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The first round of the 2021 NBA Playoffs will start on May 22nd, after the Play-In tournament is over, and the Denver Nuggets and Portland Trail Blazers will meet in the postseason again. These squads played in the second round of the 2019 NBA Playoffs, where Portland won a thrilling seven-game battle.
2021 NBA Playoffs: 5 Keys for the Denver Nuggets' chances against Portland Trail Blazers in the first round
Two years later, both teams are set to renew their rivalry and are constructed similarly to 2019. They do have more postseason experience now, with the Blazers reaching the Western Finals in 2019, and the Nuggets doing the same after an epic run in the 2020 NBA Playoffs.
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The Denver Nuggets have the likely NBA MVP winner of the 2020-21 NBA campaign in Nikola Jokic, and the team put up a 47-25 record in the regular season to grab the third seed in the West.
The main difference from the 2020 postseason is that Mike Malone's Denver Nuggets will not have Jamal Murray, who starred in 2020. Still, the team is solid without him as Michael Porter Jr. has stepped up and is looking like a future star, while Facundo Campazzo has been a great contributor.
For their first-round matchup against Damian Lillard's Portland Trail Blazers, the Denver Nuggets will need to be at their highest level on the court to be successful.
In this piece, we give you five keys for the Denver Nuggets' first-round series versus the Portland Trail Blazers.
#5 The Nuggets' bench has to be strong in this series
Though we will see two teams with subpar benches in this first-round matchup between the Denver Nuggets and Portland Trail Blazers, it will be essential for both sides to have a strong second unit.
The Portland Trail Blazers' bench ranked only 20th in the NBA in points per game, and the second unit put up 43.7/38.3/80 shooting splits in the regular season. On the other end, the Denver Nuggets' bench production was not great, as it ranked 27th in points per game, with 43.8% field-goal efficiency.
In the 2021 NBA Playoffs, Will Barton's likely return for Denver will be good news for the team as he is their fourth-best scorer.
#4 Take advantage of Portland's defensive woes
The Denver Nuggets' offense ranked seventh in the NBA in Offensive Rating in the 2020-21 NBA season, and with Jokic leading the way on the offensive end, the Nuggets must take advantage of the Portland Trail Blazers' struggling defense.
The Nuggets were quite balanced, with their defense positioned in 12th place in Defensive Rating.
At the Portland Trail Blazers' end, the picture is completely different. Damian Lillard led the offense to the second-best Offensive Rating in the league, but the defense was the second-worst in the entire season, and appears to be the worst among postseason squads.
Portland allowed 116 points per 100 possessions in the 2020-21 regular season, and the Denver Nuggets will need to put constant pressure on Terry Stotts' team on the defensive end.
#3 Handle the Portland Trail Blazers three-point shooting
The Portland Trail Blazers ranked sixth in the 2020-21 NBA season in 3-point shooting after making 38.5% of their threes as a team. On the other hand, the Denver Nuggets were the 11th-best NBA team in defending the 3-point line this year, allowing their rivals 36.3% from three.
Moreover, the Blazers averaged 15.7 threes made per game in the regular season, the second-most in the league, and the Nuggets allowed the 11th-most threes per game to the opposition.
To stop the second-best offensive unit in the game, the Denver Nuggets' defense will need to focus heavily on stopping the Blazers' three-point shooting, and that is a tall task.
#2 Campazzo needs to bother Damian Lillard
Facundo Campazzo has played a great role for the Denver Nuggets after Jamal Murray's injury, which gave him the chance to start and show his basketball IQ and experience.
The former Real Madrid star is also a highly active defender, and that's an area he will need to work on to face Damian Lillard. The 5'10'' guard put up 9.6 points and 5.6 assists per game in 19 games as a starter, and also averaged 1.7 steals per game in those games.
Overall, he appeared in 65 games for the Denver Nuggets and made 35.2% of his three-point shots.
#1 Nikola Jokic must dominate the Blazers' bigs
Nikola Jokic is an unstoppable force on offense, not only with his scoring (sixth-best in the NBA at 27.7 points per game) but also with his tremendous playmaking ability (8.3 assists per game this year, sixth-best in the league).
Jokic will face Jusuf Nurkic and Enes Kanter in the paint for the upcoming first-round series against the Portland Trail Blazers. The Nuggets big man will need to apply pressure on those two players, who are also impactful in the Blazers' overall game.
If Jokic manages to get them both in foul trouble or constantly keep them busy on the defensive end, it will be massive for the Denver Nuggets' chances in the series.
Also read: Phoenix Suns' Monty Williams is named as the NBCA Coach of the Year
