National Basketball Association

Denver Nuggets vs. Portland Trail Blazers: What to Watch for

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Oct 16, 2016; Portland, OR, USA; Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (15) shoots over Portland Trail Blazers forward Al-Farouq Aminu (8) during the first quarter at the Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Craig Mitchelldyer-USA TODAY Sports

The regular season is in full swing and after one game, the Denver Nuggets are undefeated. Their next game is tonight against the Portland Trail Blazers.

After narrowly defeating Anthony Davis, and the New Orleans Pelicans on opening night, the Denver Nuggets will now travel back to the Pepsi Center for their home opener tonight. The Nuggets were led in both assists and points by Jusuf Nurkic and led in rebounds by Kenneth Faried.

You can read more about the victory in a post by Evan Gould, right here.

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Tonight’s game will be against the Damian Lillard, and the Portland Trail Blazers. The Blazers have a 1-1 record to this point, with a win over the Utah Jazz and a loss to Los Angeles Clippers.

This game is scheduled to tip-off at 7:00 PM Mountain Time.

Without any further ado, here’s what to watch for in this match-up.

The Return of Mt. Mutombo

Ladies and gentlemen, there are two really big reasons to watch this game: 1. Dikembe Mutombo will have his jersey retired 2. the Nuggets will be wearing their Skyline jerseys!! Both are incredibly exciting, but let’s first focus on Dikembe Mutombo.

Tonight Mutombo’s name will be into the rafters of the Pepsi Center, and his number 55 will be retired by the Nuggets franchise. He is incredibly deserving of such an honor, for his actions both on and off the floor and I personally can’t wait for this game to tip-off.

In celebration of his jersey retirement, the Nuggets will be donning the aforementioned Skyline jerseys. These jerseys are a beautiful mix of colors and a simplistically, tetris-like design and are considered amongst the most iconic jersey in NBA history.

I can’t even begin to explain the majesty behind these jerseys but I can say that I am incredibly excited to this young Nuggets team perform in such gear.

The sentiment tied with these two, are reason enough to watch this game. However, they aren’t the only reason.

Oct 16, 2016; Portland, OR, USA; Denver Nuggets center Jusuf Nurkic (23) and Portland Trail Blazers forward Mason Plumlee (24) jump for the ball during the first quarter at the Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Craig Mitchelldyer-USA TODAY Sports

Jurkic will take Center Stage

Another reason to watch this game is for the Nikola Jokic-Jusuf Nurkic starting combo. Look, I know that they both didn’t exactly have fantastic games against the Pelicans, but there were still some high points.

Firstly, Nurkic had a great game boasting an impressive 23 points, nine rebounds and three assists in only 26 minutes. They duo also did a great job moving in transition, and don’t look like they’ll be a hindrance in an up-tempo offense.

Jokic however, did not have as good a game.

He finished with only five points, seven rebounds, two assists and four personal fouls in 21 minutes of action. To say that his performance was underwhelming would be an understatement, but he was given the unfortunate task of guarding Anthony Davis. Davis of course went on to put up a monster stat. line, which looked like this: 50 points, 16 rebounds, 5 assists, 7 steals and 4 blocks while shooting 17-34 from the field.

So yeah, it’s probably best to just move on.

Thankfully, the Jurkic combo will no go against a Trail Blazers frontcourt which is nowhere near AD. Expect these two to be the focal point of the Nuggets offense, especially because Denver will be playing one of the toughest backcourts in the NBA.