DENVER | Deni Avdija scored nine of his 28 points in the fourth quarter and the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Denver Nuggets 118-110 on Monday night, extending their road winning streak to begin the season.
Donovan Clingan had 17 points and 18 rebounds, and Jrue Holiday had a near triple-double off the bench to help Portland improve to 4-0 on the road. Holiday had 17 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds, and Damian Lillard scored 20 points.
The Trail Blazers are in a stretch of playing six of seven games on the road after opening the season with a home win over Phoenix.
Denver has lost two of its first three at home and its only victory came in overtime over New Orleans after rallying from 23 down.
Jamal Murray led the Nuggets with 35 points, and Nikola Jokic had 26 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. Jokic entered the he fourth quarter on the verge of his 201st career triple-double but didn’t have an assist or rebound in the final period.
Portland trailed through the first 32 minutes until Holiday’s layup late in the third quarter gave them an 82-80 lead. Denver took a two-point lead into the fourth but a 9-2 run to open the last quarter gave the Trail Blazers a six-point lead.
Holiday hit Portland’s 14th 3-pointer to make it 108-99 before the Nuggets rallied to cut it to 110-107 on Murray’s 3-pointer. Toumani Camara hit the Trail Blazers’ last 3-pointer to seal it with 1:09 left.
Up next
Trail Blazers: At Phoenix on Wednesday night.
Nuggets: Host Toronto on Wednesday night.