Portland Trail Blazers: 5 points as first round shifts to Rip City
Rob Ryan
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The Portland Trail Blazers are tied in their playoff series with Denver 1-1. Here are five points to ponder as the series moves to Rip City for Game 3 on Thursday night.
After watching the first two games of this best-of-seven series between the Portland Trail Blazers and Denver Nuggets, I took a few days to put together an assessment of the positives and negatives. Following their Game 1 win Game 2 loss, here are five points the Blazers must address as the series shifts to Rip City.
1. Jusuf Nurkic – Bigger impact
I thought Portland really took control in Game 1 when Jusuf Nurkic asserted himself in the second half. Saddled with the enormous task of stopping likely MVP Nikola Jokic, Nurkic did enough offensively with 16 points and 12 rebounds.
He not only forced Jokic to play some defense but also attracted enough defenders to open up better looks for Portland’s three-point marksmen. Jokic still had 34 points on 14-of-27 shooting, but Nurkic kept up with him much better after halftime.
Game 2 was a different story. Nurkic couldn’t make an impact on the offensive end. Looking at his Portland Trail Blazers’ career, it’s important he gets involved early. At times it seems like Nurkic is more motivated on defense if he is more involved on the offensive side of the court. Jokic ended up dominating both sides of the court with 38 points on a highly efficient 15-of-20 from the field.
The assists completely flipped where in Game 1, Jokic was held to a single assist, and Nurkic opened things up with 5, and in Game 2, Jokic was able to tally 5 and Nurkic had 1. I don’t expect Nurkic to stop Jokic, but I expect him to do better than 7 points on 2-of-8 shooting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiuzbMkpvpk