The Portland Trail Blazers and Denver Nuggets will determine the fate of their 2019 NBA Playoffs series in game 7 on Sunday, May 12th. Though the date of the contest is certain, time and television broadcast are yet to be determined. Both will hinge on the outcome of Game 6 between the Golden State Warriors and the Houston Rockets on Friday. If the Rockets beat the Warriors Friday to force a Game 7, the Blazers will play at 6:30 PM PST. If the Warriors win and close out the series, the Blazers will play at 12:30, PST. Networks for the time slots have yet to be determined. We will update this post as information comes available.<doc-sep>Sunday couldn't arrive quickly enough, for who doesn’t love a Game 7? For those partial for the NBA the end of this week is like an early version of Christmas, with two series deciders providing a mouthwatering platter of basketball tension and a perfect excuse to fossilize yourself to the couch. Yet while the focus has been geared heavily towards Golden State finishing off Houston and Toronto’s enthralling scrap with Philadelphia, the least-noticed of all the second-round tussles deserves to share the top of the bill. The Denver Nuggets and Portland Trail Blazers have warranted your focus from the very first tip-off, but found themselves overshadowed somewhat by bigger names and higher-profile games elsewhere. Their series has been a modern classic from the outset, a thrilling, explosive and profoundly competitive bout between two teams that have so much to like about them. MORE FROM THE NBA PLAYOFFS The NBA is superstar-heavy and trend-oriented, and that reality applies to both teams and players. The Nuggets-Blazers showdown was never going to steal the spotlight from the Warriors waging battle against its now-familiar rival, the Rockets, and that’s just the nature of things. Denver has been beneath the radar all season long, but put together an excellent campaign under the coaching leadership of Michael Malone and the silky passing hands of Serbian center Nikola Jokic. Watch Jokic for five minutes and you might see a big man who occasionally lumbers. Watch him for a whole game and you can’t miss the fact he is a mountain of a man with beautiful skills and court vision akin to the craftiest of point guards. Portland is never the most noticed of teams, even with Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum as bona fide superstars. Their series with Denver has seen most of the games finish up at a time when most of the East Coast is already tucked up in bed. That was certainly the case in the four-overtime epic that was Game 3. The crazy thing is that might not even have been the best game of the series. The other Western Conference semifinal dominated chatter because it was a superstar-laden rematch complete with bountiful subplots, from refereeing controversies to Kevin Durant’s momentum-shifting injury. The perception that the winner of Denver and Portland would be blown away by Golden State or Houston in the next round didn't help either. But if you’ve let the Nuggers-Blazers clash pass you by, you’ve missed out. And if you claim to love great basketball yet miss Game 7, there had better be a darn good reason for it. Denver and Portland have gone at it in a way that has something for everyone. The raw desire on display is palpable. The Nuggets hadn’t made the playoffs since 2013; Portland had lost 10 straight playoff games coming into this postseason. The driving forces of each squad are markedly different. Lillard is small and lithe, cutting and darting and shifting direction. Jokic lets the ball do the brisk movement and is not afraid to put his body on the line. They are both top 10 NBA players, but get less acclaim than many players outside that elite group. Going into Game 7, Denver has the home-court edge, but Portland already took Game 2 on the road and may like their chances of doing so again. Lillard has never before seen a Game 7, but he’s ready. "It is basically a game where only one team is going to make it out," Lillard said. "It is your last opportunity to play. Facing elimination is what it is to me. It is for our season, for all the marbles. "I am not going in there saying, 'I’ve never been in a Game 7.' I am going in saying, 'I know what this team is capable of.' I know what I am and who I am. I am going in there to get the job done." Jokic has believed in his Denver group from the outset and loved what he saw at the start of the season, telling USA TODAY Sports back in October that he thought they could contend for a title. It seemed a little laughable then. Now that they are one game away from the Western Conference finals, the joke is on those who doubted. "Most important is who brings energy on the floor," Jokic said. "Who brings the physicality. Both teams want to win. Basketball is an emotional game, so of course you’re going to talk trash or hit someone, you just want to win the game." Those who love this league are most comfortable with familiarity — typical stories and recognizable stars. In league history there have been 23 repeat champions. Denver and Portland don’t fit a neat narrative. They are the teams that are more than the sum of their parts, organizations that have found ways to win when they are not supposed to. They do things we don’t see, valuing traits like togetherness and raw effort. Jokic, who grew up in a small town in northern Serbia, spent part of last summer travelling with teammate Gary Harris, who hails from Fishers, Ind. The Blazers’ chief motivation, arguably, has come from Jusuf Nurkic, who provides an emotional lift as he sits on the bench in his suit, having suffered a heartbreaking and horrific late-season injury. Neither of these squads look like most of the others remaining in the postseason, but they have shown that they most certainly belong in the latter stages, weeks after most of the teams in the league put their feet up and began perusing vacation brochures. Game 7 is a fitting conclusion, and the only pity is that one of these plucky squads will soon be exiting the race for the championship. Follow Martin Rogers on Twitter @RogersJourno.<doc-sep>It all comes down to one game. After trading a lot of baskets, a bit of trash talk and even a few light blows throughout the course of six games, the three-seed Portland Trail Blazers and the two-seed Denver Nuggets will play a deciding Game 7 Sunday afternoon at the Pepsi Center, with the winner going on to face the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals. "For us it's about advancing, keeping our season alive," said Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard. "We know we're going into a hostile environment against a good team. They play well at home, but we've won there before. Our focus is strictly on that, just going in there and win a game, keep our season alive." Tipoff is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. on ABC, Rip City Radio 620 AM and ESPN Radio. SERIES HISTORY REGULAR SEASON, ALL-TIME: Trail Blazers lead, 98-82 IN PORTLAND: Trail Blazers lead, 69-22 AT THE NUGGETS: Nuggets lead, 60-29 PLAYOFFS, ALL-TIME: Series tied, 7-7 IN PORTLAND: Trail Blazers lead, 4-3 AT THE NUGGETS: Nuggets lead, 4-3 2018-19 MATCHUPS Fri. Nov. 30: Denver 113, PORTLAND 112 Sun. Jan. 13: DENVER 116, Portland 113 Fri. April 5: DENVER 119, Portland 110 Sun. April 7: PORTLAND 115, Denver 108 SECOND ROUND SCHEDULE PORTLAND - DENVER SECOND ROUND SCHEDULE GAME DATE LOCATION TIME (PDT) Television Game 1 Monday, April 29 Denver 7:30 PM TNT Game 2 Wednesday, May 1 Denver 6 PM TNT Game 3 Friday, May 3 Portland 7:30 PM ESPN Game 4 Sunday, May 5 Portland 4 PM TNT Game 5 Tuesday, May 7 Denver 7:30 PM TNT Game 6 Thursday, May 9 Portland 7:30 ESPN Game 7 Sunday, May 12 Denver 12:30 ABC WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS RESULTS Western Conference Semifinals, Game #6 - Portland 119, Denver 108 — May 9, Moda Center, Portland, Oregon The Trail Blazers evened the series, 3-3, with a 119-108 victory over the Nuggets at Moda Center, setting up Portland’s first Game 7 since a 2003 first round series against Dallas ... Portland’s bench outscored the Denver reserves, 42-13 ... Damian Lillard led Portland with 32 points (11-23 FG, 6-13 3-PT, 4-4 FT) to go with three rebounds, five assists and one steal ... Lillard scored 17 points in the third quarter on 6-of-10 shooting (3-6 3-PT, 2-2 FT) ... CJ McCollum added 30 points (12-24 FG, 2-7 3-PT, 4-4 FT), six rebounds and three assists ... McCollum had 11 points in the fourth quarter ... Rodney Hood led the Portland bench with 25 points (8-12 FG, 3-4 3-PT, 6-9 FT) to go with four rebounds ... Hood scored 10 points in the fourth quarter on 3-of-5 shooting (2-3 3-PT, 2-2 FT) ... Zach Collins matched his postseason career high with 14 points (4-8 FG, 1-3 3-PT, 5-5 FT) to go with four rebounds, one assist, one steal and a postseason career-high five blocks ... Nikola Jokic led Denver with 29 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists before fouling out in 37 minutes. Western Conference Semifinals, Game #1 - Denver 121, Portland 113 — April 29, Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado The Trail Blazers fell to the Nuggets in Denver in Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals, 121-113 ... Damian Lillard scored a game-high 39 points (12-21 FG, 4-12 3-PT, 11-13 FT) to go with three rebounds, six assists and one steal ... Enes Kanter added 26 points on 11-of-14 shooting (4-4 FT) while hauling in seven rebounds ... Rodney Hood led all players in scoring o the bench, finishing with 17 points (5-10 FG, 3-4 3-PT, 4-4 FT) to go with two rebounds and one assist in 18 minutes ... CJ McCollum added 16 points (7-17 FG, 2-7 3-PT), four rebounds, three assists and one block ... The Nuggets scored 23 points o of 18 Portland turnovers while the Trail Blazers scored six points on 13 Denver turnovers ... Nikola Jokic led the Nuggets with 37 points (11-18 FG, 3-5 3-PT, 12-12 FT), nine rebounds, six assists, three steals and two blocks ... Jamal Murray tacked on 23 points (8-15 FG, 3-6 3-PT, 4-4 FT), eight assists and two steals. Western Conference Semifinals, Game #2 - Portland 97, Denver 90 — May 1, Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado Portland evened its best-of-seven series against the Nuggets at 1-1 with a 97-90 victory in Denver ... The Trail Blazers held the Nuggets to 12 points in the second quarter, matching the lowest-scoring second quarter by a Portland opponent in franchise postseason history ... Denver’s 35 points in the first half were the fewest points scored in the  first half of a playoff game by a Portland opponent since May 9, 2000 ... CJ McCollum scored a team-high 20 points (8-20 FG, 3-7 3-PT, 1-2 FT) to go with six rebounds and six assists ... Rodney Hood scored 15 points o the bench on 5-of-11 shooting (2-6 3-PT, 3-4 FT) ... Enes Kanter had 15 points, nine rebounds, two steals and two blocks ... Al-Farouq Aminu had his first double-double of the postseason, finishing with 11 points and 10 rebounds ... Damian Lillard recorded 14 points, four rebounds, four assists, two steals and one block ... Nikola Jokic led the Nuggets with 16 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists. Western Conference Semifinals, Game #3 - Portland 140, Denver 137 (4OT) — May 3, Moda Center, Portland, Oregon Portland and Denver played the second quadruple-overtime game in NBA Playoffs history, with the Trail Blazers earning a 140-137 victory at Moda Center ... CJ McCollum matched his postseason career-high with 41 points (16-39 FG, 4-11 3-PT, 5-6 FT), eight rebounds, four assists, four steals and one block ... McCollum scored 28 of his points in the fourth quarter and overtime periods ... McCollum played 60 minutes, setting the franchise record for minutes played in a postseason game ... Rodney Hood scored a postseason career-high 19 points (6-8 FG, 2-3 3-PT, 5-7 FT) to go with two rebounds and one assist ... Hood scored seven of his points in the  nal 1:45 of the fourth overtime ... Damian Lillard had 28 points, six rebounds and eight assists ... Enes Kanter had 18 points and 15 rebounds, Maurice Harkless had 15 points and 10 rebounds ... Nikola Jokic recorded 33 points, 18 rebounds, 14 assists, one steal and two blocks in 65 minutes. Western Conference Semifinals, Game #4 - Denver 116, Portland 112 — May 5, Moda Center, Portland, Oregon Denver evened the best-of-seven series against the Trail Blazers at 2-2 with a 116-112 victory at Moda Center ... The Trail Blazers scored a postseason-high 63 points in the first half while taking a 63-57 halftime lead ... Portland scored a postseason-high 35 points in the fourth quarter ... CJ McCollum paced the Trail Blazers with 29 points (10-20 FG, 4-8 3-PT, 5-6 FT) to go with five rebounds, one assist and one steal ... Damian Lillard had 28 points (9-22 FG, 2-7 3-PT, 8-11 FT), three rebounds, seven assists and two steals ... Lillard scored 15 points in the fourth quarter ... Al-Farouq Aminu added 19 points, eight rebounds and two blocks ... Seth Curry scored a postseason career-high 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting (4-6 4-PT) to go with three rebounds and one assist in 27 minutes ... Enes Kanter had five points and a team-high 10 rebounds ... Nikola Jokic had his second straight triple-double, finishing with 21 points (8-15 FG, 1-1 3-PT, 4-4 FT), 12 rebounds and 11 assists to go with two steals ... Jamal Murray had a team-high 34 points (10-20 FG, 3-7 3-PT, 11-11 FT) to go with five rebounds and four assists. Western Conference Semifinals, Game #5 - Denver 124, Portland 98 — May 7, Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado The Trail Blazers lost to the Nuggets at the Pepsi Center, 124-98, giving Denver a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference Semifinals ...<doc-sep>
The Portland Trail Blazers, led by Damian Lillard, meet the Denver Nuggets, led by Nikola Jokic, in the deciding Game 7 of their best of seven NBA Western Conference Semifinals playoffs series on Sunday, May 12, 2019 (5/12/19) at Pepsi Center in Denver Colorado. The winner advances to meet the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals. Here’s what you need to know: Who: Trails Blazers vs. Nuggets What: NBA Playoffs, Western Conference When: Sunday, May 12, 2019 Where: Pepsi Center, Denver Time: 3:30 p.m. EDT TV: ABC Livestream: fuboTV (free trial), WatchESPN Line: Nuggets -5.5 BOTTOM LINE: The Portland Trail Blazers visit the Denver Nuggets in game seven of the Western Conference second round. The Trail Blazers won the previous meeting 119-108. Damian Lillard scored 32 points to help lead Portland to the victory and Nikola Jokic recorded 29 points in the loss for Denver. The Nuggets have gone 34-7 at home. Denver averages 13.4 turnovers per game and is 26-14 when they have fewer turnovers than their opponents. The Trail Blazers are 6-10 in division play. Portland is third in the NBA with 48 rebounds per game. Jusuf Nurkic leads the Trail Blazers with 10.4. TOP PERFORMERS: Jamal Murray leads the Nuggets with 2.0 made 3-pointers and averages 18.2 points while shooting 36.7 percent from beyond the arc. Jokic has averaged 27 points and collected 13.4 rebounds while shooting 51.9 percent over the last 10 games for Denver. Enes Kanter ranks second on the Trail Blazers with 8.6 rebounds and averages 13.1 points. Lillard has averaged 29.8 points and added 4.3 rebounds while shooting 44.3 percent over the last 10 games for Portland. DURING THE PLAYOFFS: Trail Blazers: Averaging 112.2 points, 45.9 rebounds, 18.5 assists, 7.1 steals and 5.4 blocks per game while shooting 44.3 percent from the field. Their opponents have averaged 111.1 points on 43.7 percent shooting. Nuggets: Averaging 110.2 points, 47.5 rebounds, 24.7 assists, 6.1 steals and 4.3 blocks per game while shooting 44.8 percent from the field. Their opponents have averaged 107.8 points on 45.2 percent shooting. Nuggets Injuries: Michael Porter Jr.: out (back). Trail Blazers Injuries: Jusuf Nurkic: out for season (leg fracture). (The AP contributed to this report.)