On a night when the Denver Nuggets honored an extra-large personality, fans were also treated to some extra basketball but ultimately saw their team fall 115-113 in overtime to the Portland Trail Blazers.
At halftime in Saturday night’s home opener, the Denver Nuggets retired the No. 55 jersey of Basketball Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo. The Congolese big man with the even bigger personality played the first five of his eighteen years in Denver and still holds the franchise record for blocks and rebounds per game.
But the man who stole the night in the end was Portland’s Damian Lillard. The 6-foot-3 guard scored a game-high 37 points including the game-tying alley-oop and the game winning floater over Kenneth Faried.
Six Nuggets scored in double figures, including all five starters, led by Nikola Jokic‘s 23 points. Denver outscored Portland 34-19 in the third quarter to take a seven-point advantage, but could not maintain the lead.
