DENVER — After demolishing the Denver Nuggets with a dazzling and delicious performance that will go down in Portland Trail Blazers lore, CJ McCollum climbed the steps of the Pepsi Center in Section 129 in search of a hug. Sitting in a seat on the aisle about 15 rows up was Kathy Andrews, McCollum’s mother, and as her son sauntered up the steps, a tailored green suit draped around his shoulders, he couldn’t help but flash a victorious grin. Andrews pointed her cell phone at McCollum as he ascended, no doubt snatching video of the moment, and as he reached her she rose to share a Mother’s Day embrace the two will never forget. “He said he was going to do a good job for me,” Andrews said. “I told him that all I wanted for Mother’s Day was a win. He was like, ‘I told you so!” Fueled by the most impressive and important performance of McCollum’s career, a little redemption from Evan Turner and a whole lot of guts, the Blazers defeated the Nuggets 100-96 Sunday afternoon in Game 7 of the Western Conference Semifinals. It clinched a 4-3 series victory for the Blazers, who were playing just the fourth Game 7 in franchise history, and delivered a date with the vaunted Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference finals. It’s the seventh time in franchise history — and first since 2000 — the Blazers will play in the conference finals. “We don’t stop, we don’t quit,” Moe Harkless said. “When we came in at halftime, there was nobody in this locker room that thought we were going to lose the game. We showed it on the floor, we’ve showed that all season, all playoffs. We’ve been in situations where we had to really, really fight to come out on top. We’re at our best when our backs are against the wall. And I think we showed that again.” Indeed. Much like this improbable playoff run, the Blazers had to overcome a mound of adversity to keep their championship dreams alive. They scored just 17 points in the first quarter. They trailed by 17 points in the second quarter. They shot just 15 percent from three-point range. Damian Lillard had one of the coldest playoff outings of his career, Rodney Hood suffered a scary left knee injury and Zach Collins encountered foul trouble. But as if guided by fate — or the spirt of owner Paul Allen, some of them say — the resilient Blazers responded as they have all season when tragedy or challenge or injury strikes. There was Lillard fighting through a forgettable 3-for-17 shooting night to nail two clutch crunch-time three-pointers. There was Enes Kanter outlasting a Ramadan fast and sore left shoulder to record 12 points and 13 rebounds. There was Meyers Leonard battling Nikola Jokic on defense, Harkless applying intense ball-pressure on Jamal Murray and Collins playing through that foul trouble to produce an important seven points, five rebounds and four blocks. But, more than anything, there was a been-there, done-that effort from Turner. And there was a masterful performance from McCollum. And now a season that has suddenly evolved from fun to special will continue, with a date against the big, bad Warriors and a shot at history. “I just think we’re a pretty tough team,” Turner said. “We always stay together, we stay confident — we’ve always been a confident group. Everybody talks about the playoffs over the last two years and I think we paid our dues to get to this point, to be able to battle through. We’ve had adversity this whole year, with Paul going down, with (Jusuf Nurkic) going down and with Jon Yim getting in a car accident. Pressure can bust pipes or make diamonds. We never thought we were about to lose.” For McCollum, Sunday started with a text message. Shortly before the game, he peered at his phone and noticed an alert from his brother, Errick, who, in-between his own professional basketball games in Russia, was reaching out to offer a sage piece of advice: “Don’t settle,” he texted. Get to the midrange. Unleash the floater. Drive to the basket. Be aggressive. And, from beginning to end, that’s just what McCollum did. When his teammates were laboring through an ice-cold start — the Blazers made just 7 of 25 first-quarter shots — McCollum coolly made 4 of 6 and scored eight points to keep them afloat. When they were fighting tooth and nail to come back from a 17-point hole in the second quarter, he made 3 of 6 shots and scored seven points. Then he took over. McCollum sliced and diced his way around the Nuggets defense in jaw-dropping fashion, swishing step-back jumpers, completing crafty floaters, polishing off pretty drives to the hoop, nailing dagger after dagger after dagger. “He was a monster,” Harkless said of McCollum. “He was incredible. He carried us most of the game. He’s a killer and he did that tonight.” And two kill-shots will be remembered most. With 4:44 left and the Blazers clinging to a four-point lead, Jokic blocked Lillard’s driving layup, corralled the rebound and heaved the ball ahead to Murray at halfcourt. The Nuggets’ dynamic point guard broke free and sprinted toward an empty basket, with nothing but a highlight-reel, momentum-stealing dunk ahead. But Seth Curry caught up near the logo and ran stride for stride with Murray to the basket, stalling him just enough. By the time Murray approached the hoop, he had to settle for a left-handed layup and at the last second — out of nowhere — McCollum rose and swatted away the attempt, switching momentum in the blink of an eye. It was perhaps the most memorable and extraordinary chase-down block in franchise history. “I think it was a turnover that led to a runout,” McCollum said. “They passed it ahead. Seth did a great job of cutting off his man, making him have to go over his head and he put it right there for me. I just went and got it — Bron style. Shoutout to my guy, Bron.” Bron, of course, is LeBron James. And McCollum was comparing his moment to that of James’ famous chase-down block on Andre Iguodala in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals. “It was a mini version of Bron,” McCollum said. “I definitely didn’t get up as high. But it was a cool play. It’s something that I will remember all my life. I might need a picture of that one.” He might want to save a frame for his biggest shot of the game, too. After rallying from that 17-point deficit to take a fourth-quarter lead, the Blazers were fighting off a hard charge from the Nuggets. And when Murray swished a tough jumper over Harkless with 29.7 seconds left, Denver was within 96-95. An exhilarating series that featured everything from quadruple overtime to triple-doubles to mini-melees would fittingly go down to the wire. During a timeout, McCollum told Terry Stotts that he wanted the ball and the Blazers’ coach obliged, calling four flat and putting the ball — and the game — in McCollum’s hands. He dribbled patiently on the perimeter, allowing a little time to tick off the clock, and with about 18 seconds left he went to work. McCollum sized up Torrey Craig outside the three-point line, rocked side-to-side and then darted toward the hoop, stopping on a dime near the free throw line. McCollum gave Craig a little MJ-esque shove, stepped back, and swished a no-doubt-about-it, 16-foot jumper. It gave the Blazers a 98-95 lead and proved to be the difference. McCollum’s final line: 37 points, nine rebounds, 17 of 29 shooting and one big ol’ I-told-you-so. Few Blazers have excelled through as many detractors as the scrawny kid from Ohio who could only muster a mid-major college scholarship. He was too small to play shooting guard, too defensively challenged to succeed alongside Lillard, too streaky to flourish in the playoffs. Most pundits and many fans had long ago decided McCollum needed to be traded for the Blazers to become a serious threat in the Western Conference.<doc-sep>DENVER —The Denver Nuggets opened a 39-22 lead over the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 7 on Sunday. Nikola Jokic was hot. Damian Lillard was cold. A date with the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference finals seemed inevitable. But CJ McCollum had other ideas. The Blazers’ second option was often their only option as he rallied Portland from an early 17-point deficit to lead the Blazers into the Western Conference finals with a 100-96 victory. As Lillard missed bucket after bucket, McCollum slid into the alpha role to pace Portland with 37 points and nine rebounds against a Nuggets defense that was helpless to stop him at the rim. McCollum clutch throughout As it was throughout the second half, it was McCollum’s game in crunch time as he held on to the ball in the final moments to sink a pull-up jumper to give Portland a 98-95 lead with 11.4 seconds remaining. After fouls and free throws on both ends, the game was over and Portland was headed to the Western Conference finals. CJ McCollum shined on the massive stage of Game 7 Sunday. (Getty) McCollum did his damage without depending on the long ball. He regularly attacked the basket, exploiting a soft spot in Denver’s interior defense for layups and floaters while hitting 17-of-29 shots from the field. Only one of those buckets was from beyond the 3-point line on three attempts. While he torched the Nuggets with the ball in his hands, his biggest play may have been on defense with a late transition block of Denver guard Jamal Murray. CJ’s big block As the Nuggets looked to seize momentum in the latter half of the fourth quarter, Murray found himself on a one-man break with a chance to cut Portland’s lead to two. Jokic had just blocked a driving layup by Lillard and secured the rebound under the rim. He found a streaking Murray at half-court via one of his trademark outlet passes in what had the makings of a play that would blow the roof off the Pepsi Center and give a deflated Denver team an energy resurgence in the final minutes of the game. Story continues But Seth Curry impeded Murray’s path to the basket, and McCollum chased Murray down from behind for a rally-halting block. A beaming McCollum likened the play to LeBron James’ famous chase-down block of Andre Iguodala in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals. “He put it right there for me,” McCollum said of Murray. “I went and got it, ’Bron style. Shout out to my guy, ’Bron. It was a mini version of ’Bron’s block on Iggy some years ago. It was a cool play and something that we’ll remember for forever.” Lillard struggles, defers Lillard, Portland’s best player and first-round hero with his series-clinching 3-pointer to vanquish the Oklahoma City Thunder, was reduced to a role player as he hit just 3-of-17 shots from the field. He missed his first six shots and didn’t score until hitting a midrange jump shot with 6:10 remaining in the second quarter. Meanwhile, McCollum was heating up en route to a 15-point first half. When the third quarter rolled around, Lillard was in full deference mode to McCollum, who scored 14 points in the stanza as Lillard went scoreless on three shots. Lillard found other ways to contribute, tallying 13 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, while recognizing it was his backcourt mate’s time to shine in the pressure cooker of a road Game 7. “I just tried to focus on making the right plays,” Lillard said. “CJ had it going. When I see him in that type of zone, I’m not going to shy away from the game, I’m still gonna be involved in the game. But I’m not gonna force anything.” Stephen Curry and the Warriors await the Trial Blazers. (AP) Splash Brothers up next McCollum’s performance will help set the tone for the marquee matchup of the Western Conference finals against the league’s best backcourt of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. When Kevin Durant got injured in Game 5 of Golden State’s series against the Houston Rockets, the Splash Brothers reasserted themselves, taking over the rest of the series in a throwback to their dominant selves before Kevin Durant arrived to become Golden State’s featured player. With Durant’s status for the series up in the air, the focus in Golden State will remain on the backcourt. Curry and Thompson will face worthy adversaries as Lillard and McCollum have a chance to prove themselves against the gold standard of NBA guard play. McCollum doesn’t get nearly the attention that Lillard does, but his massive Game 7 performance on Sunday demonstrated what he’s capable of when he’s on. Whether he can maintain that level and if Lillard can get back on track will determine if the Western Conference finals will be competitive or a runaway for the two-time defending champs. Worth savoring Portland won’t have much time to celebrate Sunday’s victory, with Game 1 against Golden State on Tuesday. But they have Sunday’s postgame and ensuing plane flight to bask in the glow of victory, a reward they’ll rightfully relish. Road teams aren’t supposed to win Game 7’s in the NBA. Entering Sunday, the home team had won 105 of 133 Game 7s (79 percent) played. Road teams definitely aren’t supposed to rally from a 17-point deficit in Game 7. But Portland proved the more resilient team against a young Nuggets core without any significant playoff experience prior to this season outside of Paul Millsap. The Blazers didn’t allow the slow start to defeat them in a moment that could have easily overwhelmed a lesser-poised team. “There wasn’t going to be any quit,” Portland coach Terry Stotts said about calling a timeout when the Nuggets took their 17-point lead. “I don’t think they ever stopped believing. I didn’t really have to say much.” This loss will sit with the Nuggets. (Getty) Devastating loss for Nuggets As the Blazers look forward to the franchise’s first conference finals trip since 2000, the Nuggets are left to ponder a sudden, crushing end to a breakout season. Sunday’s was a collapse that can act as a launching point for future playoff runs if the Nuggets don’t allow it to demoralize them. Most teams that reach the NBA pinnacle experience significant playoff pain before arriving there. This certainly qualifies as playoff pain. Jokic was understandably upset after the Nuggets let go of their grasp on the series on their home court. “They look at me as a leader,” Jokic said of his teammates. “They look at me as their best player. And yeah, I missed that one free throw at the end. I missed a free thrown in the Portland game that led to four overtimes, and I feel responsible just because I missed a lot of shots. I was supposed to make some of those.” Another Game 7 breakdown Jokic was not the reason Denver lost. He was his typical outstanding self through most of the game, tallying 29 points, 13 rebounds and two assists. But like the rest of his teammates, he couldn’t find the bottom of the net late in the game. Jokic hit 3-of-10 shots in a fourth quarter the Nuggets shot 29.2 percent as a team. It was reminiscent of Denver’s Game 7 against the San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the playoffs. The Nuggets opened up a 47-34 halftime lead in that game, only to allow the Spurs to rally in the fourth quarter when Denver went cold from the field. Except Denver hung to win that one. This time, there was too much to overcome. Jokic hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the first quarter as the Nuggets built their big early lead. Those would be the only 3-pointers on the day for Denver, which finished 2-of-19 from behind the arc and shot 37.1 percent from the field for the game. Breakout guard Jamal Murray had perhaps his worst game of the playoffs. He shot 4-of-18 from the field en route to 17 points, missing all four of his 3-point attempts. Denver was ahead of schedule<doc-sep>Garrett Ellwood/Getty Images In a number of Rocky Balboa's marquee matchups, he was not the heavy hitter. He won wars of attrition against Clubber Lang, Ivan Drago and Tommy Gunn. While his opponents threw haymakers, Rocky went to the body and slowly wore his competition down. On Sunday, in Game 7 of the Western Conference Semifinals, CJ McCollum was Rocky, delivering body blow after body blow for his Portland Trail Blazers, who eliminated the Denver Nuggets with a 100-96 victory on the road. Portland took a beating early on Sunday, losing the first quarter 29-17. It slowly but surely wore the Nuggets down over the rest of the game, relying on McCollum and winning each of the last three frames. Denver gassed itself taking haymakers from the three-point line. Not in the sense that the Nuggets took more than usual (their three-point attempt rate Sunday was lower than the one they posted in the regular season), but they just could not connect to save their season. Nikola Jokic hit his first two. And that was it. Seventeen straight misses from there on out to finish 2-of-19. McCollum, meanwhile, just stayed within reach with mid-ranger after mid-ranger. Or, body blow after body blow. By the end of the night, he was 16-of-26 from inside the arc. He only attempted three threes. Video Play Button Videos you might like And with barely a minute to play, he landed the two shots that finally brought the Nuggets down. A 15-footer from the elbow with 1:25 left to make it 96-93, followed by another from about the same spot with 12.4 seconds left. The second one made it 98-95. NBA.com/stats His monster performance, 37 points with a 60.3 effective field-goal percentage, highlights what might give Portland a puncher's chance against a looming behemoth, the Golden State Warriors. Damian Lillard has rightfully led most Portland-centric stories this postseason. Lillard entered Game 7 averaging 29.8 points on 44.9 percent shooting from the field and 38.7 percent shooting from three. He scored 13 points on 3-of-17 shooting Sunday. "It's a luxury to have two guys like that on a night where Dame struggled shooting the ball," Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. "CJ came up big. One of them is going to have something going. It's a luxury to have two guys who can score like that." That luxury is something that has often generated speculation. A common rumor-mill talking point over the years has been the lack of size in Portland's backcourt. Can the Blazers win big with two undersized guards? Should they trade McCollum for a bigger three-and-D guy? "CJ McCollum showed why they have one of the best backcourts in the NBA," Nuggets coach Mike Malone said. "He put the team on his back." With so much at stake—Portland hasn't advanced this far in the playoffs since 2000—McCollum may have put a lot of those narratives to rest for a while. "When I see him in that type of zone, I'm not going to shy away from the game, but I'm not going to force anything," Lillard said. "The game opened up a lot because of what CJ was doing. Guys were getting offensive rebounds because they had to help on CJ." Bart Young/Getty Images The Blazers will need as much firepower as possible to keep pace with the Warriors, even if they are without the injured Kevin Durant for the start of the series. Having two guards who can get you 30 on a given night is obviously helpful, but it'll likely take even more than that. "Our bench is just so deep, man," Blazers center Enes Kanter said. "Everyone can bring something to the table." Kanter logged 40 minutes, 13 boards and 12 points in the closeout game. Five of his rebounds were on the offensive end. And he'll be crucial against Golden State. Often a finesse team, one of the Warriors' only weaknesses can be on the glass. Kanter is someone who can beat them up in there, much like he did against the Nuggets. "I thought the game came down to 21 second-chance points," Malone said after Game 7. "And you leave 11 points at the foul line." Giving up those points on offensive rebounds and going 28-of-39 from the line is another sign that this was one of those wars of attrition. Or, at the risk of mixing metaphors, a battle in the trenches. Portland will need to bring that same level of physicality and endurance to the series against Golden State. Make no mistake, the Blazers will be underdogs. Probably big ones. But there's a toughness to this team that has been fostered over the years. "We definitely leaned on the culture we tried to create," Lillard said of the last four seasons following the loss of four starters in the summer of 2015. "Being about each other. Not being about one guy, two guys. Everybody's invested in what we've created." That connectivity will be huge in the Western Conference Finals. But the Warriors will likely hit on a lot of the kind of big swings Denver missed on Sunday. If the Blazers can stay within reach of the league's most powerful heavyweight, they'll show they have the kind of fighters who'll just keep moving forward. Rocky shocked the world a time or two (or six). Perhaps Portland can, too. *Stats, unless otherwise noted, are courtesy of NBA.com/Stats.<doc-sep>
CJ McCollum told Doris Burke that with the last shot of the game, he told coach Terry Stotts to "flatten it out and I'll get us a bucket." (1:42) DENVER -- CJ McCollum stood on the Denver Nuggets logo at midcourt and stared directly at a deflated Pepsi Center crowd trying to process how Game 7 had slipped out of its team's hands. In a back-and-forth Game 7 that mirrored this highly competitive second-round series, McCollum buried midrange jumpers from near the left side of the free throw line all game, chased down Jamal Murray for a LeBron James-like series-saving block and delivered the dagger that helped the Portland Trail Blazers break through a 19-year wall. For the first time since 2000, the Blazers are heading to the Western Conference finals, and they did so by completing the largest comeback in a Game 7 in the past 20 years. McCollum orchestrated the comeback with 37 points, nine rebounds and the block on Murray to help Portland advance with a 100-96 victory over the Nuggets. The Blazers overcame a 39-22 deficit with 7:26 remaining in the second quarter, the largest deficit erased in a Game 7 since the Los Angeles Lakers, led by Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant, came back from 16 down against Portland in the 2000 conference finals. The Trail Blazers have been eliminated in the first or second round in their past 11 postseasons. But McCollum didn't need that for motivation to lift his team to a showdown with the Golden State Warriors. "Honestly, I got enough motivation," he told ESPN's Doris Burke after the win. "I got it out the mud. I went to Lehigh University. You know what I'm saying? No one has ever been drafted there, so for me, it's about showing what I can do every night and keeping the door open for the next mid-major. I'm tired." McCollum ended the Nuggets' best season in a decade by going 17-for-29 and doing almost all his damage from inside the 3-point line. On a day when Damian Lillard struggled through 3-for-17 shooting, McCollum was too much for the Nuggets to handle. After Denver's cushion disappeared, the Nuggets were within four when Murray took an outlet pass and flew toward the basket. After avoiding Seth Curry, Murray appeared to have a layup, only to have McCollum erase it from behind with 4:44 to go, halting any momentum the Nuggets were creating. "I just went and got it, Bron-style," said McCollum, who like James grew up outside of Cleveland. "Shout-out to my guy Bron from the 330. It was mini version of LeBron's block on [Andre Iguodala]. Definitely didn't get up as high, but it was a cool play. It's something I'll remember. I might have to get a picture of that one." McCollum followed that by drilling three midrange jumpers in the final 2:57 to deny the Nuggets any chance to overcome the deficit. When Denver got within one, McCollum answered with a 16-foot pull-up with 1:25 remaining. After winding the clock down, McCollum was isolated on Torrey Craig before he got to his spot on the left side of the free throw line and buried a 16-foot jumper with 12.4 seconds left to give the Blazers a 98-95 lead. "CJ was phenomenal tonight," said Denver coach Michael Malone, whose team won 54 games and finished second in the Western Conference in the regular season. "And all summer long, I'm going to be probably second-guessing myself. Out of a timeout, they just go 1-4 flat, and he hits a tough pull-up, and that's a shot he makes consistently. And Torrey played good defense, as good of defense you can ask somebody to play one-on-one. "But right after, I'm saying, we should've sent somebody at him. He's having a great game, and make somebody else have to make a play or make a shot." Afterward, the Blazers could be heard celebrating in the visitors locker room. They're one series away from their first NBA Finals trip since the Clyde Drexler-led Blazers faced the Chicago Bulls in 1991-92, and they did it without Jusuf Nurkic (out for the season with a leg injury) and after losing Rodney Hood (hyperextended knee) in the third quarter of this Game 7. "Obviously, we had the roster turnover four years ago, and everybody was quick to shoot us down," Lillard said.