Portland Trail Blazers (40-38, eighth in the Western Conference) vs. Denver Nuggets (50-28, fourth in the Western Conference)
Denver; Monday, 9 p.m. EDT
BOTTOM LINE: Denver faces the Portland Trail Blazers after Nikola Jokic scored 40 points in the Denver Nuggets’ 136-134 overtime victory against the San Antonio Spurs.
The Nuggets are 9-5 against opponents in the Northwest Division. Denver ranks third in the Western Conference with 28.8 assists per game led by Jokic averaging 10.9.
The Trail Blazers are 7-8 against the rest of their division. Portland is 6-5 in games decided by less than 4 points.
The Nuggets make 49.4% of their shots from the field this season, which is 2.4 percentage points higher than the Trail Blazers have allowed to their opponents (47.0%). The Trail Blazers average 115.4 points per game, 1.4 fewer than the 116.8 the Nuggets give up to opponents.
The teams play for the fourth time this season. The Nuggets won the last matchup 128-112 on March 22. Jamal Murray scored 22 points to help lead the Nuggets to the victory.
TOP PERFORMERS: Jokic is scoring 27.9 points per game with 12.9 rebounds and 10.9 assists for the Nuggets. Murray is averaging 26.1 points and 4.9 rebounds while shooting 51.5% over the last 10 games.
Deni Avdija is scoring 23.9 points per game with 7.0 rebounds and 6.7 assists for the Trail Blazers. Toumani Camara is averaging 17.3 points and 4.4 rebounds while shooting 56.1% over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Nuggets: 9-1, averaging 127.5 points, 46.2 rebounds, 33.2 assists, 5.4 steals and 3.3 blocks per game while shooting 50.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 117.9 points per game.
Trail Blazers: 8-2, averaging 117.3 points, 48.1 rebounds, 26.5 assists, 8.1 steals and 6.3 blocks per game while shooting 46.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 104.2 points.
INJURIES: Nuggets: Zeke Nnaji: day to day (hip), Peyton Watson: out (hamstring), Spencer Jones: day to day (hamstring).
Trail Blazers: Jerami Grant: day to day (calf), Shaedon Sharpe: out (calf), Vit Krejci: day to day (calf), Damian Lillard: out for season (achilles).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.