Trail Blazers beat Nuggets 115-95 in Game 4 to tie series

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Usually, the chants in Portland are for star Damian Lillard. On Saturday, Norman Powell was treated to the crowd’s adulation.

Powell matched his career playoff high with 29 points and the Trail Blazers beat the Denver Nuggets 115-95 on Saturday in Game 4 to even the first-round series.

“I love these types of games, these kinds of moments. It’s the moment where nothing else matters,” Powell said. “You get caught up in the course of the season with stats sometimes, this-that-and-the-other, road trips, but when you get into the playoffs, the only thing that matters is winning.”

Powell made four 3-pointers and was 11 of 15 from the floor. When he left the floor with the game well in hand, fans chanted “Nor-man Pow-ell! Nor-man Pow-ell!”

“I thought it was really dope,” he said. “At first I didn’t know what they were saying when I was sitting there, and then the guys on the bench were chanting as well so that got a little smile out of me.”

CJ McCollum added 21 points for the sixth-seeded Trail Blazers. The series shifts to Game 5 on Tuesday night in Denver.

Nikola Jokic finished with 16 points and nine rebounds for third-seeded Denver before sitting out the final quarter. He was the Nuggets’ top scorer.

Lillard was 1 for 10 from the field but finished with 10 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds. He also sat for the final quarter after the Blazers led by as many as 33 points in the third.

Read more at: https://apnews.com/article/portland-trail-blazers-denver-nuggets-nba-sports-a34409015db1c86da9861e5168c2ceba