Watch: Jusuf Nurkic Shines As Jazz Dump The Blazers, 111-88

The short-handed Portland Trail Blazers kept things respectable, then fell meekly to the Utah Jazz Wednesday night. But the real story was the first appearance of Jusuf Nurkic in a Blazer jersey. He lifted the hopes of Blazer fans everywhere, showing the tantalizing potential cited as the reason for his acquisition. He scored 13 points, with 7 rebounds, 3 steals, 1 assist and 1 block in 21 minutes off the bench. He also had 4 turnovers and 3 fouls. Here are all of his highlights.

Despite Nurkic, it was a rough night for the Blazers overall. CJ McCollum scored 18, and Damian Lillard 13. Al-Farouq Aminu missed the game due to a knee injury. The All-Star Break couldn’t come soon enough.

There is little point of recapping the full game, as Utah led for most of the contest. Here are a few bonus GIF’s.

Meyers Leonard opened the night with back-to-back three-pointers. It all went downhill from there.

And Moe Harkless wouldn’t let anyone forget his dunking ability.

Alas, not all was perfect, as Nurkic looked noticeably winded at times. That kept his minutes down. This topic came up in practice yesterday as well, and surely the Blazers (and Nurkic) will work on that immediately.

Box Score

What’s Next

All-Star Break! McCollum will participate in the three-point shootout, but the rest of the Blazers will otherwise rest. They’ll pick things up with an East Coast road swing next Thursday at 4:00 pm Pacific.