Portland Trail Blazers: 3 takeaways from Game 2 road win vs. Nuggets

1. An effort adjustment leads to victory

Game 2 wasn’t the prettiest for Portland. Rip City gave up 23 offensive rebounds, failed to capitalize on the few turnovers they did force and saw its best player shoot under 30 percent from the field. Still, the Blazers fought through the adversity and found a way to win.

This win was pretty important from an odds standpoint. Since 1984, road teams that have lost the first two games of a seven-game series have won just 6.2 percent of those series. However, road teams that have lost Game 1 but win Game 2 have won 34.4 percent of their series. The odds still aren’t favorable, but much more friendly than the former scenario.

A more focused team effort was the key to this win. Though the shots didn’t fall for Lillard, the Blazers still managed to take care of the ball, make their free throws and get a balanced scoring effort from the rest of the team. Now they return to the Moda Center, an arena they haven’t lost at since March 7. We’ll find out Friday how much the home crowd can affect the visiting Northwest Division rivals.