Four-overtime game takes toll on Portland Trail Blazers, Denver Nuggets

Dedicate this one to the insomniacs.

The Portland Trail Blazers finally outlasted the Denver Nuggets 140-137 in Game 3 at the Moda Center late Friday night, needing 3 hours 25 minutes, four overtime periods, 68 game minutes and multiple dramatic comebacks to take a 2-1 lead in the teams' second-round series.

The contest, which was knotted at 102 at the end of regulation, tied the Boston Celtics' 111-105 four-overtime defeat of the Syracuse Nationals in 1953 as the longest postseason game in NBA history.

Denver's Nikola Jokic was Game 3's Ironman, tallying 33 points, 18 rebounds and 14 assists in a whopping 65 minutes. The 7-foot center logged the most minutes in an NBA playoff game since 1953 and the fourth most in postseason history.

Playing at home for the first time since Damian Lillard's series-clinching three-pointer against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Portland found itself embroiled in another round of heart-stopping dramatics.

Blazers guard CJ McCollum led all scorers with 41 points in a team-high 60 minutes, but his offensive rebound and pass to Rodney Hood proved decisive. Hood, a backup wing and midseason acquisition who finished with 19 points, buried a go-ahead three-pointer from the right angle in the closing seconds of the fourth overtime.

"I was really tired," Lillard said after scoring 28 points in 58 minutes. "You start to cramp up. We knew that they were going through the same thing. It wasn't like we were out there having a long practice. It was a game. It was a matter of who was going to dig deeper, who was going to fight through and get that one extra rebound, that one extra stop, that one loose ball, make that free throw. Tonight we were that team."

"I have no idea what happened in the first half, or the second half, or the first three overtimes," Stotts said. "Then Rodney Hood came in and played great. I've never been a part of a game like that. . . . The game was won and lost so many times by both teams. Every overtime was a roller coaster. I don't know if it was as much elation as it was relief. I'll take either one."

Denver had more than its fair share of chances to steal a road victory. The Nuggets led 100-98 with 65 seconds in regulation, 109-107 with 10 seconds left in the first overtime, 129-127 with 10 seconds left in the third overtime and 136-135 with 20 seconds left in the fourth overtime.

Fatigue appeared to set in on numerous occasions. The Nuggets committed a costly turnover at the end of the first overtime that set up a game-tying runner by McCollum; they committed a turnover at the end of the second overtime before they could attempt a potential game-winning shot; and they blew a four-point lead in the final 30 seconds of the third overtime with another turnover.

In the final period, Jokic missed the first of two free throws with five seconds left. If he had made both, the score would have been tied.

"Nikola Jokic is our best player," Nuggets Coach Michael Malone said. "We're at our best when he's on the floor, making plays for himself and for his teammates. When I rode him in the fourth quarter, I had no idea it was going to go into four more overtimes. I apologized to him in the locker room. He doesn't complain. I've never seen that: 64 minutes and 58 seconds. That's a real number. He was fantastic. The guy was incredible."