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The Portland Trail Blazers pulled off one of the biggest upsets in the 2021 NBA playoffs so far after beating Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets in Game 1 of their first-round series.<\/p>\n
Damian Lillard came up big for the Blazers once again, registering a game-high 34 points and 13 assists. However, his performance was not the only reason for their win, as stopping Jokic and limiting his production on other areas of the floor helped Portland big time.
\nAs Blazers head coach Terry Stotts and center Jusuf Nurkic noted, their game plan all along was to prevent Jokic from involving his teammates, which they did after they limited the Serbian big man and NBA MVP candidate to just one assist. In fact, Jokic wasn\u2019t even able to register a dime in the first half, even though he also made 34 points in the contest.
\nStotts admitted that the Nuggets are a dangerous team when Jokic gets his teammates involved, but when they were able to stop that, it is when they are able to exploit the Nuggets\u2019 weakness.<\/p>\n
Terry Stotts on stopping Nikola Jokic: “1 assist, zero in the first half. I think we can do a better job on him individually, but when he can get other people involved, they’re a better offensive team.”
\n\u2014 Sean Highkin (@highkin) May 23, 2021<\/p>\n
Terry Stotts on stopping Nikola Jokic: “1 assist, zero in the first half. I think we can do a better job on him individually, but when he can get other people involved, they’re a better offensive team.”
\n\u2014 Sean Highkin (@highkin) May 23, 2021<\/p>\n