Game 3 of the Western Conference Semifinals between the Portland Trail Blazers and the Denver Nuggets will be remembered as a playoff classic for years to come
Game 3 between the Denver Nuggets and Portland Trail Blazers went to four overtimes and is only the second game in NBA playoff history to do so. Ultimately, the Blazers prevailed due to a game-winning 3-point shot from Rodney Hood.
Both the Blazers and the Nuggets showed their fight and willingness to leave it all on the floor and was evidenced by the looks of exhaustion on the part of both teams by the end of the night.
However, Denver did not go down without a fight. Jamal Murray had 34 points, nine rebounds, and five assists. Nikola Jokic had 33 points, 18 rebounds, and 14 assists. And Denver’s bench scored a playoff-high of 36 points.
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So far in the playoffs, Jokic has played better in road games. He is averaging 31.7 points per game on road games these playoffs. In the Western Conference Semifinals, Jokic is having a historic series, averaging 28.7 points, 13.7 rebounds and 9.0 assists on 51 percent shooting from the field and 39 percent from 3-point range.
Despite the Blazers winning, Denver played a better basketball for most of the game. Denver had a higher 3-point percentage, field goal percentage, more assists, higher scoring bench, and more rebounds.
CJ McCollum played lights out in the game and had 41 points on an attempted 39 field goals. Damian Lillard, after the game, explained what it was like to play four overtimes.
Lillard further explained what it took for the Trail Blazers to finally win the game.
"“And nobody said it was going to be pretty. Nobody said it was going to be easy. And you know the team that was willing to go a bit deeper was going to win the game. And I thought we did that down the stretch.”"
Despite losing, Denver coach Mike Malone was upbeat after the game and referred to the game as an “instant classic” in the playoffs.
[via ESPN]
"This was a great basketball game. Wasn’t pretty at all times — but the effort, the competitive spirit from both groups, was outstanding."
Through three games, this has been one of the most exciting series in the playoffs thus far. In the end, as they took a 2-1 series lead, the Blazers showed a little bit more fight than the Nuggets in Game 3. Despite that, it looks like this series is just getting started.