The Denver Nuggets got out of the gates at a furious pace. They were up 14-3 just four minutes into the game while shooting 75 percent from the floor. Coming out of a Portland Trail Blazers timeout, Portland started climbing back into the game, but Denver was keeping them at bay. When Nikola Jokic eventually made his trip to the bench, the Nuggets’ lead was five, but the bench was able to extend the lead to eight with a late laser from Bones Hyland to DeAndre Jordan for an easy dunk at the rim.
The lead stretched to as many as 10 points early in the second quarter, and the Denver offense was still firing away from all over the floor, as they were 6-of-12 from 3-point range early on.