Portland Trail Blazers at Denver Nuggets Pick Game 1

The Denver Nuggets and the Portland Trail Blazers are set to get underway tonight in the second round of the NBA Playoffs. The two Western Conference Northwest Division foes faced off with each other four times this season with the Nuggets holding a 3-1 edge. The Nuggets were the division champions at 54-28, and the Trail Blazers were just one game behind them at 53-29. Denver was able to grab the second seed while Portland secured the third seed. Both teams only trailed Golden State in the win column. The winner of this series will be taking on the winner of the Golden State and Houston series in the Western Conference Finals. The spread sees the Nuggets as a four-point favorite tonight, and the over-under sits at 216 points.

Nuggets Look to Secure Game One

The Nuggets come into this series as the favorite, but it might be tougher than people view. The Nuggets are coming off of a grueling seven-game series against the Spurs, and they are playing on less rest than the Blazers. With that being said, the Nuggets are probably the better team since they match-up well with the Blazers. The Blazers are coming into this series with a ton of momentum, but the Nuggets did handle them relatively easily during the regular season. The series is going to ride on the play of Nikola Jokic who leads the team in pretty much every single offensive category. He leads the team with 20.0 points a game, 7.2 assists a game, 10.8 rebounds a game, and 1.4 steals a game. The only counting statistic that he doesn’t lead in is blocks. The Nuggets are a very good defensive team allowing just 106.7 points a game with scoring 110.7 points per game.

Blazers Try to Continue Momentum

The Blazers are coming off a thrilling defeat of the Thunder in the first round. Damien Lillard willed his team to the series win as he hit a step back 37-footer at the buzzer to clinch the series. With all of the momentum and the rest that they’ve had, it’s going to be hard to bet against the Blazers. Lillard is the engine that makes Portland go as he is scoring 25.8 points a game and as a team, they are scoring 114.7 points a game. Their defense isn’t too bad but sits in the middle of the NBA at 110.5 points a game. The key to the Blazers winning the series is going to be their ability to shoot the ball and keep the Nuggets big man in check.