Portland Trail Blazers: 3 takeaways from Game 7 win vs. Nuggets
The Portland Trail Blazers won Game 7 and will move on to the 2019 Western Conference Finals. Here are three takeaways from their series-clinching win.
The Portland Trail Blazers survived and advanced. They took Game 7 of their Western Conference semifinals series against the Denver Nuggets Sunday afternoon, 100-96. The win punches their ticket to the Western Conference Finals — their first since 2000 — where they will take on the Golden State Warriors.
Denver began Game 7 in full control, jumping out to a 29-17 lead after one quarter. The momentum continued into the second, as the home team pushed its advantage to 39-22 with 7:26 left in the frame.
From there, the Trail Blazers chipped away at the deficit. With 12 seconds left in the third quarter, they finally took their first lead of the game. By 3:20 in the fourth, they were ahead by seven points. Portland had outscored Denver 70-46 in between their lowest point and largest lead.
Denver managed to close the gap to within one point with 30 seconds left in the game. However, a CJ McCollum pull-up jumper with 12 seconds remaining and a missed free throw by Nikola Jokic sealed the game for Portland.
McCollum led the way with another huge effort. He put up a game-high 37 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Evan Turner was their sixth man of the game, putting up 14 points and seven rebounds. Damian Lillard had a rough shooting day, scoring 13 points on 3-of-17 shooting (5-of-6 from the free throw line). However, he still contributed 10 rebounds, eight assists and three steals.
Jokic paced Denver with 29 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks on 11-of-26 shooting. Murray also had a rough night from the field, scoring 17 points on 4-of-18 shooting (9-of-9 from the line). He added six rebounds and five assists. Gary Harris chipped in 15 points and six rebounds.
The Portland Trail Blazers pulled off an emotional Game 7 win on the road. Here are three things we can take away from this historic victory.