Portland looks to play faster than they did during the regular season

During the regular season, the Portland Trail Blazers ranked 19th in the league in pace of play, averaging nearly 98.4 possessions per game, but in this series against Denver, who ranks as one of the better defensive teams in the league, they may look to push the pace of play in transition specifically. 

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Lillard and McCollum are more than capable of pushing the pace of play, but Norman Powell and Derrick Jones Jr. are two guys who could be utilized more in this series than they have been over the last few weeks. Jones Jr. has seemed to fall out of the rotation, but given his length and athleticism, he could be used in certain matchups against the Nuggets in this series. 

If Will Barton and P.J. Dozier are unable to go for the Nuggets early on in this series, then the Blazers will have an obvious advantage in terms of being able to push the pace and not get hammered by Denver in transition. 

Michael Porter Jr. is a great athlete, but other than him, the Nuggets do not have many guys they can look to be productive in terms of pushing the pace of play, especially with Nikola Jokic being their primary ball-handler with Jamal Murray out.