Portland Trail Blazers vs. Denver Nuggets: 5 storylines to keep tabs on

Damian Lillard‘s dominance

While Dame has clearly shown the NBA world that he is the real deal for the past several years, this postseason has been his most impressive yet. He averaged 33 points, 6 assists, 4.4 rebounds, 2.4 steals, 46.1 FG%, 48.1 3P%, in 39.5 minutes a game in the first round. Those are All-NBA numbers.

Dame and the Blazers steadily outplayed Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder, sending them home in five games with one of the most cold-blooded game-winning shots in NBA history and a career-high 50-point game (best of his career).

Now in four meetings against the Nuggets, Lillard’s averages were not spectacular which can raise some sort of alarm as to how this series can play out. But due to his recent dominance over the Thunder, we can expect Dame to bring the same effort and intensity on both ends of the floor against Denver.