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The 2nd seed Denver Nuggets enjoyed home court comforts in Game 5 of the highly entertaining NBA playoff series against the Portland Trail Blazers.
In the Pepsi Center at Denver, the Nuggets got off to a blazing start and never looked back, blowing the Portland Trail Blazers out of the game, winning 124-98.
The Blazers looked lackluster tonight and thoroughly deserved to lose the match tonight. The series is now in the Nuggets favour at 3-2 with Game 6 at the Moda Center in Portland.
With these developments in mind, let us take a look at the 3 main talking points from Game 5 tonight.
#3 Struggles of Will Barton
Will Barton had become an integral part of the Denver Nuggets rotation last season and was coming in hot this season too.
An injury hampered his 2018-19 NBA season and he took a long time to return to the court. But he seems to have become worse for wear as he is just not the same player in the playoffs.
After establishing himself as a starter rather than a 6th man, he has been absolutely woeful for the Denver Nuggets, so much so that he was dropped to the bench in the playoffs.
Barton is averaging a lowly 9.3 points per game in over 23 minutes per match. He is shooting a abysmal 27% from beyond the arc and has a field goal percentage of just 33%.
He has been better since the switch to the second unit but his numbers have not improved much. He is also grabbing 5.2 rebounds per game.
Even though Barton was shooting just 34% percent from 3 in the regular season, he was not expected to get worse when the Nuggets need him the most. Hopefully he can find some of his form as soon as Game 6 and lead the Nuggets into the Western Conference Finals.
#2 Portland Trail Blazers are really inconsistent
The Portland Trail Blazers have been one of the most solid teams this season, both in the regular season and the playoffs, having been led by the ever present Damian Lillard.
Lillard has been one of the point guards in the league since his rookie campaign and has only taken a step forward every year. This season too, despite an underwhelming season by CJ McCollum, he carried this Blazers team to the #3 seed in the Western Conference.
Even after losing Jusuf Nurkic to a gruesome injury, the Blazers could not be stopped and took down the Oklahoma City Thunder in 5 games in the first round. But the moment Lillard stops scoring, he has had no support from his bench, which has led to the Blazers going down in this series, 3-2.
CJ McCollum has been better in this series but has his ups and downs, so does Al-Farouq Aminu. Enes Kanter is a superb offensive player but offers next to nothing on defense. If Lillard is shut down, the whole team stops to function, with the exception being the Game 2 win against the Nuggets.
If the Blazers want to take this series to the tie breaker in Game 7, they need some great performances from their support cast as well.
#1 Nikola Jokic is unstoppable
The Denver Nuggets have found a one of a kind player in Nikola Jokic, who has been one of the top 5 players in the playoffs this season.
Jokic was in stellar form throughout out the regular season, prompting a lot of critics to tout him as a dark horse MVP candidate, as he led the Nuggets to the 2nd seed in a really crowded Western Conference.
Nikola Jokic is usually running the things for the Nuggets and plays as their primary ball handler and as well as their primary offensive player. He has averaged 24.5 points, 12.5 rebounds and 9.3 assists in over 40 minutes a game and is leading the playoffs in assists per game numbers.
In the Game 5 win over the Blazers, Jokic dominated the game, scoring 25 points in an efficient performance, grabbing a playoff high 19 rebounds and 6 assists before getting fouled out.
If the Nuggets want to finish the series off in Game 6, they need Jokic firing on all cylinders to have a chance of finishing them on the road.
