Same as it ever was. Denver finished the first quarter trailing 9 points and were never able to come back. Portland pulled off the victory 116-100 by shooting and making over twice as many three point shots as Denver.
The Nuggets played better tonight than they have recently, but their better wasn’t good enough to win. They limited the Blazer to 14 free throw attempts, they out-rebounded the top rebounding team in the league, and Ty Lawson was aggressively driving into the lane from the get go.
Denver lived in the paint, out-scoring Portland near the basket. But simple math tells us 3 is greater than 2 and the Blazers shot 16-31 from deep while the Nuggs finished 5-13. The three point shot is a staple of successful NBA teams and Denver has not finished above 15th in three point percentage since the 2010-11 season. If this team is to compete on a nightly basis they must attempt (and make) more threes.
| Denver Nuggets | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| STARTERS | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | |||
| Kenneth Faried, PF | 31 | 7-16 | 0-0 | 5-5 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 19 | |||
| Wilson Chandler, SF | 28 | 2-4 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | |||
| Timofey Mozgov, C | 36 | 3-10 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 4 | 12 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 7 | |||
| Ty Lawson, PG | 38 | 7-16 | 0-0 | 4-6 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 18 | |||
| Arron Afflalo, SG |
26 | 8-14 | 1-2 | 1-1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 18 | |||
| BENCH | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | |||
| Danilo Gallinari, SF | 20 | 0-3 | 0-1 | 5-6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | |||
| J.J. Hickson, C | 15 | 3-8 | 0-0 | 2-4 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 8 | |||
| JaVale McGee, C | 15 | 2-4 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 5 | |||
| Nate Robinson, PG | 14 | 2-9 | 1-4 | 1-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | |||
| Randy Foye, SG | 18 | 2-7 | 2-4 | 3-3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | |||
| Alonzo Gee, SF | DNP COACH’S DECISION | |||||||||||||||
| Jusuf Nurkic, C | DNP COACH’S DECISION | |||||||||||||||
| TOTALS | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | ||||
| 36-91 | 5-13 | 23-30 | 18 | 37 | 55 | 14 | 5 | 7 | 15 | 22 | 100 | |||||
| 39.6% | 38.5% | 76.7% | ||||||||||||||
|
Fast break points: 15
Points in the paint: 56 Total Team Turnovers (Points off turnovers): 15 (16) |
||||||||||||||||
| STARTERS | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | |||
| LaMarcus Aldridge, PF | 36 | 12-26 | 1-1 | 3-4 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 28 | |||
| Nicolas Batum, SF | 35 | 4-11 | 2-5 | 0-0 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 10 | |||
| Robin Lopez, C | 28 | 5-12 | 0-0 | 2-2 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 12 | |||
| Damian Lillard, PG | 34 | 4-9 | 2-5 | 1-1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 11 | |||
| Wesley Matthews, SG | 35 | 8-19 | 5-13 | 0-2 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 21 | |||
| BENCH | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | |||
| Thomas Robinson, PF | 5 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |||
| Meyers Leonard, C | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Joel Freeland, C | 7 | 2-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | |||
| Chris Kaman, C | 19 | 4-9 | 0-0 | 4-5 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 12 | |||
| Steve Blake, PG | 22 | 3-3 | 3-3 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 9 | |||
| C.J. McCollum, SG | 13 | 2-4 | 2-3 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | |||
| Will Barton, SG | 5 | 1-3 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | |||
| Dorell Wright, SF | DNP COACH’S DECISION | |||||||||||||||
| TOTALS | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | ||||
| 45-100 | 16-31 | 10-14 | 16 | 35 | 51 | 27 | 7 | 11 | 10 | 21 | 116 | |||||
| 45.0% | 51.6% | 71.4% | ||||||||||||||
|
Fast break points: 15
Points in the paint: 30 Total Team Turnovers (Points off turnovers): 11 (10) |
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