Blazers-Nuggets links: On adjustments for Portland, Denver limiting Damian Lillard and Will Barton’s revenge

Blazers-Nuggets links: On adjustments for Portland, Denver limiting Damian Lillard and Will Barton’s revenge

NBA

Blazers-Nuggets links: On adjustments for Portland, Denver limiting Damian Lillard and Will Barton’s revenge

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The Portland Trail Blazers and Denver Nuggets meet Tuesday in a likely series-defining Game 5, with Tuesday’s winner grabbing the upper hand with a 3-2 lead and inching on more win away from the Western Conference finals.

Here’s a whip around the web for the latest Blazers-Nuggets links ahead of Game 5:

• ESPN’s Zach Lowe details 23 reasons why he loves Blazers-Nuggets, including

AnotherThe Blazers are plus-9 with Hood, McCollum and Lillard on the floor -- and Hood in place of Harkless. They lose some size that way. Harkless is defending Murray, and that gives Portland the flexibility to switch any Murray-Millsap action.

But Hood has managed the Murray assignment well. He is a more polished post player than Harkless, though less brutish, and the Blazers are trying to scrounge some points by posting Murray. (Murray's defense remains a train wreck.)

I wonder if Terry Stotts might give the Hood/Lillard/McCollum look more run.

• Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer has some adjustment suggestions for Portland:

One lineup tweak the Blazers could make is using a small backcourt of Lillard, C.J. McCollum, and Seth Curry or Rodney Hood more frequently. That would give Portland a trio of shooters and Aminu, alongside a shooting center in Zach Collins, or another non-shooter like Enes Kanter. The Blazers have had some success in doing this: They have outscored the Nuggets by 17.8 points per 100 possessions when Lillard is on the floor with Collins, and they get outscored by 7.3 when Lillard is paired with Kanter. Though the sample size with Collins is only 39 minutes, it would be worth trying more considering its promising results so far.

• Mike Richman of NBC Sports Northwest on how the Nuggets have limited Lillard compared to his impact in the first round:

After averaging 33.1 points and shooting 48.1 percent from three-point range in the first round against the Thunder, Lillard is averaging 27.3 points and shooting 25.7 percent from deep against Denver.

Lillard has had his moments -- like his 39-point performance in Game 1 and his crucial buckets to force a fourth overtime in Game 3. However, Lillard’s been more campfire than towering inferno, cooling off slightly after setting the Thunder ablaze.

The opening of Game 4 looked like Lillard’s breakout. He methodically picked his spots, hitting three of his first four shots and finishing the first quarter with 10 points. He closed the game with 15 points in the final frame, nearly engineering a comeback in the fourth. As Jokic was stunned to learn Sunday night, even Lillard’s rough nights can end up looking pretty good.

• Jason Quick of The Athletic with some defining numbers through the first four games of this series:

It was a deflating turn of events and underscored what has become a huge storyline in this series: Denver’s offensive rebounding and second-chance points.

In Game 2, Denver grabbed a whopping 23 offensive rebounds, followed by 24 in Game 3 and 17 in Sunday’s Game 4.

“We’ve got to do a better job of putting bodies on them,” Stotts said. “Sometimes it’s bad bounces. Sometimes they are more aggressive going after the ball.”

• Enes Kanter says the Blazers are treating Game 5 like it’s Game 7, writes Sean Keeler of the Denver Post:

Enes Kanter really doesn’t want to be back at Pepsi Center over the weekend. And with good reason: The Denver Nuggets are 2-2, all-time, in Game 7 matchups — but 2-0 at home. Portland is 1-2, all-time, in Game 7s — and 0-2 on the road.

“We need to match their energy and (have) even more energy spent,” Kanter, the Trail Blazers center, said Tuesday before the Portland began its shootaround in preparation for Game 5 of the Nuggets-Blazers NBA Western Conference semis at Pepsi Center this evening. “We’re going to treat (Tuesday) like Game 7.”

• The Athletic’s Joe Vardon on Will Barton’s revenge against his former team:

In Games 3 and 4 at Moda Center, Barton was much better in Game 3. In Game 4, he was just 2-of-12 shooting before he made it out to the 3-point line, and finished with 11 points. It’s just, what Barton did in Game 3 was an afterthought because the game itself was historic and the Nuggets lost anyway.

But with 3:02 left on Sunday, and his Nuggets clinging to a one-point lead, Barton pulled the trigger on a 3 that splashed. Two possessions later, with Denver up two and 1:43 left on the clock, he banged another one.

Against the Blazers. With everything on the line. In the gym where he got his NBA start. Had to feel good, didn’t it?

• Eric Spyropoulos of Nuggets.com on the impact of Paul Millsap in this series:

His latest performance may have been his best, and most important of the playoffs. In 41 minutes of action, the four-time All-Star dropped 21 points on 6-of-10 shooting, grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked two shots. Millsap showcased his versatility on both ends of the floor, as he knocked down two 3-pointers, got to the free throw line and scored in the post. Meanwhile, the playoff-tested veteran defended the rim and capably switched onto Portland’s guards for stretches of the game, including a key steal on Damian Lillard in the third quarter.

It shouldn’t be a surprise to many that a matchup against Portland has brought the best out of Millsap. In the regular season, Denver’s starting power forward averaged 19.3 points and 7.7 rebounds per game while shooting 63 percent from the field and 60 percent from three. Even though the 3-ball hasn’t been falling consistently for Millsap throughout the playoffs (30 percent), he has been shooting well from deep in the second round, connecting on 37.5 percent from beyond the arc.