Nuggets Take Game 4 in Portland, Tie the Series, 116-112

Like against the San Antonio Spurs, the Nuggets managed to run away from certain death, and win Game 4 on the road. Only this time, it was the Moda Center and the Portland Trail Blazers against them.

Mike Malone’s guys fought off a hard win in Oregon, 116-112, in another exhausting and intense match, which only confirms what most experts told about this matchup. That it is going to be very close, and exciting.

“You go down 1-3, we all know how that story ends,” stated Malone at the press conference, suggesting that his team was aware that this was, in fact, the crucial match for them.

“I think that confidence of doing the same thing in the first round, against San Antonio helped us,” he added.

It was another drama in the Moda Center. The Trail Blazers were leading up to nine points in the first half, and headed for a break with a 63-57 lead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ms21KDulSHA&t=2s

But then came a third period in which the guests outscored Portland 27-14, stiffing the attack of the hosts in a way which hasn’t been seen in this series. At the end of that quarter, Denver was the one who was ahead, 84-77.

Portland did come back, and they did make the finish very dramatic, but Denver always had an answer on each, and every move home team made.

That is, the Nuggets had Jamal Murray who redeemed himself for mistakes in Game 3.

Portland came down to one point, 99-98, and as much as the Nuggets kept scoring, the home team did the same, and it appeared that the momentum is shifting onto their side. Will Barton scored two downtown shots, but the Blazers were still there, especially after Rodney Hood sunk a three to bring back his crew to 110-107.

For most of the Nuggets’ fans, this was a flashback of Game 3 when he decided the match.

Yet, form that moment on, Jamal Murray took the responsibility and scored 6 consecutive free throws in the last 13.2 seconds. It was a display of pure confidence and composure, which is not so frequent with the guys his age.

“I love free throws; everybody knows I love free throws,” said Murray.” My teammates trusted me to get me the ball in that situation.”

“I love free-throws.” – Jamal Murray after icing the game with 6 straight FT’s and finishing with 34 points. 😤😤😤 pic.twitter.com/ZpjEdeZOYk

— House of Highlights (@HoHighlights) May 6, 2019

Murray ended the night with 34 points, shooting free throws 11 from 11.

When talking about stats, there is no way we can’t mention Nikola Jokic, who had his second consecutive triple-double, fourth in this playoff run.

The Joker, who broke the mic at the press conference, had 21 points, 12 boards, and 11 assists. He mentioned how Nuggets prepared themselves for this match, and how they adjusted their mindset after a tough loss day and a half before.

“We just said to ourselves, `If we win today then the last game doesn’t really matter that much,” the Joker told the reporters.

On the other side, the Blazers are aware that the third quarter of this contest cost them a victory, and coach Stotts admitted that.

“We had a bad third quarter and that kind of made the difference. We made a good comeback, but now it’s a three-game series.”

CJ McCollum and Damian Lillard played well. McCollum had 29 points, Lillard 28. Aminu had 19. Seth Curry was excellent dropping 16 points and 4 threes, replacing Rodney Hood who had just 7 buckets.

But the main thing which couldn’t be covered up was Enes Kanter’s role. The big man had just 5 points and 10 rebounds, and as the series goes on, it seems that the Turkish native has more and more problems with his shoulder injury.

Except for Jokic, Paul Millsap also exploited that and the stong forward added 21 points with 10 boards, and it seems that this will be a recipe for the Nuggets in Game 5 in front of their own crowd.

That event is set for Tuesday 9:30 local time.