BOISE, Idaho — THIS DAY IN SPORTS…May 3, 2019, five years ago today:
An NBA playoff game goes to four overtimes for only the second time in history—and the first time in 66 years—with Portland outlasting Denver 140-137 at the Moda Center. It was a physically-taxing marathon of wild swings, with 24 lead changes. Yet only one player fouled out. Blazers guard C.J. McCollum played 60 minutes and scored 40 points. Nuggets center Nikola Jokic logged a staggering 64 minutes and 58 seconds and put up 33 points.
It was a shame anyone had to lose. The closer was Portland backup guard Rodney Hood, who went 3-for-3 and scored seven points in the final two minutes of the fourth overtime to finally put it away. "I have no idea what happened in the first half or the second half or the first three overtimes," said Blazers coach Terry Stotts at NBA.com. "Rodney Hood came in and played great. It was a hell of a game. I've never been involved in a game like that, regular season or playoffs, but it was an amazing effort by both teams.”
The Nuggets had a chance to get out of there with a win at the end of the third overtime. But Portland superstar Damian Lillard, who had struggled most of the night, hit two driving layups to rally the Blazers from a four-point deficit in the final 32.2 seconds. In the fourth OT, after Hood had saved the day, McCollum intercepted a Nuggets inbounds pass with 2.8 seconds and jubilantly heaved it in the air as the buzzer sounded.
Portland would go on to win the second-round series in seven games and advance to the Western Conference Finals against the Golden State Warriors. The Blazers, perhaps out of gas, were swept in four games by the defending NBA champions. Portland would be back in the playoffs the following two seasons but was eliminated in the first round each year. That wasn’t enough for Blazers management, and Stotts and the team parted ways in June, 2021. Since then, Portland has posted three straight losing records under Chauncey Billups, including 21-61 this season.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
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