Trail Blazers at Nuggets
The Portland Trail Blazers visit the Denver Nuggets on Friday night with both teams trying to rebound from road losses in their season openers. The Blazers fell 104-91 to the Suns in Phoenix on Wednesday just as the Nuggets were losing 90-88 to the Kings in Sacramento. Denver gains confidence in heading home, where it went a league-best 38-3 last season.
The Nuggets’ J.J. Hickson will be going against his former team after averaging 12.7 points and 10. 4 rebounds for Portland last season. Hickson had a smooth transition to his new squad, collecting 12 points, nine rebounds and four blocks in the opener. The Blazers appeared to miss his presence inside while getting outscored 52-24 in the paint against the Suns.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, CSN Northwest (Portland), Altitude (Denver)
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (0-1): Reigning NBA Rookie of the Year Damian Lillard scored 32 points in the opener and LaMarcus Aldridge added 28, but Portland’s other players combined to go 11-for-39 from the field. The defense was also lacking as Phoenix shot 51.8 percent and collected 31 fast-break points. "We were not ready," small forward Nicolas Batum told reporters after the loss. "We can talk about how much better we are and all the things we want to do, but we've got to be ready.”
ABOUT THE NUGGETS (0-1): Denver came up just short in coach Brian Shaw’s debut as Ty Lawson and Randy Foye missed last-second shots in Sacramento. Lawson led the team with 20 points and eight assists, but a playoff-like atmosphere for the Kings’ first game under new ownership was just too much for the Nuggets to overcome. "It was a raucous atmosphere but we played through it," said Shaw, whose team can now feed off its own home crowd.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Nuggets F Kenneth Faried, who is nursing a strained hamstring, didn’t start and only played 15 minutes in the opener.
2. Denver went 3-1 against Portland last season.
3. Lillard went 6-for-12 on 3-pointers, but the rest of the Blazers were 2-of-14.