May 19, 2021
Page 7
S PORTS
Blazers Make Playoffs
Will face
Denver in
opening round
Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard drives to the basket on Denver Nuggets guard Facundo Campazzo
Sunday on way to Portland’s 132-116 victory to end the regular season and advance to the NBA
playoffs against the same Denver team. (AP photo)
It will be the sixth seeded
Portland Trail Blazers versus
the third seeded Denver Nug-
gets in the opening round of
the Western Conference NBA
Playoffs. The date and time
for the first game of a best of
seven series was pending on
Monday, but likely to start on
Saturday according to a pre-
liminary schedule.
The same two teams fin-
ished the regular season on
Sunday when Portland scored
a 132-116 victory. The win
gave the Blazers their eighth
straight playoff berth, the
longest active streak in the
NBA.
The Nuggets, guaranteed
a spot in the playoffs going
into the game, held their
starters to limited minutes.
Nikola Jokic had 21 points in
the opening half then sat for
the rest.
Last season, the Nuggets
went to the conference finals
for the first time since 2009
but fell to the eventual cham-
pion Los Angeles Lakers.
The Blazers played the
Nuggets in the second round
of the 2019 playoffs. Port-
land won in seven games to
advance to the Western Con-
ference Finals, but fell to
that season’s NBA champi-
on, Golden State.
The Nuggets expect a dif-
ferent Portland team this
time around.
“They don’t have the
same team. Nurk didn’t play
that time. They had Rodney
Hood, they had (Al-Farouq)
Aminu, so it’s not the same,′
Jokic said. ”There’s a core
that’s the same but every-
thing else is not the same.”