shooting 40.5 percent from 3-point range - the top mark in the postseason.
2. Nuggets SG Gary Harris averaged 14.7 points on 48.7 percent shooting in the first round.
3. Portland ended a six-game losing streak in the series with a 115-108 home win on April 7.