It was a disappointing night in Los Angeles for the Denver Nuggets last night. After having a lead in the fourth quarter, the team was unable to close it out and ultimately lost to the Los Angeles Clippers. Fortunately, Denver gets almost an immediate opportunity to wash the bad taste out of their mouth with another game tonight against the Portland Trail Blazers. Portland was hot going into the break, winning four of their past five, but had lost six straight prior to that. For a season that started marred with gambling accusations against their head coach, the Blazers have done well to stay competitive and put up a respectable record behind budding star Deni Avdija. Currently sitting in the last play-in spot one would expect the Blazers to be all hands-on deck for a playoff push…but that’s another story about a bigger issue that we’ll get to in a bit.
The Basics
Who: Denver Nuggets (35-21) at Portland Trail Blazers (27-29)
When: 8PM MST
Where: I’m still calling it the Rose Garden. Portland, OR.
How to watch/listen: Altitude TV and Altitude Radio 92.5FM
Rival blog: Blazer’s Edge
The Matchup
| Position | Nuggets | Blazers | Advantage |
| PG | Jamal Murray | Jrue Holiday | Nuggets |
| SG | Christian Braun | Sidy Cissoko | Nuggets |
| SF | Cameron Johnson | Jerami Grant | Even |
| PF | Spencer Jones | Deni Avdija | Blazers |
| C | Nikola Jokic | Donovan Clingan | Nuggets |
| Bench | Bruce Brown, Tim Hardaway Jr., Jonas Valanciunas, Julian Strawther | Caleb Love, Scoot Henderson, Kris Murray, Matisse Thybulle | Even |
Injury report*: Aaron Gordon – out (hamstring), Peyton Watson – out (hamstring), Tamar Bates – out (foot); Kris Murray – questionable (lumbar), Matisse Thybulle – questionable (knee), Damian Lillard – out (achilles), Shaedon Sharpe – out (calf).
The Three Things
The thing to watch: A better Portland roster than you think
No, Damian Lillard will not follow up his win at the three-point contest with a return to the court for Portland, but otherwise they are starting to look like a healthy…and fairly complete…team. They’ve essentially been the dumping grounds for bad contracts the past couple seasons and while guys like Jerami Grant and Jrue Holiday aren’t what they once were and aren’t performing at the same level when they earned their current contract, they are still solid players. Avdija is a bonafide start, Donovan Clingan is your classic, athletic, mountain of a man center. Matisse Thybulle and Kris Murray could return tonight. The Portland roster is definitely stronger than it has appeared in the recent past.
The thing to remember: Portland is caught between a rock and a hard place
Tanking is all the buzz right now, particularly in the Northwest Division. The Blazers find themselves in the unenviable spot of being a team who probably should tank right now, but it will also be incredibly obvious and highlighted if they do. A full four games ahead of 11th seeded Memphis in the loss column with 26 games remaining isn’t an epic collapse, but with the Grizzlies trading away stars and the Blazers getting healthy, Portland is certainly in the pole position to earn the dubious honor of least likely team to win either the championship or the lottery, which no one wants to earn.
The thing to bet: Jamal Murray over 25.5 points (-110)
Jamal is going to be pissed about missing that free throw last night and pissed Jamal is a scary man to try to defend. I like his chances here against the older Holiday and Nikola Jokic has been looking less aggressive on offense lately which gives Jamal an opportunity to pile up some points.
