Trail Blazers Fall To Nuggets For Third Straight Loss As Nikola Jokic Goes Off

The Trail Blazers fought to the final buzzer, but were sent to their third straight defeat by Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets.

Notes, analysis, observations, video and more from the Trail Blazers' 111-106 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday.

The Blazers didn't lose this game in its final moments. They were never within a single possession under the one-minute mark, and only cut the Nuggets' lead to four late because of back-to-back triples from Damian Lillard and Carmelo Anthony. But mistakes like this, no matter who bears most culpability, are a very bad look. It also bears stressing one more time: The Blazers should have been fouling.

Denver committed one turnover against Portland. One. The Nuggets are a low-turnover team, and it's not like they faced no resistance whatsoever – the Blazers finished with seven blocks. Still, forcing a single turnover over a 48-minute game isn't exactly a ringing endorsement of Portland's defensive ceiling, with or without Jusuf Nurkic. The bright side? The Blazers had just nine turnovers, among their fewest of the season.
During the first half coach's interview, Terry Stotts told the TNT broadcast his team's transition defense early was "very poor." He put it nicely. Likely fatigued, almost certainly feeling the altitude and apparently unprepared for the Nuggets' go-go style, the Blazers were consistently prey in transition – often because they simply couldn't get back, and other times because they were confused who to guard. Portland indeed cleaned up their transition defense after the first quarter, but still made several clear gaffes of both gameplan and simple mental error defensively. Robert Covington even saved the ball under his own basket in the fourth quarter, yielding an uncontested Denver dunk. The Blazers' effort was mostly there, especially after a lethargic first quarter. But the next two days of rest after one of the season's toughest back-to-backs will be time well spent.

Nikola Jokic, as expected, dominated Portland en route to 41 points, his fourth-highest total of the season. What's just as notable is that he took 32 shots – his second-most in a game all year – to get there while dishing out only five assists, taking what Portland gave him as a scorer by attacking consistent one-on-one coverage. Enes Kanter worked hard to make life hard on Jokic under those impossible circumstances, even matching his minutes due to Portland's rash of injuries up front. But with Denver missing four rotation players, one wonders if a better defensive strategy would have been putting more onus on their replacements by forcing the ball out of Jokic's hands. Of course, there's an obvious drawback to sending double-team after double-team at arguably the world's best passer. Jokic's numbers probably should have been even bigger, though; several shots he normally makes just didn't fall through.
Carmelo Anthony's vintage mid-range shot-making display in the second quarter helped the Blazers erase an early double-digit deficit. He poured in 13 of Portland's first 16 points, abusing whatever defender the Nuggets threw at him with a scoring binge that harked back to his time starring for Denver. Anthony's easiest prey was Isaiah Hartenstein, the victim of his last three scores before Michael Malone called time out to stop the carnage.

'Melo's throwback scoring outburst was awesome just for its spectacle, let alone the impact it made on the scoreboard. But most encouraging for Portland long-term was how he reacted to Denver's after-timeout adjustment – well, at least until Anthony decided his hand was too hot to not keep shooting. On the first two possessions the Nuggets sent aggressive double-teams at him in the post, Anthony moved the ball to find splashed open jumpers for his teammates. The next one, unfortunately and perhaps unsurprisingly, looked like this.

Denver would've had this game won earlier than the late fourth quarter if not for Jamal Murray's disappearing act. Held in check by a dogged, active Derrick Jones Jr., he entered the final stanza with five points on 1-of-8 shooting. Murray came alive when the Nuggets needed him most, though, scoring 19 points in the fourth quarter on a dazzling array of jumpers, off-dribble finishes and backdoor cuts. His patented two-man game with Jokic suddenly appeared late, giving Denver the extra breathing room it needed to stave off a last-gasp Portland comeback.
Jones Jr. played his best game in a Blazers uniform. The overall box-score numbers speak for themselves; it always helps when the open jumpers fall. But Jones was fantastic defensively against Murray, a very tough matchup both on and off the ball, and brought ceaseless energy from the opening tip that some of his teammates lacked. For another game, he was an ever-looming lob and dunk threat on baseline cuts, too.