Blazers Face Elimination After Game 5 Blow Out

DENVER (AP) – Nikola Jokic scored 25 points and tied a team playoff high with 19 rebounds, and Paul Millsap injected some experience into a series dominated by youth, sparking the Nuggets’ 124-to-98 blowout of the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday night. The win gives Denver a 3-to-2 lead in the best-of-seven series. The Nuggets never trailed and stretched a six-point lead after one quarter to 18 at the half and 28 heading into the fourth quarter. They led by as many as 31 before a parade of backups gave the starters some much-needed breathers. Damian Lillard led Portland with 22 points, but again struggled from the arc, going 2-of-9 on 3-pointers. It’s the first lopsided game in a series that was so evenly matched. Coming into game 5 Denver held a cumulative scoring advantage of 464-to-462. The Nuggets can secure their first trip to the Western Conference Finals in a decade with a win in Game 6 on Thursday night in Portland.

After the game, Damian Lillard told the media, “We’re going back home to try to force a Game 7.”

Here’s what Coach Stotts said after the game

More stats:

Final 📊

Dame: 22p/6r/4a
Rodney: 14p/4r
Zach: 14p/3r/2b
CJ: 12p/4r/3a
Meyers: 9p/5r
Enes: 7p/8r/3a
Seth: 7p/4r/2a
Moe: 5p
Chief: 3p/4r/2a/2s/2b
Anfernee: 2p
Skal: 2p
Jake: 1p
ET: 4r/2a

— Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) May 8, 2019