Blazers Win Instant Classic, Beat Denver 140-137 in 4OTs
What a wild game. It took four overtimes, but the Blazers pulled out a 140-137 win over the Denver Nuggets to take a 2-1 series lead. Rodney Hood was the hero of the night, as he hit a clutch 3-pointer with 16 seconds to go to give the Blazers a 138-136 lead. Nikola Jokic got fouled on the ensuing possession, but he split a pair of free throws and the Blazers iced the win on the free throw line from there.
Cj McCollum led the way for the Blazers with 41 points and 8 rebounds. Enes Kanter continued his gritty play, with 18 points and 15 rebounds. Rodney Hood as been the X-factor for the Blazers in this series, as he finished with a big 19 points off the bench as he took advantage of the small Denver guards all night. Damian Lillard had his second straight game of poor shooting, as he finished with 24 points on 10-24 shooting.
Nikola Jokic had a monster game for Denver, he finished with 33 points, 18 rebounds, and 14 assists. However, the big men didn’t make a big impact on the game during overtime as it was clear he was gassed. Jokic played 65 minutes on the night, and you have to expect that to take a toll on the big guy for Game 4.
Portland now has a 2-1 series lead, Game 4 will be Sunday at 4pm.