Denver’s first aim in this series will be to chop off the head. The one player who fell short in the season series (Lillard) lies at the heart of any hopes to contend in the playoffs. If you take a strict team approach, where quantity trumps quality, Portland’s key players have fared well enough against the Nuggets. The Blazers will need all of those attributes, particularly the rebounding, if they’re to keep pace with Denver. Meanwhile his offensive rebounding went through the roof and he even got in a couple assists. He took far more shots and kept his field goal percentage high, earning an eye-popping 17 points per game. Enes KanterĮnes Kanter also scored and rebounded big versus the Nuggets. He also doubled his free throws and rebounded like an All-Star. ![]() He took advantage with 3.3 extra field goal attempts, 1.3 extra three-pointers, and 6.4 points added to his scoring average. Whatever attention their defense devoted to the backcourt left him free to score. Here’s some good news for Portland: Al-Farouq Aminu excelled against the Nuggets. Odds are the Blazers will need more than that to make this a competitive series. If the Blazers had Jusuf Nurkic on the court, with a possibility of battling Nikola Jokic to a near-draw, 41 points combined from the Lillard- McCollum backcourt might be enough to give hope. McCollum shot 37.5% from the arc during the regular season as a whole, only 26.3% against the Nuggets. The glaring exception comes in three-point shooting, a Denver defensive specialty. CJ McCollumĬJ McCollum played to his season averages against Denver. Lillard’s ability to excel against Denver will be one of two major questions the Blazers will need to answer early. The mere idea of Lillard not being amazing-let alone not being himself against rangy, dedicated guards-is enough to cast this series in doubt. If Denver’s defensive attention blunts him, though, the Blazers will have a hard time making it up. Maybe he’s just that good and it’ll carry over. Lillard dialed up the megawattage considerably against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round, averaging 33.0 points on 46.1% shooting, 48.1% from the arc. ![]() 21.3 points per game still reads as a #1 option, but it’s closer to talented scoring guard than transcendent superstar. 37.1% overall and 28.6% from distance.that’s not the Damian Lillard we’re used to seeing. Lillard played 3.3 more minutes per game against Denver than average, but he registered fewer shots attempts and his percentages from the floor and the arc were miserable. Denver was one of Damian Lillard’s worst matchups this season. The story does not start out promising for Portland. How did they do against each other’s teams, and how did their supporting casts fare? We know Damian Lillard and Nikola Jokic excelled during the regular season and dominated Round 1 of the playoffs. As the Portland Trail Blazers and Denver Nuggets prepare to clash in the second round of the 2019 NBA Playoffs, let’s take a look at head-to-head statistical matchups for their top rotation players.
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