PORTLAND — Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkić might not have finished with a triple-double in Thursday night’s game versus the Philadelphia 76ers, but he did more than his fair share.
So even though he didn’t hit the much-heralded milestone, he did finish with career highs in points, rebounds, blocks and assists to lead the Trail Blazers to a 114-108 overtime victory versus the 76ers in front of a crowd of 19,240 at the Moda Center.
“(Nurkić) was outstanding,” said Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts. “He set the tone early with the four blocks. He made the game look easy. His assists – I was hoping he’d get a triple double — he had the eight assists early and I was hoping that we’d be able to get a triple-double out of him, but his rebounds, his presence in the paint – he had an outstanding game.”
Nurkić finished with career highs with 28 points on 9-of-18 shooting, 20 rebounds, eight assists and six blocks while also adding a non-career high of two steals in just under 38 minutes. Though the 7-0 center out of Bosnia and Herzegovina joins Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neil as the only players since the 1985-86 season to finish a game with at least 28 points, 19 rebounds, 8 assists and six blocks, he was quick to note postgame that he’s not going to go overboard over one performance.
“I’m going to stay on the ground because I know what I capable (of),” said Nurkić. “Like I said when I was coming here, I don’t like to talk about self, I want to show on the court. All my life it was prove them wrong and I’m not worried about that. I’m focused on Portland, all on my mind right now, with this team to make the playoffs. To be honest, I just play minutes for first time in my three years and I just enjoy it.”
While Nurkić had one of the best games by a Portland big man in franchise history, he ultimately fell short of a triple-double despite reaching double digits in both scoring and rebounding while also tallying eight assists by the end of the third. But even with the extra time, Nurkić wasn’t able to get those last two assists to complete the first Trail Blazers triple-double in over three years, not that he was sweating it anyway.
“I just worry about win game right now,” said Nurkić. “We was like going overtime, just one mistake cost us overtime. I’m not hunting that. I just try to help my team to win and that’s my key for every game.”
Thursday’s game was almost one the Trail Blazers let slip away, which would have been disastrous in terms of their playoff eligibility. Though the Trail Blazers managed to build a 12-point lead in the first quarter, the 76ers, a team that, always plays hard from start to finish under coach Brett Brown, made up most of that deficit before the half.
After Portland held the lead for the entirety of the first half, Philadelphia took their first lead of the game after a Dario Saric three-pointer with eight minutes to play in the third gave the 76ers a 62-61 advantage. The Trail Blazers would quickly reclaim the lead, though neither team would go up by more than two possessions for the remainder of the game.
After a nip and tuck fourth, the Trail Blazers looked as though they might come away with the win in regulation after C.J. McCollum was inexplicably fouled on purpose by Robert Covington with the game tied at 95-95 with 19.6 seconds to play. McCollum hit both free throws to give the Blazers a two-point lead, and on the ensuing possession, Saric would throw the ball into Al-Farouq Aminu’s hands with 14.9 seconds to play, all but ensuring that, if Portland could continue to make free throws, that they’d come away with the win.
But Aminu, in an effort to get the ball to Maurice Harkless running in transition, threw the ball away, giving the Sixers another chance to at least tie the game, if not win it outright as they did in the previous meeting in Philadelphia earlier in the season.
Portland would force Gerald Henderson, who signed with the Sixers as a free agent after playing last season for the Trail Blazers, into a tough turnaround jumper, which he missed, though Covington were there for the putback with 0.2 seconds to play to send the game to overtime.
But while Nurkić was denied the triple-double, he would not be denied the victory. The center, playing in just his seventh game as a Trail Blazer, score seven points in the overtime while converting two offensive rebounds in to points to lift Portland to the six-point victory.
“It was good to get a win in overtime,” said Stotts. “But for us to compete for a playoff spot, we have to be more consistent with our effort. We have to be making better decisions when it matters. We can’t have lulls.”
Portland is now 28-35 overall, 17-13 at home this season and have played a league-high eight overtime games this season. The win was also Portland’s fourth straight, giving the team their longest winning streak of the season so far.
“We’re winning games we’re supposed to win, playing at home and taking advantage of that,” said CJ McCollum. “Favorable travel schedule with a game getting cancelled. So just got to continue to try to win as many games as we can. Obviously the eight seed is available, it’s there for the taking. So winning games at home, beating sub-500 teams is a way to get in.”
Portland now trails Denver by just a half game for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference with 19 games to play.
Lillard’s streak of 42 consecutive games with a three-pointer ended Thursday night, though he still managed to finish the game with 24 points, four rebounds and four assists in 41 minutes. With the performance, Lillard became the 13th player in NBA history to score at least 1,500 points in his first five season.
McCollum shot 50 percent from the field to finish with 23 points in 42 minutes.
Allen Crabbe scored 12 of his 18 points in the first half and Maurice Harkless came within a rebound of a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds in 39 minutes.
The 76ers were led by Dario Saric, who finished with a career-high 28 points while also grabbing 9 rebounds. Robert Covington, who got the putback rebound to send the game to overtime, got a double-double of 24 points and 11 rebounds in 39 minutes.
Next up, the Trail Blazers host the the Washington Wizards Saturday night in their last home game before an eight-day, five-game road trip. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 pm.
