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Blazers' 7-footer Nurkic owned by second dunk in four games

By Alex Butler

March 21 (UPI) -- For the second time in four games, Portland Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic was on the wrong end of a nasty dunk.

This time he was on the receiving end of a vicious throw down from Houston Rockets big man Clint Capela.

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Nurkic -- who is listed at 7-feet, 280 pounds -- was standing in the paint in the third quarter of the Rockets' 115-111 win Tuesday at the Moda Center in Portland.

Rockets star James Harden dribbled directly toward him, forcing Nurkic into the air. But Harden dished off a pass on the baseline to the 6-foot-10 Capela. Nurkic turned around to face Capela, but it was too late. The Rockets' center was already airborne.

Nurkic put his hand in between Capela's arms as he threw the ball through the net. The dunk was so powerful that the ball bounced behind Nurkic's body as his face went into Capela's stomach.

The dunk gave the Rockets a 65-60 advantage with 9:32 remaining in the frame.

The slam comes after Nurkic was also posterized on Thursday by LeBron James, during the Blazers' 113-105 win against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

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Capela had just five points in Tuesday's win. Nurkic had 21 points and 11 rebounds for the Blazers. He also had a nice block on Rockets star James Harden in the first quarter. Harden led all scorers with 42 points as the Rockets ended the Blazers' 13-game winning streak.

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