The West's second-seeded Denver Nuggets almost didn't survive their first-round series against the No. 7 San Antonio Spurs.

It came down to a Game 7, where Denver was able to dispatch of San Antonio and move on to the Western Conference semifinals against the Portland Trail Blazers. The Nuggets came away with a 121-113 win over the Trail Blazers in Game 1 on Monday behind 37 points from Nikola Jokic while Jamal Murray scored 23 points on 8-of-15 shooting. Guard Damian Lillard was just as efficient with 39 points in the loss while Enes Kanter added 26 for Portland.

Portland will try to even the series on Wednesday with a Game 2 win.

Here's everything you need to know about the first matchup in this series.