Trail Blazers lose at home to the Denver Nuggets for the seventh straight game.
In spite of their Friday night loss, the Portland Trail Blazers kept growing.
The Blazers, who were on a six-game losing streak going into the All-Star break a week ago, faced the reigning champion Denver Nuggets on Friday night, a tough opponent they had already fallen short of twice.
In the end, the Blazers lost 127–111 despite putting up a strong fight. Due to Scoot Henderson’s abductor strain, coach Chauncey Billups started rookie forward Kris Murray in the backcourt with Anfernee Simons for the Blazers.
Henderson does push the pace and create for others, but he is not yet a consistent high-volume scorer. It hurt the Blazers to miss those skills. Despite this, they had enough confidence to trail 78-68 with 4:31 left in the third quarter following a 16-7 run.
However, the momentum did not last long. Denver took a 95-77 lead into the fourth quarter after finishing the quarter strongly.
Michael Porter Jr. scored 34 points for Denver, which was missing guard Jamal Murray, making 13 of 21 field goals and 5 of 10 three-pointers. Nikola Jokic, a centre, finished with 29 points, 15 rebounds, and 14 assists.
Jokic’s double-double against the Blazers this season was his second of the year. On Feb. 2, he scored 27 points, grabbed 22 rebounds, and dished out 12 assists at home against the Blazers.
Regarding Jokic, Billups remarked, “There are some players in the league that are just too good, no matter what coverages you play.”
At seven games, the Blazers (15-40) tied their second-longest losing streak of the year. They have eight longest. But this losing streak includes two last week against the Minnesota Timberwolves (39-16) and three against Denver (38-19).
Murray, starting for the second time this season, struggled mightily, finishing with nine points and six rebounds on 4 of 10 field goals and 0 of 4 three-pointers. His only basket came in the last minute of play. Murray’s young forward brethren also had a rough game; rookie Toumani Camara scored six points on 3-of-6 shooting, his final two field goals coming late in the fourth quarter.
Due to an adductor strain that Billups claimed started bothering him prior to the All-Star break, Henderson is not playing. Then, on February 16, during the NBA Future Stars game during All-Star weekend, Henderson made it worse. Although Henderson struggled to get through practice on Wednesday, Billups stated he hoped the injury would heal over the course of the week. On Thursday, tests confirmed the injury.
