Why Blazers 'Gotta Be Careful' Amid Friction With Rival Nuggets
Not even the 52 personal fouls called in the Trail Blazers' loss to the Denver Nuggets on Monday quite convey just how chippy Game 2 really was.
Nikola Jokic was called for a technical foul in the third quarter for exchanging heated words with someone on Portland's bench. Monte Morris got hit with a technical foul entering the halftime locker room. Even Blazers assistant Nate Tibbetts was charged with a technical foul after coming to Jusuf Nurkic's defense amid a spat with Michael Porter Jr.
Not that Portland didn't give as good as it got with regard to toeing the line between competitive fire and confrontational overreach. Carmelo Anthony was whistled for a flagrant foul for shoving Jokic as the two fought for position. C.J. McCollum's forearm shiver to Facundo Campazzo, light as it was, came before the balli was inbounded, drawing another flagrant foul.
Needless to say, Portland and Denver are in the throes of postseason intensity now, in-game animus between them growing by the game in wake of their seven-game battle in the 2019 Western Conference Semifinals – and both teams are more than ready for it.
The Blazers took a more defensive approach to the dramatics in the immediate aftermath of Game 1, panting the Nuggets as the initial instigators. C.J. McCollum said he and his teammates aren't "suckas," while Norman Powell expressed a similar sentiment, suggesting Portland wouldn't be treated like "punks" without responding.
Clearly.
But as a pivotal Game 3 dawns, Damian Lillard is stressing the need for the Blazers to maintain focus on the real task at hand when more pushing, shoving and trash-talking inevitably ensues.
"I'm a big boxing fan, so like, you get in the ring and you got all this animosity and anger and frustration and aggression, sometimes that can get you hurt," he said on Wednesday. "I think as a team, and I mentioned it to our team, we just gotta be careful. When you overly showing fight and overly showing aggression, and being extra, that's to me like a sign of being nervous and a little bit uncomfortable. You're not at ease."
Just because poise should be Portland's priority, though, hardly means Lillard wants his teammates to back down from Denver when challenged. Instead, the Blazers simply need to keep control of their emotions, nipping lingering frustration from any minor scuffles or verbal back-and-forths in the bud so it doesn't affect their play.
"I think that has to be our mentality. We gotta be aggressive and assertive, just like anybody else when it turns into that type of series," Lillard said. "But we gotta be under control, we gotta keep our composure and make sure that we manage that."
Lillard, to be clear, isn't running from friction with the rival Nuggets. He's embracing it, but in a manner that allows Portland to keep its collective cool – and potentially move on beyond the first round.
"It's a playoff series – that's where it is," he said. "Both teams wanna advance, both teams wanna win games, and they're gonna do everything in their power to make that happen."