DENVER, COLORADO – MAY 22: Damian Lillard #0 of the Portland Trail Blazers goes to the basket against Facundo Campazzo #7 and Nikola Jokic #15 of the Denver Nuggets in the fourth quarter during Game One of their Western Conference first-round playoff series at Ball Arena on May 22, 2021 in Denver, Colorado. Matthew Stockman/Getty Images/AFP
Damian Lillard finished with 34 points and 13 assists, CJ McCollum scored 21 points, and the visiting Portland Trail Blazers beat the Denver Nuggets 123-109 in Game 1 of their Western Conference first-round series on Saturday night.
Jusuf Nurkic had 16 points and 12 rebounds, Carmelo Anthony scored 18 points, Anfernee Simons had 14 and Norman Powell scored 10 for the sixth-seeded Trail Blazers.
🔥 34 points for @Dame_Lillard
🔥 #NBAPlayoffs career-high 13 AST
Dame, @trailblazers go up 1-0 vs. DEN.. Game 2 is Monday at 10 PM ET on TNT. pic.twitter.com/cRmt59tjum
— NBA (@NBA) May 23, 2021
Game 2 is Monday night, also in Denver.
Nikola Jokic had 34 points and 16 rebounds, Michael Porter Jr. finished with 25 points and nine rebounds, Aaron Gordon tallied 16 points and eight boards, and Monte Morris finished added 10 points off the bench for third-seeded Denver.
The Nuggets led by three at intermission and increased it to nine with 8:34 left in the third quarter, but Portland dominated the rest of the period.
An 11-2 run tied the game at 73, and a three-point play by Powell gave the Trail Blazers a 76-75 lead. They went up 81-78 on McCollum’s 3-pointer.
Jokic got Denver back within one with a layup, but Lillard scored eight of his 15 third-quarter points in the final 1:26 to give Portland a 96-86 lead heading into the fourth.
The Trail Blazers hit two 3-pointers early in the fourth to go ahead 102-90, prompting the Nuggets to call a timeout. They tightened up after that and scored eight straight to get within four points with 8:14 remaining.
Simons and Markus Howard traded 3-pointers, and Jokic hit a turnaround jumper to make it 107-103, but Portland responded again. Anthony converted a three-point play, Lillard hit another from behind the arc and Nurkic’s three-point play made it 116-103.
Jokic missed on the other end and Nurkic scored off of an offensive rebound to make it 118-103, and the Trail Blazers closed it out.
Anthony heated up in the first quarter, scoring 12 points in five minutes to give Portland a five-point lead. Denver rallied late in the second quarter with a 15-4 run to go ahead 57-51 and led 61-58 at halftime.
💦 @carmeloanthony drops 18 PTS as the @trailblazers win Game 1 in Denver!
Game 2 – Monday, 10 PM ET, TNT pic.twitter.com/ZhWyPziwQW
— NBA (@NBA) May 23, 2021