"Nicolas Batum couldn't dunk. He could barely play defense. And he struggled to make a simple layup.

But he could shoot. Boy, could he shoot.

After sitting out the previous two games with a knee injury, Batum returned in emphatic fashion Saturday night, draining nine three-pointers and scoring 33 points to lead the Trail Blazers to an important 117-97 victory over the Denver Nuggets before 20,583 at the Rose Garden.

The 33 points were a career high, and the nine three-pointers were the most in Blazers history and the most by any player in the NBA this season.

"Nic was on fire tonight," Wesley Matthews said, flatly. "That was fun to be a part of."

And the most amazing part of it is that Batum, who had missed the previous two games with a bruised left knee, almost didn't play Saturday night. Batum tested his knee at the team's morning shootaround Saturday, doing some running, cutting and jumping for the first time since he hurt it Jan. 30 in a game at Utah.

When he tried to dunk, he couldn't elevate enough and felt pain after he landed. When he went through game-like simulations, spinning around defenders in the lane, fighting through screens and the like, his left knee howled. But when coach Nate McMillan walked up to him after the shootaround and asked if he was going to play, Batum didn't hesitate.

"This morning, I didn't know yet," Batum said. "But I told Nate, 'Yeah,' because he came to me and said, 'You play tonight?' 'Yes.'" "