Jusuf Nurkic needs to remain on the court for Portland

In Game 1 against the Nuggets, Jusuf Nurkic scored 16 points on 7-10 shooting, grabbed 12 rebounds and had 5 assists, which is one of the biggest reasons the Trail Blazers won. In Game 2, he had just 7 points and ended up fouling out of the game early in the fourth quarter. In Game 3 with about 5 minutes left in the game, Nurkic fouled out again, which led to a Denver victory. 

Portland needs to have Nurkic out on the court when it matters most in this series because he is the key to them being able to stop Nikola Jokic. When he was guarding the presumably NBA MVP, Nurkic found a lot of success bullying Jokic out of his spots and was a force on the glass for Portland, allowing them to thwart Denver’s second-chance opportunities. 

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As soon as Nurkic left Games 2 and 3 though because of foul trouble, Denver took advantage of their size on the interior and played through Jokic on the low-post. Just look at the way Game 3 ended! With 3.2 seconds left, Denver led by 3 and Monte Morris missed both of his free-throws, but the Trail Blazers had nobody to box out Jokic underneath and he got an easy tip-in to win the game. 

If Nurkic was in the game, he could have boxed out Jokic, keeping him from bullying Portland into the paint and the Blazers would have been able to grab the rebound, call a timeout, advance the ball up the court and have a shot to force overtime seeing as they were not missing a three-point shot in the final minute of the game.

Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum are the best offensive weapons on this team, but Jusuf Nurkic is the most important player on the court for them because of how he can impact the game on both ends of the floor. Keeping Nurkic out of foul trouble and making sure he is on the court late in games is key for the Trail Blazers not just in Game 4, but for the rest of this series.