The Denver Nuggets didn’t play their best on Saturday night against the Portland Trail Blazers, but they found a way to win anyway 114-111.
Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray sat out Saturday’s game and didn’t make the trip to Portland, leaving Reggie Jackson and DeAndre Jordan to start in their place. The Nuggets played the rest of their team outside of Zeke Nnaji, and Denver had a pretty solid performance throughout. Jackson led the way with 23 points and five assists. Aaron Gordon was extremely physical on the interior and added 22 points, 12 rebounds, and five assists to go with three blocks.
But it was Christian Braun off the bench who was perhaps the most impressive Nugget of the night. In 36 minutes, Braun tallied an impressive 17 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, three steals, and two blocks, providing a level of all-around impact and hustle that got Denver through the night when the energy and execution weren’t at peak level. Braun looked for his own shot more consistently and made some nice looking shots, ranging from floaters to jump shots to slashing buckets. He used the attention he was generating to create goos hots for teammates as well and had a nice connection going with Gordon.
Add in the hustle of the 10 rebounds and five combined stocks, and it may have been the best statistical performance of the season for Braun.
Christian Braun in good form tonight:
-layup off a nice entry dish from DeAndre Jordan
-3-pointer
-driving hook shot in the lane#Nuggets #MileHighBasketball pic.twitter.com/QuUOO9eFRW— Joel Rush (@JoelRushNBA) March 24, 2024
Fortunately for the Nuggets, Porter turned it around in the second half a bit with 12 points, including an important transition three off of a highlight block from Gordon. The Nuggets took advantage of enough swings of momentum to get the job done tonight, and Porter’s one of the best shooters in the league when it comes to capitalizing on an advantage that turns into a timeout for the opposing team. Ultimately, the final step in Porter’s development as a scorer for Denver must be how he gets involved and stays involved when Jokic and Murray aren’t out there, especially Jokic.
AG block 🔜 Mike three 🗣 pic.twitter.com/hfSPUmu77i
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) March 24, 2024
The Nuggets weren’t exactly playing the Kevin Durant Golden State Warriors tonight. The Blazers started five rookies for only the second time in NBA history, and they certainly played like it. The Blazers made critical errors in the form of ill-advised drives to the rim and constantly fouling the Nuggets on the other end. If the Nuggets had played most other teams tonight, they would have lost.
Fortunately, that’s not how the schedule works. The Nuggets caught a break, won against the team in front of them, and crossed the 50-win threshold with 11 games to go in the regular season. It’s unlikely that Denver will hit 60 wins, but could they set the franchise record for 58 wins? They need to go 8-3 during the rest of the regular season to make it happen.
Final Rotations
