By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
The Denver Nuggets set a new franchise record for most points in a single road game on Friday, routing the Portland Trail Blazers 157–103 at the Moda Center. The 157 points were also the most for any game of the 2025-26 NBA Regular Season.
In just 29 minutes of action, Serbian superstar Nikola Jokic led the charge with 32 points on 10-of-15 shooting, including three triples. He nearly posted a triple-double, adding nine rebounds, seven assists, and four steals as the Nuggets improved to the season tally to 36–21.
“We can say it was the All-Star break. We can find excuses, but I think we needed to play with a lot more urgency, like we started the game today,” said the Sombor native on the Nuggets immediately bouncing back from Thursday’s narrow loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.
“The first shot, I was open, and the ball went in. I just kept shooting. I never have that, like I’m going in and score. It just happened,” Jokic added, describing his scoring display.
Coming off the bench for head coach David Adelman, Lithuanian center Jonas Valanciunas contributed six points, seven rebounds, and one assist in 12 minutes.
On the losing side, Israeli forward Deni Avdija registered a double-double with 15 points and 13 assists. “I don’t think we need to overreact. I don’t think we need to take it as something bad. We came back from the break. We are still finding our rhythm. These ain’t excuses, but we got to defend better, We got to have some more pride. But we are going to bounce back,” he mentioned after his side fell to 27-30 with a lopsided loss.
Fellow starter Belgian Toumani Camara finished with 10 points in 26 minutes, while Czech reserve Vít Krejci added 11 points in 17 minutes of play. French Sidy Cissoko contributed two blocks and two steals in 16 minutes.
Earlier Friday, the Blazers officially waived France’s Rayan Rupert to create a roster spot, following the conversion of Cissoko’s contract to a standard NBA deal.