The Denver Nuggets were looking to bounce back tonight against the Portland Trail Blazers. Unfortunately, they completely forgot how to defend dribble penetration and were subjected to drive after drive that ended in a layup. Deni Avdija ends up scoring thirty six points, pretty much all of them within two feet of the basket, and Denver end up dropping an incredibly frustrating game.

Denver’s defense looked crisp to start the game while the Trail Blazers shot threes. That got the Nuggets a slim lead but Portland was hitting their outside shots at a decent clip. It didn’t last for them though. They started bricking and fouling Aaron Gordon while Russell Westbrook also started finding his teammates with pocket passes. When Denver got up nine Chauncey Billups called timeout. That stopped Denver’s momentum and then they got a couple tough calls. Just under the six minute mark the Blazers tied it at nineteen. It got a bit sloppy after that and there was a lot of whistles. The Nuggets could have built a lead but they gave up too many offensive rebounds and committed too many fouls down the stretch. After the first quarter the game was tied at thirty.

Denver’s defense wasn’t great to start the second and their offense seemed to have to battle for every point. Still, they kept it close with Westbrook getting some points and Peyton Watson doing his part as well. Gordon and Jamal Murray checked back in to give Denver’s offense some more rhythm. They started to build a small lead and had it up to eight midway through the quarter. The Nuggets defense was pretty lax after that and the Blazers started pushing back. It was infuriating watching the Nuggets continue to let the Blazers walk to the basket but Denver also kept getting just enough offense to not relinquish the lead. Westbrook continued to be aggressive and kept the offense afloat. Heading down the stretch the Nuggets stayed up by about a half dozen. At half they were up 59-54.

The second half started much like the first half went, with the Blazers getting a layup line. That drew an early rage timeout from Malone. It didn’t do a ton to help, the layups remained a problem while offensive rebounds also started to be a thorn in Denver’s side. At about the eight minute mark Portland took back the lead. Their run continued while Westbrook started to self-destruct a bit. Portland scored fourteen straight before Watson finally hit a three. Avdija was killing the Nuggets with drives to the baskets. The Nuggets responded though. Gordon got it going again and led Denver back to tying the game right before the three minute mark. The Blazers went on a run to close out the quarter and got back up by six. After three the score was 88-82 Portland.

There was a lot of points on both sides to start the fourth and the Blazers continued to attack the basket…Denver continued to let them. Portland’s lead grew to ten while they took only layups, the Nuggets stayed within striking distance but weren’t making any progress on the lead. Another Denver turnover led to a Shaedon Sharpe dunk and the Nuggets found themselves trailing by fourteen. Denver stated running out of time while still letting the Blazers get easy baskets at the rim. Once the lead got up to twenty the Nuggets relented and put in the deep bench. That group actually played ok. They were able to cut into the lead a bit but it still ended up in an outright blowout. Nuggets lose 128-109.