Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers came rolling into Game 1 against the Nuggets in Denver on Monday night after a long break since their star guard ended Oklahoma City’s season last week.
They were rested and ready to take on the No. 2 seed in the West who had just survived a Game 7 against the Spurs on Saturday night.
And then Dame and the Trail Blazers learned a quick lesson in their Game 1, 121-113, loss – Denver’s star center Nikola Jokic is going to be a very big problem for them.
Both literally and figuratively.
Because while Lillard put up 39 points, Jokic had 37 points. And 9 rebounds. And 6 assists. And 3 steals. And 2 blocks.
He did it all and Portland had nobody who could contain him, And that could be what ends up ending Portland’s season in this round.
Here he is beating them a number of different ways:
It’s only Game 1 and adjustments will be made, but it’s going to take something special by Portland to limit Jokic the rest of the way.
NBA fans fawned over his Game 1 performance.
