The Portland Trail Blazers needed a win Saturday’s Game 4 in order to avoid falling behind 3-1 in their first-round playoff series against the Denver Nuggets. In such a situation, one might expect Damian Lillard to put forth a dominant performance.
Didn’t happen. He scored just 10 points on 1 of 10 shooting.
However, it didn’t matter. The Blazers thumped the Nuggets 115-95 to tie the series at 2-2. Norman Powell led the Blazers with 29 points, tying his playoff career high. CJ McCollum had 21 points and eight assists.
Lillard’s day wasn’t all bad, though. He contributed 10 assists and eight rebounds.
Carmelo Anthony, who turned 37 on Saturday, scored 12 points. Fans sang him Happy Birthday before the start of the fourth quarter.
Game 5 will take place at 6 p.m., Tuesday in Denver. The series will return to Portland Thursday for Game 6. Time to be determined.
The Blazers shot 49.4% from the field while Denver managed to shoot just 34%.
Nikola Jokic was held to 16 points and nine rebounds. He had just one assist.
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FOURTH QUARTER
2:48: T.J. Leaf in the game. Gets a dunk. Blazers up 108-87.
Blazers have cleared out the regulars. Fans chanted “Norman Powell.” He left the game with 29 points.
5:52: McCollum scored twice in 26 seconds. Blazers lead 105-82.
8:23: Denver’s Campazzo and Morris made back-to-back threes. Blazers call timeout up 99-75.
10:21: Powell scores his second basket of the quarter and the Blazers lead 98-69.
THIRD QUARTER
0:00: The third quarter ended with McCollum hitting a three at the buzzer. The Blazers lead 96-66. Oops. Wait. The basket was ruled no good after review. So, it’s 93-66.
2:25: Anfernee Simons just hit a three and then Carmelo Anthony came back with a three. Denver calls timeout. Blazers up 88-58.
4:48: Norman Powell with a powerful dunk has given the Blazers a 78-56 lead. Powell now has 23 on the day.
6:18: A Jokic three makes it 73-54 but McCollum came back with a baseline fade-away. Blazers lead 75-54.
7:40: Powell scores. Blazers up 72-51.
9:16: Jusuf Nurkic just rejected Aaron Gordon with extreme prejudice.
10:20: The Blazers got another stop and that led to a Robert Covington lead. Then Aaron Gordon scored for Denver. Blazers up 67-49.
10:53: Powell made two free throws and then after a defensive stop, he took the ball strong to the basket and scored on a layup. Blazers up 64-47.
11:38: CJ McCollum scored on a running pull-up jumper and was fouled. Made free throw. Blazers lead 60-47.
SECOND QUARTER
The Nuggets went right to work cutting into their deficit at the start of the second quarter by going on a 12-4 run to tie the game at 36-36 after JaMychal Green scored on consecutive layups.
The Blazers settled down and put together a run and went back up 48-38 when Lillard hit a three, his first basket of the game. The Blazers ended the first half up 57-47.
Portland got 13 points each from Normal Powell and Jusuf Nurkic in the first half.
Damian Lillard went 1 of 6 for nine points. He made all six of his free throws.
Nikola Jokic has 11 points for Denver, which is shooting 37.8% from the field.
FIRST QUARTER
The Blazers, backs against the wall, had their claws out early. Portland got out to a 23-13 lead and ended the first quarter up 32-24 after shooting 55% from the field and making 5 of 10 threes. Powell scored 10 points in the first quarter and Nurkic head nine.
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Portland Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts said the Blazers must shoot better from three and defend the three better in order to win Game 4 Saturday at the Moda Center.
It’s almost just that simple.
Denver, while winning Game 3 on Thursday to take a 2-1 series lead, shot 52.6% on threes while the Blazers shot 31.1% During the season, Portland shot 38.5% on threes while Denver shot 37.7%.
“Denver shot the ball extremely well,” Stotts said. “I think most of the guys, they shot it better than their season average. So, hopefully, that comes back to the mean a little bit. But we’ve got to be closer to them, respect their three-point shooting. But I think still our priority is to defend the paint, which we did last game.”
Defending both inside and outside well enough to even this series, Stotts said, requires fewer defensive lapses.
“I thought we came out with good energy defensively,” Stotts said. “We had a couple of lulls. So, we need to sustain our defensive alertness and be more consistent with that during the game.”
Shooting better, as well, could send the series back to Denver at 2-2.
“We do rely on the three-point shot and we didn’t shoot the ball well last game,” Stotts said. “So, that’s part of it.”
Be sure to check back during the game for live updates.
PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS VS. DENVER NUGGETS, GAME 4
What: No. 6 seed Trail Blazers vs. No. 3 seed Nuggets, first round of NBA playoffs.
When, where: 1 p.m. Saturday, Moda Center.
Series status: Denver leads 2-1.
TV channel: NBC Sports Northwest (in Portland: Comcast 37/737). TNT (54/754).
Radio: Rip City Radio (KPOJ 620 AM)
How to watch live stream online: You can watch this game live with your cable provider login, or you can watch the game live for FREE with Hulu + Live TV (free trial) or Sling(promotional offers). If you already have a cable package, you can watch the game live on Watch TNT with your cable provider login information. There are a variety of other streaming options you can try: www.nba.com/blazers/watch.
GAME 4 ODDS
Spread: Blazers by 4 | Total: 227.5
Moneyline: Blazers (-175) | Nuggets (+155).
SERIES ODDS
Moneyline: Blazers (+170) | Nuggets (-200).
INJURIES
Blazers: C T.J. Leaf (left knee; inflammation) is available; F/C Zach Collins (left ankle; stress fracture) is out.
Nuggets: G Will Barton (right hamstring; strain), G PJ Dozier(right adductor; strain) and G Jamal Murray (left ACL; surgery) are out.
SERIES SCHEDULE (home team in caps)
Game 1: Portland 123, DENVER 109
Game 2: DENVER 128, Portland 109
Game 3: Denver 120, PORTLAND 115 (Denver leads 2-1).
Game 4: 1 p.m. Saturday in Portland.
Game 5: Tuesday, June 1, at Denver, time TBD.
Game 6: Thursday, June 3, in Portland, time TBD (if necessary).
Game 7: Saturday, June 5, at Denver, time TBD (if necessary).
-- Aaron Fentress | afentress@Oregonian.com | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook).
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