Poetry is mostly boring and pretentious, but every so often it merges with basketball to create something truly magical. On Saturday night’s smackdown of the Phoenix Suns, the Portland Trail Blazers got back-to-back jams from Jusuf Nurkic and Maurice Harkless that exemplified the best parts of both of their games.
First, there was Nurkic, who proved treacherous for the Suns defense in the pick-and-roll with Damian Lillard. Phoenix’s Tyler Johnson couldn’t get around Nurk’s screens and rookie Deandre Ayton stepped up right in between Dame and Nurkic, opening up space for the bounce pass and serving Kelly Oubre, Jr.