Portland Trail Blazers sweep Denver Nuggets 86–83
Portland’s victory is a very tough one to swallow because Denver was in the game till the end. The Blazers proved to be tough hosts, the way they shattered the guest Nuggets in the presence of 20,532 at Rose Garden, Portland. Blazer’ admirers enjoyed the
event of a home victory.
High-flying Players
Points in double digits were scored by four players from the Blazers team (8-5). LaMarcus Aldridge scored 24 points, Wesley Matthews added 20.
Denver (6-6) had five players score in double figures. Carmelo Anthony led the way with 18 points and eight rebounds, but fouled out with 3:35 remaining. Reserve Al Harrington scored 17 points and Arron Afflalo had 16.
Game Story
Nuggets started the game in a fabulous way, took an initial lead of 12 points at the end of the first quarter of the game. Portland, leading 16-11, went scoreless during the final 4:11 of the first quarter. The Blazers tried to give this game away on multiple
occasions. Denver turned a five-point deficit into a 12-point lead with a 17-0 run in the first quarter
However, the Nuggets were unable to hold the lead as the Blazers went on a 13-2 run to start the second quarter. Three consecutive 3-pointers in 63 seconds were hit by Matthews.
Denver had a 45-43 halftime lead.
The Nuggets maintained a two-point lead after three quarters, but gave it up early in the fourth when the Blazers started the quarter with a 10-3 run. Portland led by as many as seven points late in the final quarter and won the match by a slight difference
of 3 points.
Inopportune Moment
Nuggets’ Afflalo missed two 3-point attempts during the final 10 seconds that would have tied the game.
Turning Point of the Game
Blazer’s Rudy Fernandez hit a pair of 3-pointers early in the fourth quarter to spark a 10-3 run and fabricated a five-point lead, but his efforts went in vain when the Nuggets played from behind the rest of the way.
Sizzling performance
Wesley Matthews was astounding around the court. He sank three straight 3-pointers in the third quarter as Portland went on a 17-5 run to turn a 55-45 deficit into a 62-60 lead. This is called spectacular performance!
Pitiable performance
Blazer’s Marcus Camby was not really impressive on the court as he had 2-for-10 from the field.
Quotation
Blazers' Marcus Camby said, "A very ugly win. We didn't shoot the ball particularly well, but we got on the offensive boards, got a lot of put backs and kept ourselves alive until we were able to hit some shots in the second half".
While talking about the performance of LaMarcus Aldridge, Nuggets coach George Karl said "He was like Pau Gasol, tipping balls in".
Notable
The Blazer players will be wearing a "20" patch on their jerseys for the rest of the season in honour of Maurice Lucas (the former Portland player and assistant coach), who recently died of cancer.
After Shocks
The game was over after 2 hours and 26 minutes, but the Nuggets' locker room was glowering. They were aware of the fact that they had fought hard but their few mistake like how Afflalo was fouled, were hard to be digested. Afflalo said he was hit in the
hand, but he was unable to do anything about it.
Up Next
The confident Blazers will take on Utah Jazz on Saturday, November 20, 2010 at Rose Garden, Portland.
With a new game and new hope, Nuggets will play their next match against New Jersey Nets on Saturday, November 19, 2010 at ARCO Arena, Sacramento.
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