Nuggets Vs. Blazers: Denver Loses To Portland, 111-102

The Denver Nuggets lost its first game of the season, falling to the Portland Trail Blazers, 111-102, on Thursday night. The Nuggets entered the final quarter of play down just four points and had even taken a lead midway through the frame, but they were unable to hold it.

With 7:45 left in the game, the Nuggets held a 93-90 lead and saw it evaporate into a 98-98 tie with 5:39 to go. The Blazers then went on 13-4 run to end the game.

Ty Lawson continued his hot start to the season, scoring 25 points. Arron Afflalo added 19 while Nene put in 10 points and nine rebounds. However, the team collectively had a poor shooting night, only making 40.2 percent of it field goals. They sank just four of 20 three-point attempts.

Timofey Mozgov played just seven minutes after picking up three fouls in the first three and a half minutes of the first quarter.

Wesley Matthews and Raymond Felton scored 25 and 23 points, respectively. The Blazers outrebounded the Nuggets, 50-30, but they had a horrible turnover margin, 25-7 in favor of the Nuggets.

The 2-1 Nuggets take Friday off before beginning a back-to-back-to-back against the Los Angeles Lakers twice and the Milwaukee Bucks,

For more on this game, visit Nuggets blog Denver Stiffs and Trail Blazers blog Blazers Edge. Check out SB Nation NBA for more news and notes around the league.

The Denver Nuggets weren't able to carry the second quarter's momentum through halftime and into the third quarter. The Portland Trail Blazers hold a four-point lead, 83-79, heading into the fourth quarter.

The Nuggets have finally improved their shooting percentage to 40 percent, but they've take 70 shots to sink 28 of them. Ty Lawson did finally connect on a three-point attempt, giving the Nuggets one on 13 attempts. Lawson has 19 points and five of the team's 10 steals.

The Blazers still hold a big rebounding advantage, 43-24. Eight blocks, four by Nicolas Batum and three by Marcus Camby, have also helped the Blazers to a late. The Blazers have been a bit sloppy with 17 turnovers to the Nuggets' three, but Denver hasn't been able to fully take advantage of that.

For more on this game, visit Nuggets blog Denver Stiffs and Trail Blazers blog Blazers Edge. Check out SB Nation NBA for more news and notes around the league.

After starting the game with a 2-0 lead, the Denver Nuggets have had to crawl their way back to tie the Portland Trail Blazers at halftime, 53-53. The Nuggets had been down after the first quarter, 30-17, but then came back with 36 points in the second quarter.

It hasn't been a pretty game for the Nuggets from the field, shooting 36.5 percent over two quarters. Danilo Gallinari has attempted 10 shots but made just three. Andre Miller has also struggled, connecting on just 2 of 9 shots. Collectively, the Nuggets have attempted 11 three-pointers and missed on all of them. Ty Lawson is the only Nuggets to reach double digits in points, scoring 10.

Raymond Felton has also scored 10 points to lead the Blazers. The Blazers have been almost as bad on three-pointers, making just one on 10 shots. Portland has a 33-20 edge in rebounding, but Denver has 10 steals already.

For more on this game, visit Nuggets blog Denver Stiffs and Trail Blazers blog Blazers Edge. Check out SB Nation NBA for more news and notes around the league.

The Denver Nuggets aren't going to walk to victory against the Portland Trail Blazers as they had in the first two games of the season. The Blazers lead the Nuggets after one quarter, 30-17.

The Nuggets have had an abysmal shooting game so far, hitting just 8 of 29 shots (27.6 percent). Sinking a three-point attempt is a futile effort as not one of the team's seven shots has gone over and down the rim. Arron Afflalo, Nene and Danilo Gallinari each have four points while the other five points have come from Andre Miller and Al Harrington.

Raymond Felton has already put up six points, pulled down three rebounds and dished the ball out twice for assists. The Blazers have made 55 percent of their shots so far. This has led to the Nuggets facing their first deficit of the season after the first quarter.

For more on this game, visit Nuggets blog Denver Stiffs and Trail Blazers blog Blazers Edge. Check out SB Nation NBA for more news and notes around the league.

Denver Nuggets rookies Jordan Hamilton and Julyan Stone will need to wait for another game to be active for a game. For the third game in a row the two rookies will be inactive for the Nuggets. For Hamilton, this means that to start his career he has missed games against the team that drafted and traded him (the Dallas Mavericks) and the team that traded him within moments of acquiring him (the Portland Trail Blazers).

The Nuggets' third rookie, Kenneth Faried, has been active for for each game this season, but he only saw action in Wednesday's game against the Utah Jazz. The Manimal went 0-for-3 from the field but did pull down four rebounds and block one shot. In a game that is expected to be competitive, Faried might not play on Thursday night.

For more on this game, visit Nuggets blog Denver Stiffs and Trail Blazers blog Blazers Edge. Check out SB Nation NBA for more news and notes around the league.

Back in June, the Denver Nuggets traded point guard Raymond Felton to the Portland Trail Blazers in what amounted to a three-team deal since the Blazers had traded Rudy Fernandez to the Dallas Mavericks for Jordan Hamilton. Hamilton and former Nuggets guard Andre Miller headed to Denver while Raymond Felton went out into the Northwest. Now, the Nuggets have not only Miller but also Fernandez as a result of a December trade with the Mavericks.

Felton, though, sounds as if he is ready to have a big game against a team he was on the court with for two months or so (via Matt Calkins of the Columbian):

Raymond Felton: "It's best for (the Nuggets) not to call the plays out tonight. Because if they do, I'll know what they're running."

Felton, on going against his former team: "No hard feelings. That was a situation that I wanted to get out of."

Felton was unlikely to start over Ty Lawson, who has been on fire in his two games so far this season. Lawson's averaging 21 points over the first two games of the season. Miller is also willing to play a secondary role to Lawson, but he's also proven to be quite deadly while playing the court with Lawson at the same time.

Felton has been accused of entering the season as overweight and is averaging 8.5 points and 7 rebounds in the first two games of the season.

For more on this game, visit Nuggets blog Denver Stiffs and Trail Blazers blog Blazers Edge. Check out SB Nation NBA for more news and notes around the league.