The Nuggets were victorious over the Trail Blazers 108-104 on Monday. Damian Lillard had 30 points in the loss.
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Faried finished with 19 points and nine rebounds, and forward Danilo Gallinari had 25 points for the Nuggets (4-4). 992 points on each possession. Mudiay has shot an amazingly low 27% in the restricted area so far this season. Without having guys like Wesley Matthews and Nicolas Batum camped in the corners, it’s been a tougher transition for connecting on what are generally the most efficient 3-point shots you can take. “I don’t think either team was really able to sustain any momentum at either end of the court”. In those situations, the Denver defense is at least able to get back and get set up to defend. But their pick and roll defense still leaves a lot to be desired. The teams traded runs at the start of the fourth quarter. Because Stotts’ system is often so good with spacing, it doesn’t matter if they’re using that spacing to create for themselves or move the ball for others. With those increases in shots off the dribble and pull-up jumpers, the catch-and-shoot frequency has decreased even though they’re more accurate than last season. He had a driving layup and was fouled while hitting a 3-pointer with 4.6 seconds left. He has showed a few signs of improvement.
Those blocks came against All-Star guard Damian Lillard.
“I used my length”, Mudiay said.
But this was exactly what the Nuggets envisioned when they took him with the No. 7 pick overall. Reserve Allen Crabbe added 11. However, the following season, Barton saw his role decrease drastically, playing a career-low 9.4 minutes per game. Led by Hickson and Faried dominating the boards and the paint, the Nuggets lead rose to as much as seven late in the third. Last year’s team was toxic, with reports that they would break the huddle to the chant of six more weeks. But then in the final minute of the third, Lillard scored six consecutive points including a four-point play.
The hard-to-guard Lillard had 20 points at halftime, but was held to 10 in the second half.
The final period continued to go back and forth, and the teams exchanged short runs.
But Lillard’s re-entry into the game did not trigger an offensive surge. But it wasn’t enough on a night the Blazers’ defense – yet again – underwhelmed. Meyers [Leonard] was making shots early, so that loosened up the pick-and-roll coverages.
The frequency of shots off the dribble and pull-up jumpers (these are only recorded outside of 10 feet) has increased significantly with an even bigger increase in accuracy. In addition to the 19.7 ppg, opponents are scoring 1.15 points per possession against the Nuggets off of turnovers, 0.13 points per possession higher than they score following a made basket.
The Blazers dropped another winnable game ahead of the highly anticipated return of LaMarcus Aldridge to the Moda Center in a San Antonio Spurs uniform. He’s clearly more confident than he’s ever been and has the responsibility of being a secondary shot creator off the bench. They eventually stretched the lead to 26 points. “He made big plays for us”. Mudiay just puts his head down and will not be denied the points. Dunn averaged 15.6 points, 5.5 rebounds, 7.5 assists and 2.7 steals while Hield averaged 17.5 points and 5.5 rebounds for the Sooners.
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Erik Gundersen is the Trail Blazers beat reporter for The Columbian. You can also occasionally find his work on ESPN.com’s National Basketball Association section for their TrueCities series. He also fist-bumped with Kanye West once.
