LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Damian Lillard tied his franchise record with 11 3-pointers and scored 45 points, and the Portland Trail Blazers moved closer to the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference by beating the Denver Nuggets 125-115 on Thursday night.
Denver Nuggets' Torrey Craig, left, defends against Portland Trail Blazers' Damian Lillard, right, during the second quarter of an NBA basketball game Thursday, Aug. 6, 2020.
Kevin C. Cox / AP
Lillard was 11 for 18 from 3-point range, plus had 12 assists for Portland. The Blazers (32-38) closed to within a half-game of Memphis in the race for eighth in the West, where a play-in series for the last playoff berth -- and the right to face the Los Angeles Lakers in the opening round -- now seems almost certain.
Gary Trent Jr. had 27 off the bench and Jusuf Nurkic scored 22 for Portland.
Michael Porter Jr. scored 27 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for Denver (45-24), which remained in the West’s No. 3 spot. The Nuggets played most of the fourth quarter with reserves on the floor, limiting Nikola Jokic to 24 minutes.
Jokic finished with eight points, five rebounds and 13 assists. Jerami Grant scored 18 for Denver, which — even with the reserve lineup — got within six on a 3-pointer by PJ Dozier with 1:16 left. But Nurkic got free for a dunk, Denver threw the ball away on the ensuing possession and Portland would hang on from there.
Lillard is the second player to have multiple games with at least 10 3-pointers this season, Houston’s James Harden being the other. Lillard had 11 3’s against Golden State on Jan. 20, the night he scored an NBA season-high 61 points.
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Trail Blazers: Blazers forward Carmelo Anthony hasn’t had the best experiences against the Nuggets, the team he spent parts of eight seasons with to start his career. When he’s played, his teams had been 4-12 overall, 1-9 in their last 10 outings against Denver before Thursday. ... Lillard had seven points in a 24-second span of the third quarter -- a 3-pointer while getting fouled, the free throw, then another 3 on the next possession.
Nuggets: Denver won the season series between the clubs, 3-1. ... The Nuggets have games against Utah, the Los Angeles Lakers, the Los Angeles Clippers and Toronto left before the playoffs -- all contenders, but they could also catch some breaks. The Lakers have clinched the No. 1 seed out West, and Toronto could easily be locked into the No. 2 seed in the East by the time that matchup rolls around.