The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Denver Nuggets 108-101 at Thomas & Mack Center on Thursday night, and the margin decided more than the game. Denver needed a 15-point win in its Vegas finale to qualify for the Summer League playoff round, and in a game with eight ties and 13 lead changes, that cushion was never on the table.
Portland took it with a 60-51 second half and a shooting gap Denver couldn’t answer: 54 percent from the field and 44 percent from three, against 43 and 38 for the Nuggets, plus a 50-26 advantage in the paint. Yang Hansen finished with 13 points, five rebounds and four blocks, and the second-year center stamped the closing minutes — a one-handed jam, a slick post finish and an over-the-head assist as the Blazers separated late.
Denver’s offense ran through Mark Spears, who scored a team-high 26, and Trevon Brazile, who followed his 32-point night against Oklahoma City with 19 points and eight rebounds. Days after signing his four-year contract, Brazile has now delivered Denver’s two best scoring performances of the summer, and his week in Vegas reads like the front office’s case for guaranteeing the first two years of that deal.
The loss closes Denver’s Vegas slate short of the playoff round, which is a scheduling footnote more than a verdict — the Nuggets got what they came for in Brazile’s breakout, KJ Simpson’s playmaking earlier in the week and a roster audition that produced the Alpha Diallo signing. Portland wrapped its own schedule Friday night against Utah.
For fantasy purposes, Brazile is the name to file away: back-to-back featured scoring nights suggest Denver sees a rotation path for him, and he’s worth a late flier in deep dynasty formats on a thin Nuggets front line behind Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon. Yang Hansen’s stat profile — blocks, rebounds, passing feel — keeps him on the dynasty radar even in a crowded Portland frontcourt, though redraft leagues can wait for a defined role in October.
