Lillard, Blazers face first road test at Nuggets

Last year the Denver Nuggets opened their season with a surprisingly easy rout in Houston. They were confident entering their home opener only to fall flat against Minnesota.

They want to avoid that same fate this year.

The Nuggets survived a 50-point night by Anthony Davis to beat the Pelicans, 107-102, in New Orleans on Wednesday. Now they want to carry that momentum when they start their home schedule Saturday night against Portland.

While the win in New Orleans was encouraging, it will be tainted by a poor performance against the Trail Blazers.

"My hope now is, as we turn our attention to our home opener, we can have a much better showing than we had in our home opener last year," Nuggets coach Michael Malone told The Denver Post. "I thought we came out flat on our home floor."

The Nuggets face a Portland team that is coming off a 114-106 loss at home to the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday night. The Blazers have already played two games, beating Utah 113-104 on Tuesday, and guard Damian Lillard looks to be in midseason form. He had 39 points in Tuesday's game and followed that with 29 points and 10 rebounds against the Clippers.

This will be Portland's first road game. The Blazers were 3-1 against Denver last season, splitting the two games at Pepsi Center and sweeping the home games.

Portland will have to quickly put Thursday's emotional game in the rearview mirror. The Blazers and the Clippers have a budding rivalry, and it was evident in L.A.'s win. Portland upset the Clippers in the first round of the 2016 playoffs and the tensions from that spilled into Thursday.

Mason Plumlee and C.J. McCollum both drew flagrant fouls in the loss.

"Counted with preseason, the season and the playoffs, we've played them, like, 12 or 13 times in the last year," Mason Plumlee told The Oregonian of the Clippers. "We feel like they're related to us."

There is no history like that with Denver, but that doesn't diminish the significance of the matchup for the Nuggets. They are trying to get back to the playoffs for the first time in four years, and their collection of young talent is starting to show signs of maturity.

Center Jusuf Nurkic, who played just 33 games last year because of injury, looked everything like his nickname, The Bosnian Beast, in the win in New Orleans. He had 23 points and nine rebounds and was a force inside.

Malone did come away with something to fix in the win. Denver committed 25 turnovers, which led to 26 points for the Pelicans.

It would have been more painful had the Nuggets blown a double-digit lead in the second half but they held on for the win.

"I just think it was first-game jitters," guard Will Barton told The Denver Post. "Preseason is great but it still can't come close to the regular season."

Denver is hopeful guard Gary Harris can return to the lineup. Harris missed most of the preseason and Wednesday's game with a groin injury but was practicing this week.

The Trail Blazers are hoping to get guard Evan Turner on track. Turner, who signed a $70-million free-agent contract, is struggling while getting integrated into Portland's system.

"Some nights, things are going to go your way," Turner told The Oregonian. "Some nights, they're not. I've just got to fight through it and build consistency in that area. And the tide is going to turn. Like I said, I'm doing things, making plays that I've always done and shooting shots that I'm always taking. The shots are just going in and out."