Damian Lillard rained three-pointers on the Denver Nuggets to help the Portland Trail Blazers solidify their playoff push with a 125-115 win on Thursday, August 6 (Friday, August 7, Manila time).

Lillard sank a career-high-tying 11 triples to finish with 45 points on top of 12 assists, 4 rebounds, and 3 steals as the Blazers – now 3-1 in the bubble – zero in on the last playoff berth in the Western Conference.

The Blazers improved to 32-38, just half a game behind the Memphis Grizzlies (32-37) for the No. 8 spot in the West.

Sizzling Lillard proved too hot to handle for the Nuggets as he gave the Blazers a 100-98 lead early in the final quarter with a long bomb before his teammate Gary Trent Jr put the final touches in the win.

Trent Jr came off the bench and put up 27 points off 7 triples, with two coming in the final 3 minutes.

Overall, the Blazers drilled in 23 of their 39 three-point attempts for a staggering 59% clip.

“I thought our second half, effort was tremedous, the guys competed,” said Nuggets head coach Michael Malone. 

“We got ourselves back in the game, we gave ourselves a chance. They’re playing for their playoff lives with all their starters in and we’ve got guys that have not played a lot of minutes in the NBA.”

Jusuf Nurkic had 22 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists in the win, while CJ McCollum added 13 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists.

Rookie Michael Porter Jr continued to ball out for the Nuggets in the bubble, following up his back-to-back 30-point double-doubles in the past two games with 27 points and 12 rebounds.

Jerami Grant had 18 points as Nikola Jokic finished with 8 points, 13 assists, and 5 rebounds in the loss.

The Nuggets dropped to 45-24 for the No. 3 spot in the West.

“Obviously there’s a lot to work on in terms of our defense, three-point defense. But you can’t ask for guys to play harder than what we got that second half,” said Malone.

“That was fun to watch. The guys played hard and compete and gave themselves a chance, that’s all you can ask for as a coach.” – With a report from Aeron Gabriel V. Pantig/Rappler.com