Monte Morris: “Phenomenal off the bench” in NBA playoff game

Tuesday’s Portland-Denver NBA playoff game will be remembered for Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard making 12 3-pointers and scoring 55 points.

Pretty phenomenal, especially given the clutch 3s Lillard sank near the end of regulation and the first overtime.

However, Denver won, 147-140 in two overtimes to take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-7 first-round series. One of the Nuggets’ heroes was guard Monte Morris, formerly of Iowa State. Morris played 41 minutes off the bench and scored a career-high 28 points. It was a good game to do it.

Morris made two 3-pointers in the first overtime and hit two free throws late in the second OT to help seal the victory.

“That’s the Monte Morris I’ve come to love and respect,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “Aggressive. Confident. Getting downhill. Stepping up and making big shots. He was phenomenal off the bench for us.”

This is Morris’ fourth pro season after getting picked 51st in the 2017 NBA draft, in the latter half of the second round. He spent almost his entire first season in the G League.

That was then. Last December, Morris signed a three-year, $27 million contract extension. He averaged 10.2 points in the regular season. He’s averaging 14 points and 5.2 assists in the playoffs. His regular-season career-high is 24 points.

Game 6 is Thursday in Portland.

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