Blazers-Nuggets: Endgame

Last week, probably the most hyped movie in recent history, Avengers: Endgame, was released. The movie was an astonishing 3 hours long, and many people skipped watching the NBA playoffs to go see the show. Well, yesterday night, if you sacrificed watching the Blazers-Nuggets game to watch Endgame, you could have come back and watched the fourth overtime between the two teams. That's right, the two teams played FOUR OVERTIMES in a game that lasted more than 3.5 hours.

This game was by far the best game of the postseason to date. Both teams played hard, and ultimately, it was fatigue that cost the Nuggets the game. Portland and Denver constantly were trading buckets. At the end of the fourth, Damian Lillard hit his trademark floater to put the Blazers up two. Paul Millsap then made an excellent reverse layup to force the first overtime.

The first extra period was CJ time. He hit pull-up jumper after pull-up jumper, but was matched by an equally scathing Jamal Murray. It looked like the Nuggets would win, but Dame got a clutch steal and CJ finished it to force the second overtime. In the period, Portland went up by five with just 2:30 remaining. Will Barton and Paul Millsap then made two baskets to tie it back up. Dame missed a step-back three at the buzzer, and neither team scored in the last minute.

In the third overtime, the game seemed like it was copied and pasted. Both teams went blow for blow the whole time, and Jamal Murray missed a game-winner this time. Finally, in the fourth overtime, the game finished. Subbing in for an exhausted Mo Harkless, reserve Rodney Hood provided a much needed spark of energy. he scored seven straight points, including eventual game winning three with 18 seconds left. MVP Candidate Nikola Jokic, who had played an astonishing 65 of the 68 minutes, was fouled but missed the first free throw with four seconds left, almost certainly because of his exhaustion, Portland intercept a desperation heave and won the game.

In fact, coach Mike Malone over playing Jokic is probably the reason Denver lost. For all we know, the game could have gone on for 3.5 more hours, and neither team would have given up. It will be fascinating to see how the Nuggets respond Sunday night, as they will be extremely tired, but need to win to avoid going down into a 3-1 hole.