Portland Trail Blazers
Coming into the game, the Portland Trail Blazers were looking to extend their NBA best 18 consecutive home-opening wins. The last time the had lost a home opener before that game was in 2001.
After an impressive 2018-19 season, Portland has three new starters in the mix. Like several of the other teams who played in the first few days of the season, it’s reasonable to expect some growing pains in terms of the team’s chemistry.
The Blazers went only 7-28 from 3 which was a bit low considering they averaged 11 last season. As a team, they only shot 25 percent from 3 and had 41 percent field goal shooting overall. With the 3-point firepower that the Nuggets brought it simply wasn’t going to be enough.
Hassan Whiteside had a great first outing. He absolutely owned the defensive glass where he picked up 14 of his 19 rebounds. He completed the double-double performance with 16 points on 6-7 shooting. He also had two blocks and went 4-4 at the free-throw line.
It’s practically a given that if you tune in for a Trailer Blazers game, Damian Lillard is going to do something very impressive. Here is it.