The Portland Trail Blazers made a little history on Saturday night against the Denver Nuggets, becoming only the second NBA team to start five rookies since the league began tracking such things in 1970.
The all-rookie lineup of Scoot Henderson, Kris Murray, Rayan Rupert, Toumani Camara and Duop Reath started for the Blazers.
Even though the Nuggets were without stars Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, the young Blazers lost as expected, 114-111, but they hung in there.
Blazers coach Chauncey Billups said he felt good about how his team played.
“We just fought like crazy,” Billups said. “That’s just kind of what we do. I’m big on we either win or lose on our terms. We just fight to the end and try to play the right way. We played the way we wanted to play and we made them earn it. We were right there.”
The game appeared to be headed toward a blowout when the Blazers fell behind by 15 points in the first half, on their way to going 0 of 12 on three-pointers during the first two quarters.
But the Blazers dominated the third quarter, making 6 of 8 threes, and trailed just 85-83 heading into the fourth quarter.
Jabari Walker tied the game with a layup within the first minute of the fourth quarter. Later, Henderson hit a three to give the Blazers a 91-89 lead with about nine minutes remaining.
The lead, however, was short-lived. The Nuggets responded with a run that left them up 107-95 with 2:59 remaining.
Again, the Blazers came back to draw within 109-105 with 50.5 seconds to go. But the Nuggets made just enough free throws down the stretch to hold on for the win.
