It’s been nearly five weeks since the Portland Trail Blazers last played with the enduring memory of their 2020-21 season coming in a 126-115 loss to the Denver Nuggets. For everything we’ve sought to forget about that six-game series, there’s one sequence that’s been difficult to shake from the collective psyche.
The moment occurred at the end of Game 3’s first quarter, with the Blazers’ subs — namely Enes Kanter — set to enter the game. Over their next eight halfcourt possessions, Denver put their GPS on the Blazers big, involving him in some variation of a pick-and-roll or a dribble handoff to test his agility.