Both teams played in Portland for four extra time

The Blazers had survived the Nuggets 140-137 in a three-and-a-half hour marathon and four hours overtime, a grueling testament testament. You could have watched "Avengers: Endgame", including credits, and had time to lose. The landing gear would have been off your flight from Portland to Denver. CJ McCollum ran 4.38 miles in the game. Jokic played the greatest number of minutes in a playoff match of the stopwatch era. Red Auerbach had four more extra playoff games. At four years of victory, he had not won his first championship.

It was a game that seemed to be played more than 20 times, with each team taking their turn to win.

"I have no idea what happened in the first or second half," said Blazers coach Terry Stotts, "or the first three hours of overtime."

So, what exactly happened?

19:46 PT / 10: 46 hours ET

It is at this moment that the game has started. You remember it? The Blazers won the tip. They did not know very well that four others of them were arriving at the halfway point. Al-Farouq Aminu scored the first points of the match on a free throw. The first quarter score was 23-17, with the Blazers up with a 7-0 run over the last three minutes. It was like a big moment.

20:44 PT / 11:44 ET

Half-time: The Blazers led 48-47. Jamal Murray (16 points) and Damian Lillard (10 points) were the only players to double their numbers as both teams had less than 40% shots on goal.

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Jamal Murray uses smooth handles to create an open shot and overturns the 3 pointer.

21h12 PT / 12h: 12h

Jokic was playing a bit passive, and the Nuggets coach, Mike Malone, challenged him in a timeout.

"I said listen, this big guy has to go, we have to start giving him the ball," Malone said. "I do not care if they've dubbed it or not, keep taking the ball, let him play, let him be aggressive and score and he was able to do it."

In the middle of the third, Jokic had only six points. He scored 17 goals in the quarter and 27 of 33 after half-time, finishing with a triple monster monster with 18 rebounds and 14 assists.

Jokic was all that held the Nuggets. The Blazers were starting to separate, and after playing the role of facilitator and lure for much of the first three quarters, Lillard came back to life. He slid off a high screen and crossed a half yard straight away and the Blazers led by eight, while he remained 2:44 in the third. He then made two free throws in possession of the ball and it was a 77-67 lead in Portland, while he was 2:13 in the third quarter. Jokic responded with seven points in the last 90 seconds of the third to reduce it to five before the fourth.

21h56 PT / 12h56

Murray, who was playing with an injured thigh and shoulder, took a vicious step backwards 3 to give the Nuggets five goals with another 1:56 to go. Maurice Harkless responded with a 3 seconds later, then had one and one chance that could have given the Blazers the time they had left at 1:04. He missed the free throw, but the Nuggets returned it and Lillard hit what looked like a Lady Time mark shot: a running float with 31.6 seconds to give the Blazers two points. Before the match, it seemed that Stotts wanted a timeout, but Lillard dismissed it and wanted the ball to be captured. The Nuggets had trapped him throughout the match and he did not want to let them play the ball again.

The Nuggets called timeout and Malone drew a beauty. Jokic hit Will Barton on a backwash for a layup and he was tied again with 28.6 seconds. The Nuggets removed her this time, while Amu missed an open 3 with 6.7 seconds. The Nuggets grabbed the rebound but dribbled before the deadline, which meant they could not advance the ball. They did not even have a shot. End of the settlement.

10:20 PT / 1: 8 pm ET

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CJ McCollum lifts his wings and hits the pointer in overtime.

McCollum cooked during overtime, throwing haymakers. Everything was going through him.

"I always appreciate the fact that CJ is starting to roll because it's not just the fact that he's doing it for our team, it's his appearance," said Lillard. "Guys like him and Kyrie Irving, they have a game that looks great, smooth, crossovers, cunning and difficult shots, so just looking at that, it was great as a teammate and As a friend, just the time it came It was just big shot after the fact, big shot after shot, and for me, my job is to allow that .When he rolls, let him continue .

But as they did it all night, the Nuggets responded. Paul Millsap took advantage of Rodney Hood to paint and placed Denver in second place with 47.1 seconds left. Lillard missed a step back, but flew it back to Torrey Craig in 16 seconds. Lillard threw a ball – really – but the Blazers kept him alive and, after a moment of madness and chaos, McCollum hit a compound runner with 8.7 seconds to go. The Nuggets had the last look, a 27-foot Jokic who hit the iron. Double overtime.

10:32 PT / 1: 32:00 ET

Lillard made a 28-foot-3 to put the Blazers in place with five minutes left, while there was 2.50 minutes of overtime left. It was as if it was the moment. Barton, however, had other ideas. He answered with a 3, then Millsap finished a short runner to tie the score again. McCollum hit a pull-up and Gary Harris finished an inverted layup. There was still a ball between Lillard and Murray with 4.1 seconds to go and the draw by the referee was ridiculously bad, completely inclined towards Lillard. The Blazers earned the tip and called timeout.

Lillard finished the series against the Oklahoma City Thunder, 30 feet from the right wing, near the Moda Center logo. Craig challenged him and Lillard missed him on the left. Neither team scored at the last minute of the second overtime.

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Damian Lillard tries to win the match with a 3-pointer, but he is off the mark and the Blazers and Nuggets are heading for a third overtime.

10:36 PT / 1: 36 a.m. AND

McCollum warmed up during the third overtime. A 19-foot pull-up, a 22-foot step back, a 26-foot ruthless 3-pointer. The Nuggets responded. Murray made two free throws with time remaining in Denver to create Denver, and then Millsap hit a beautiful jumper that looked like a shot that would settle things. The Nuggets led 129-125 with 32.2 seconds to play, and the Blazers called timeout.

Lillard shot in less than five seconds and with only three seconds difference between shot and stopwatch, the Blazers attempted to force a robbery. McCollum lobbied Murray and leaned against the sideline, McCollum pushed the ball further. In real time, it seemed that the ball was visibly out of McCollum, but the fingers were spinning in the air to ask for a review. With the granular film that was scrolling image by image, it was clearly concealed with the fingertips of Murray.

After ensuring safety in the field, Lillard returned to the rim with 8.4 seconds and equalized. The Nuggets had one last chance, and after firing a switch with Enes Kanter on him, Murray missed a distance of 31 feet beyond the edge and edge.

Match 3 was now officially tied as the longest playoff game of all time.

22:53 PT / 1: 53:00 ET

When the fourth extra hour started, Jokic had already recorded 60 minutes, including 39 consecutive without break. It was so much that Malone apologized to Jokic after the match in the locker room.

"To be honest then, at that point, you do not even think about how many minutes you play," Jokic said. "You're just trying to win a game.After the game, of course, I think that's a lot, but I'm not going out in the fourth overtime."

Both teams were, of course, gassed. Barton had some juice and scored the first points of the fourth overtime. Kanter responded after retrieving an inflated Aminu sweater. Barton hit a pull-up jumper with a time remaining of 2:49, and after a minute the game finally got his answer.

Rodney Hood had not played since the last minute of the first overtime, but recorded for Harkless with 1:59 to go. The Blazers tried to exploit the gaps, especially with Murray as a defender, during the series, so they went straight to Hood in the block. He stepped back from Murray and hit a flipping rider. Lillard said to go back.

"I think it was at one point that we were down two points and the coach called a game for him and he scored it," said Lillard. "And next time I looked like the same room and he was looking at me like we were doing the same thing, I think it's the same thing, let's go on, and hit another one."

Hood isolated on Murray and struck a basic step back. The Nuggets were up 136-135, while there was only 27.6 seconds left. McCollum missed the jump of a rider coming out of Portland late, but he followed his shot and followed a rebound. He saw Hood open on the wing.

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After a foul by CJ McCollum, Rodney Hood drains a 3-pointer from the wing to give the Blazers advance in late 4OT.

"I see it from the corner of my eye when I got up and I felt good, if I miss it, it will probably come back to me," McCollum said. "Then I followed, and I jumped and just when I jumped, I looked and I thought:" Uh-oh. " … I got excited then I tried to run it as quickly as possible.And when he simulated it, I said to myself: "Uh-oh …" and he avoided and cashed in. I was like a big, big shot Rodney, we needed that, because I do not know what was going to happen in the stretching in a fifth or sixth extra time. "

Often, coaches do not like playing in overtime, preferring to stay with the players in the course of the match because they fear that the players on the bench are too stiff or too cold to be ready. It seemed that Stotts had reversed this logic and found new legs and a match-up problem for Denver. Not enough.

"I'd like to take credit for that," said Stotts, "but Moe was a little embarrassed – that's the reason for the replacement."

For Hood, it was a triumphant moment of redemption after his last playoff series in times of disappointment and difficulty. After being traded to Utah Jazz in the middle of the season at Cleveland Cavaliers and considered a key to helping LeBron James, Hood fell out of favor and was defeated on the playoffs bench.

"I stayed patient, I did not get on my head even when a lot of people did," Hood said with obvious emotion on his face. "I just did not give up, I did not let myself go and I kept playing, continuing to work, and I did not know I would end up here in Portland in that kind of situation But to be here, to have my family in the crowd when I saw a lot of sad faces last year, for the last time … to be here is very moving for me, to be quite Frank, there is a lot more basketball to cross, but it looks good now.

"I was telling Gary Trent and [Anfernee Simons] that if I had a chance, I would end it. "

Of course, match 3 was not finished yet. Hood's shot gave Portland two goals and Denver made another shot. Jokic was fouled and, with Moda Center's crowd tremor, he missed the first free throw. He made the second goal, but Seth Curry then did his, and McCollum snapped a desperate draw. Match 3 ended at 23:13. local time, 2:13 pm on the east coast.

Lillard drew Aminu and Harkless, two of his closest teammates and players he still considers underrated, and hugged them. He then gathered the entire team halfway through. Fans poured into the halls, singing and splitting each other. Game 4 was to end in a little over 36 hours and both teams were already in recovery mode. The Blazers had already canceled Saturday 's training.

For both teams, losing would be a mental anguish, an obstacle in itself to know that a lot of work was needed to get out empty handed. Lillard said that he had been thinking about the consequences of losing and the effects that this might have.