The Nuggets got deep fried on Friday in Portland.

Here are three takeaways from Denver’s 128-109 loss at Moda Center:

1. That looked a lot like an effort loss. A Portland team playing without its best big men grabbed 15 offensive rebounds and turned those extra possessions into a 26-10 advantage in second chance points. All five of Portland’s starters grabbed multiple offensive rebounds, while Duop Reath came off the bench and grabbed a team-high four offensive rebounds. Hunter Tyson, who only played the final 4 minutes and 19 seconds, led Denver with three offensive rebounds. Four Trail Blazers grabbed six or more rebounds, while Michael Porter Jr., Christian Braun and Peyton Watson led Denver with five boards apiece.

2. Turnovers were another big issue for the Nuggets, and no player had more issues protecting the ball than Russell Westbrook. The veteran guard started with Nikola Jokic again out of the lineup and committed nine of Denver’s 21 turnovers. Those giveaways led to 25 more Portland points. No other Denver player committed more than three turnovers. Westbrook is at his best when he toes the edge between ultra-aggressive and out of control. There were bright spots, as Westbrook recorded 18 points on 13 shots with four rebounds, four assists and three steals, but the turnovers undid all of that.

3. It was a pretty pedestrian return to the rotation for Jamal Murray. He managed 10 points on as many shots in 35 minutes on the court. On a night Jokic watched the action from the bench in a Prada sweater, Murray had more than enough space to be more aggressive. Instead, Denver’s second-leading scorer took fewer shots than Westbrook (13) and Watson (11), while Porter and Gordon also took 10 shots. Murray grabbed four rebounds, dished out a couple of assists and recorded a couple of steals to supplement his stat line, but the Nuggets needed a more lethal scoring punch in Portland.

TRAIL BLAZERS 128, NUGGETS 109

What happened: The second quarter started in a 30-30 tie. Denver led 59-54 at halftime, but Portland took a six-point lead to the fourth quarter and pulled away in the fourth to drop Denver to 44-27 on the season.

What went right: Aaron Gordon continued to score efficiently since returning from injury. Denver’s starting center with Nikola Jokic out of the lineup for a third consecutive game led the team with 23 points on 10 shots from the field. He also went 10 for 12 on free throws with four assists and three rebounds in 32 minutes of playing time. He’s led the Nuggets in scoring the last three games.

What went wrong: Sure, the Nuggets were without Jokic, but Portland won despite missing Deandre Ayton, Donovan Clingan, Jerami Grant and Anfernee Simons. That wasn’t an issue for Deni Avdija, who dropped 36 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, three steals and a block in the win.

Highlight of the night: Peyton Watson broke a 40-40 tie in impressive fashion early in the second quarter. Watson used a hesitation move to beat Duop Reath down the baseline and took off for a reverse dunk. The only thing that wasn’t smooth was the landing. Watson looked uncomfortable running back down the court but didn’t come out of the game.

Up next: The Nuggets conclude their four-game road trip with a Sunday matinee in Houston.

DENVER — People working or traveling through downtown Denver Tuesday might want to find another way to commute if taking RTD’s L Line as service will be suspended pretty much all day for maintenance work.

The Regional Transportation District (RTD) will temporarily suspend L Line service along the Welton corridor between 20th/Welton and 30th/Downing stations from start of service until 5 p.m. as crews perform rail maintenance.

The L Line will not operate along the corridor or in the Downtown Loop during the temporary suspension, but the D and H lines will continue to operate in the Downtown Loop. Customers can also use Bus Route 43 as a alternative to the L Line.

Customers are encouraged to use RTD’s Next Ride App to plan a trip, view other travel options, or receive Service Alerts.

File this story under things that happen every year, but you don’t really think about it or dwell on it. However, since the opening of ‘legal’ tampering in the NFL the cut-throat behavior between teams to get the best talent on the open market is pretty intense. That nearly happened to two of the Denver Broncos three top free agent signings this year. Imagine how irritated we’d be as fans had that happened.

Mike Klis of 9News dropped some interesting news this week relating to two of Denver’s biggest acquisitions: safety Talanoa Hufanga and linebacker Dre Greenlaw. Both were targeted after news broke of them having an agreement in place with the Broncos.

Sources have told 9NEWS that after reports of an agreement surfaced between the safety Hufanga and the Broncos on a three-year deal with a max value of $45 million last Monday, March 10, the New York Jets swooped in to make an after-the-bell pitch of sorts to Hufanga with a sweetened offer.

The New York Jets were the first to try and steal Hufanga out from under Denver’s feet, but fortunately he decided to stick with the original deal and is now a Denver Bronco. The same tactic was tried with Dre Greenlaw and special teamer Trent Sherfield after they initially placed a verbal agreement to sign with Denver.

At least with the Jets, both teams had to work through Hufanga’s agent so the playing field was level. With the other two, the San Francisco 49ers were allowed to reach out directly to Greenlaw as he was still technically under contract and the same went for the Minnesota Vikings and Sherfield.

That both decided to commit to leaving anyway to Denver is a huge win for the Broncos. With most of their defense under contract and attacking their weakest links with the Hufanga and Greenlaw signings, the Broncos look pretty dangerous on paper on that side of the ball. Getting a special teams ace was the cherry on top.

It must be a wild two days for every front office in the NFL during that legal tampering window. All we get are the week-after action reports and even those are crazy. In any case, glad it all worked out for us fans in the end.

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