The Portland Trail Blazers and Denver Nuggets played an instant-classic series during the Western Conference Semifinals. Neither team was able to separate from the other as the series went seven games before CJ McCollum could end Denver’s season.
Anticipation is high for a rematch between the two teams. Sports Illustrated’s Rob Mahoney pegged a Blazers-Nuggets matchup on Feb. 4 in Denver as one of his top 20 games of the season:
When two quality teams—driven by two of the game’s best players—go seven games in a playoff series, make time for any return engagement. Portland and Denver didn’t always play the cleanest brand of basketball when they went round-for-round back in May, but in every mistake is some bend of the contending learning curve. These are two high-level teams figuring out what it means to contend at the highest levels. At times they brought out the worst in each other, though it’s in that whole, messy affair that we see what challengers like these will someday become.
Portland hosts Denver to open the season on Oct. 23, the first of four games they will play against each other in 2019-20.