Damian Lillard scored 34 points and needed a playoff career-high 13 assists as the Blazers steal Game 1 by the Denver Nuggets.
Lillard scored 15 points in the third quarter as Denver took on the game and never looked back.
The Blazers are a -106 gambling underdogs to win the sequence.

The 2021 NBA playoffs began on Saturday night with a quadruple-header. In the curtain raiser, the Milwaukee Bucks endured the Miami Heat in an overtime thriller. Game two saw the Dallas Mavericks pull off the upset from the L.A. Clippers. The Brooklyn Nets bucked a slow start to defeat the Boston Celtics in the third game of the day.

In the nightcap, the second Western Conference game on the program made another stunning upset as the 6th seeded Portland Trail Blazers upended the 3rd seeded Denver Nuggets 123-109 in the Pepsi Center.

Both teams had big games from their superstars with Damian Lillard and Nikola Jokic matching every other’therefore scoring output. However, in the long run, it had been Lillard who got the last laugh as he struck a clutch shot after another in a different incident of Dame Time.

Dame Time After Halftime

Dame Time has came ⌚️

(through @trailblazers)pic.twitter.com/A1B1Z5ccRn

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 23, 2021

Carmelo Anthony started alluring for the Blazers with 12 first quarter points, his in a playoff game since 2013 while also becoming only the 6th player off the bench in the previous 25 postseasons to score 12+points at the first quarter. Melo would complete the game with 18 points in his first playoff game against the team who drafted him 18 decades ago.

But It had been Dame Time after halftime as Lillard scored 15 points from the third quarter to lead the Blazers to a 32-13 run which turned into a nine-point deficit into a 10-point direct at 96-86. He’d complete the game with 34 points, 13 assists, and two rebounds while being a +25 on the courtroom when playing 40 minutes of activity.

Lillard shot just 10-25 in the field but that he had been 5-12 out of heavy and 9-9 in the foul line. His 13 assists were his ever in a playoff game and entire, he accounted for 54% of those Blazers points. He also paired Nikola Jokic’s point production but the team ’s MVP gaming favorite was limited to only one assists on Saturday night, far short of his 8.3 assists per game season average.

Gotta Bounce Back in Game 2

Gotta bounce back in Game 2. pic.twitter.com/icCiJWcvbq

— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) May 23, 2021

Aside from becoming Jokic more involved from the playmaking, the Nuggets will require Michael Porter Jr. to take better from profound. MPJ entered the game shooting 44.5% from three-point distance during the normal season. He shot just 1-10 on Saturday night though he also scored 25 points.

Game two of the show is on Monday, May 24th, at the Pepsi Center. The Blazers have opened as one-point underdogs into the Nuggets at online sportsbook BetOnline. Portland can be a -106 underdog from Denver’s -115 to acquire the show at DraftKings but the Nuggets gotta bounce back in Game two or else it could be devastating.

In the history of the NBA playoffs, a total of 426 series watched a team have a 2-0 lead. Of these 426 teams, 399 went on to win the show along with even a 97.3% winning rate. The Nuggets have also surrendered home court advantage together with all the Game 1 loss, they cannot afford to lose at home with all the show led to Portland.

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