Portland Trail Blazers, Denver Nuggets, Nikola Jokic, Jusuf Nurkic (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
The Portland Trail Blazers open up their 2021 postseason with a 123-109 victory over the Denver Nuggets. The game was closer than the final score indicates, but the Blazers played like the favorites, even if Vegas said otherwise.
The two MVP candidates in the game put up MVP-level box scores. Damian Lillard finished with 34 points and handed out 13 assists, playing in all but eight minutes. Nikola Jokic went to work with his sidekick, Jamal Murray, sidelined; he put up 34 points and 16 rebounds.