The Portland Trail Blazers salvaged an all-important road split through their first two games of the Western Conference semifinal. They beat the Denver Nuggets 97-90 in Game 2 on Wednesday. Now they will attempt to take control of the series on their own home floor as the series shifts to the Moda Center for Game 3 on Friday night.

The Nuggets had no answer for Portland’s tough defense in Game 2 when they shot just 34.7% from the field. Now they have to go in to hostile territory hoping they can figure out a way to get their offense going in order to fall behind in the series.

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Winning on the road won’t be easy for a Nuggets side that earned the second-best record in the Western Conference in large part because they were so dominant on their home floor. Denver went 20-21 as the visiting team in the regular season – one of only two Western Conference playoff teams that finished with a sub-.500 record on the road. The Nuggets are just 3-7 against the spread in their last 10 road games versus teams with winning home records.

Meanwhile, Portland has been outstanding at the Moda Center all season. The Trail Blazers went 32-9 on their home floor during the regular season and then went 3-0 in their first-round playoff series against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Portland is 8-3-1 against the spread in its last 12 home games versus teams with a losing road record. The Trail Blazers are also 22-9 against the spread in their last 31 games overall when playing on one day of rest.

Denver Nuggets

Stop us if you’ve heard this before: the Nuggets offence disappeared. Denver managed just 90 points at home in Game 2 and the story was the same as in the first round. Jamal Murray, Gary Harris, Will Barton and Malik Beasley really struggled to hit their shots. That foursome went a combined 15-of-47 from the field in the loss as Harris and Barton in particular were just 5-of-18 from the field.

Nikola Jokic has been and will need to continue being Denver’s best player. However, there is no way he can do it alone with Lillard and C.J. McCollum both heating up for the Trail Blazers.

Murray had a rough game in Game 2, notching just one assist. He’s really the key to their offence and when he’s not creating opportunities for others, the offence stalls. The Nuggets starting lineup produced just 10 assists with seven of them coming from Jokic. That’s not good enough.

Portland Trail Blazers

The Trail Blazers will try to increase the intensity even more following an excellent defensive performance in Game 2 on the road. Portland probably doesn’t have the ammo to win shootouts, so it’s a defence-first policy here. Lillard and Enes Kanter combined for four steals in Game 2 while the entire starting five sold out to make sure Denver’s shots were contested. If Portland brings that same approach to Game 3, there is no doubt the Nuggets will continue to struggle.

Meanwhile, it certainly helps the Trail Blazers that McCollum found his stroke in Game 2. McCollum went 8-of-20 from the field for 20 points along with six rebounds and six assists. Meanwhile, Lillard had 14 points, four assists and four boards. Rod Hood (15), Al-Farouq Aminu (11) and Zach Collins (10) also hit double figures, which took some pressure off of the stars.

NUGGETS

Away

102

TRAIL BLAZERS

Home

110

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