The Trail Blazers take on the Nuggets
After Nurkic was injured, the Portland Trail Blazers immediately suffered a 37-point defeat, and although the opponent was the Second Place Golden State Warriors in the West, such a fiasco also told us that the team was out of orbit again. Simmons Jr. played an unparalleled season, but the Trail Blazers' injury list tells us how tough this team is. Under such difficult circumstances, they also welcomed the Denver Nuggets at home, which is the sixth team in the West with five consecutive wins.
Jokic was still the biggest supporter of the team before Murray's return, but in recent games, players such as Gordon and Morris have been in excellent form, and they have well shared the pressure on the offensive end for Jokic. This time facing the Blazers with only Yubanks on the inside, Jokic can be said to give and take.
Jokic was forced to punch in
At the beginning of the first quarter, Jokic only had 2 shots, got 4 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists, obviously, did not exert force, because his teammates were hot, the whole team blossomed more, and easily got 32 points, as for the Portland Blazers, only scored 27 points, including Simmons Jr. with 9 points and 1 assist. After returning from the second quarter, Jokic did not shoot once, did two things, grabbed rebounds and assisted teammates, got 5 rebounds and 4 assists, successfully connected the team, and the Nuggets scored 33 points in a single quarter.
Although Jokic did not exert his strength, the Nuggets still led the Blazers by as many as 17 points at the end of the half, which is the difference in strength between the two teams, not just a Jokic. In the second half, the Nuggets began to decline, Jokic continued to pick up rebounds on the defensive end, but still only 3 shots, got 4 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists, with his help, the Nuggets still got 21 points in a single quarter, and the Blazers only had 22 points, so the point difference was still 16 points.
In the final quarter of the game, Jokic had not yet played, and Cousins and Forbes on the bench made the game lose suspense. Forbes made three consecutive three-pointers, Cousins burst out, and there was a hand to respond to the ball, with 9 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists, the Nuggets' lead once came to 35 points, jokic was forced to clock out of work early. In the end, the Denver Nuggets beat the Portland Trail Blazers 124-92 and successfully won six consecutive wins.
Cousins dreamed of returning to the top
As the league's MVP and the Nuggets' star, Jokic only had five shots, hit 3 goals, had 8 points, 18 rebounds and 11 assists, and only played 26 minutes. I have to say that Jokic enjoys such a night, after all, the days of single-core leading the team are rarely as easy as this night. Cousins dreamed of returning to the top, playing 17 minutes, 7 of 10 shooting, 3 of 3 shooting from three points, 2 of 3 from three points, and having 19 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists, once again letting us see the style of the league's first center in the past. Green had 20 points and 10 rebounds, and Forbes hit five three-pointers, which was 17 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist.
After the All-Star, the Blazers lost two consecutive games, losing to the Golden State Warriors by 37 points, and now losing to the Denver Nuggets by 32 points, which is really unbearable. But there is no way, this team's lineup talent is really bad, Simmons Jr. got 16 points, 2 rebounds and 4 assists, Hart was 11 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals, and Spurs veteran Ubanks, 13 points, 10 rebounds and 2 assists on 6-of-9 shooting, completed his task well. The Blazers felt cold, and the team made 36 three-point shots, only hitting 6 goals.