PORTLAND — Five Blazers scored in double figures and Portland, after dropping Game 3 at home, stormed back to take Game 4, 115-95, at the Moda Center and even their best-of-7 series against the Nuggets at 2-2.
Game 5 is set for Wednesday at The Ball Arena in Denver.
Damian Lillard had an awful night, shooting just 1-for-10 from the field to finish with 10 points but Norman Powell picked up the slack with 29 points. CJ McCollum added 21 while Jusuf Nurkic registered 17 and six rebounds for Portland, which shot 42-of-84 from the field (50 percent) and 12 of 33 from 3 (36 percent).
“I love these type of games, these kinds of moments. It’s the moment where nothing else matters,” Powell told reporters.
The 6-foot-3, 215-pound Powell is no stranger in the big moments. A product of UCLA and the 46th overall pick in the 2015 draft, he was a member of the star-studded Toronto Raptors team that beat the dynastic Golden State Warriors in the 2020 NBA Finals.
Playing with a sense of urgency and trying to avoid falling into a 3-1 hole, Portland went right to work early and established a 32-24 first quarter advantage. They then put away the game for good with a 36-19 third quarter run.
Nikola Jokic led the Nuggets with 16 and nine rebounds but he canned only 7-of-18 field goals and missed 3-of-4 from long distance. The leading MVP candidate, Jokic only had an uncharacteristic assist against two tuenovers.
Denver swished just 32 of 94 attempts, a tepid 34 percent clip.
“We got our butts whooped tonight so that should be all the motivation we need,” Nuggets forward JaMychal Green, who tallied 11 points and five rebounds, said as Denver heads home in hopes of protecting their homecourt and take a 3-2 series lead.
