Deni Avdija had 28 points, Donovan Clingan added 17 points and 18 rebounds, and the visiting Portland Trail Blazers continued their road dominance with a 118-110 win over the Denver Nuggets on Monday night.
Damian Lillard scored 20 points and Jrue Holiday had 17 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds off the bench for Portland, which improved to 4-0 away from home this season.
Jamal Murray followed up his 39-point performance in Phoenix on Friday night with 35 points, Nikola Jokic tallied 26 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, and Christian Braun contributed 14 points for Denver, which has lost two of its first three home games.
With Jokic on the bench to start the fourth, Portland opened the final 12 minutes on a 9-2 run, capped by Holiday’s 3-pointer that made it 94-89. Murray temporarily slowed the surge with two free throws but Lillard’s three-point play made it 97-91 with 8:13 left.
Jokic’s first 3-pointer of the night drew the Nuggets to within 101-99 with 5:31 left, but after an empty possession after a successful challenge on a Jokic foul call, Avdija hit two straight driving layups and Holiday drained a corner 3-pointer to give the Trail Blazers a 108-99 lead with three minutes left.
Jokic sandwiched a floater between two Murray 3-pointers to cut the deficit to 110-107, but a 3-pointer by Toumani Camara and Avdija’s floater sealed the win for Portland.
Denver led by as many as 14 in the second quarter but a flurry of 3-pointers by the Trail Blazers — they hit five in a row — cut it to 54-53 late in the period. The Nuggets closed the first half on a 12-5 run to lead 66-58 at intermission.
The lead grew to 12 on Jokic’s floater but Portland reeled off eight straight to make it 70-66 three minutes into the third. The Trail Blazers finally tied it with 3:58 left in the third quarter and Holiday’s layup gave them an 82-80 lead, their first of the game.
Denver bounced back to take an 87-85 lead heading into the fourth.
