Kenneth Faried and The Denver Nuggets are sick of losing, but that losing trend will continue at least for one more night with a loss to Portland 130-113. The Trailblazers came into tonight’s game at 5-3 and starting to build off of last seasons success and tonight showed their offense can hang around with some of the top dogs in the league when it comes to scoring. Denver came out firing on all cylinders with a 9-2 run to start things off and after that The Trailblazers went to work after that outscoring Denver 39-28 in the first quarter. Portland wouldn’t look back after that by scoring 45 points to give the team 84 points at halftime (yes your eyes are not failing you 84 points in a half) the team nearly tied a franchise record 86 points in one half as well.
Portland came out of half time not nearly as hot as they were going into it. Denver started off by giving Portland a wake up call by getting the lead down to 21 points on a 15-0 run, but they couldn’t hold Portland any longer. Brian Shaw certainly looked lost on some of his rotations at times desperately trying to stop Portland and miserably failed to do so. Ty Lawson was the only bright spot for Denver scoring 32 points while Portland had 6 players in double figures. Damian Lillard really lead the charge tonight by scoring 27 points and 9 assists who helped fend off a Nuggets comeback.
With Nicolas Batum out Portland did not miss a beat, but time will tell on how much Batum’s all around game will be missed. If Portland’s bench can help carry the load until Batum is healthy we could see a well oiled machine on offense as we progress in this NBA season. LaMarcus Aldridge truly helped set the tone on defense for Portland with 4 blocks in the first quarter and he would finish with six on the game. One note for Denver I’d like to be noticed the minutes restriction for Danilo Gallinari and Nate Robinson were lifted tonight which should help Brian Shaw’s rotation issues, but I’m not so sure it’ll be enough to fix Denver’s big issues on defense. You final score tonight Portland Trailblazers 130 and The Denver Nuggets 113.
The Portland Trailblazers move to 6-3 and host The Brooklyn Nets on Saturday
The Denver Nuggets will travel to Indiana to face The Pacers on Friday
