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Nurkic lifts Blazers over former Nuggets teammates in battle for 8th

Craig Mitchelldyer / USA TODAY Sports

Jusuf Nurkic's play over the last six weeks since being traded from Denver to Portland has been stellar, but the Trail Blazers big man saved his best performance for his former team.

Nurkic poured in a career-high 33 points - on 12-of-15 shooting - to go along with 16 rebounds, three blocks, and two assists to lead the Blazers past the Nuggets, 122-113, on Tuesday, giving Portland a one-game lead over Denver in the race for the Western Conference's eighth and final playoff spot.

The win also secured the season-series tiebreaker for the Blazers, who won three of four meetings against their Northwest Division rival this season, meaning the Nuggets will need to outperform Portland by a full two games - with only eight games remaining - to end Denver's four-year postseason drought.

Related: Nurkic wishes Nuggets a 'happy summer' after Blazers' win

When the Nuggets and Blazers made the surprising transaction on Feb. 13 - which also saw Denver send Portland the Grizzlies' 2017 first-round pick while receiving a mere 2017 second-rounder - the one redeeming factor from the Nuggets' vantage point was that they were upgrading in the short term by replacing Nurkic with veteran center Mason Plumlee.

That's been anything but the case. While the 22-year-old Nurkic has averaged 15 points, 10.4 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 1.9 blocks in 29 minutes per game with the Blazers, the 27-year-old Plumlee is averaging 9.1 points, 6.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 0.9 blocks in just under 24 minutes a night with the Nuggets.

Post-trade Team record On/off Net Rtg
Nurkic 13-6 +9.6
Plumlee 10-9 -11.8

Adding injury to insult for Denver, Plumlee answered Nurkic's career night on Tuesday with a scoreless performance that saw him go 0-for-4 from the field, while collecting just three assists, two rebounds, a block, and two turnovers in 16 minutes.

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