The Denver Nuggets – on the second night of a back-to-back – head into Los Angeles to face the Clippers tonight. Denver took the best swings from the Sacramento Kings in an extremely late national broadcast last night, but maintained order and left with a double-digit victory for their fifth-straight win. The Clippers meanwhile have lost five in a row and are searching for answers with both their personnel and execution. The Nuggets don’t want to be anyone’s get-right game no matter how the schedule was written, and especially not to the Clippers with whom they’ve had several chippy contests including last year’s tight playoff matchup. Los Angeles will be without both Kawhi Leonard (which hurts them) and Bradley Beal (might help, honestly). Denver could rest any of several starters, including Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon. Can the Nuggets beat both weariness and Los Angeles? Let’s find out.
The Basics
Who: Denver Nuggets (8-2) at Los Angeles Clippers (3-7)
When: 8:30 PM MDT
Where: Ball Arena, Denver CO
How to watch/listen: Altitude/ + / Radio. Say you’re a sleep and recovery specialist and you’re there
Rival Blog: 213 Hoops
Injury Report: Nuggets: no report yet, likely for Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon to be listed as questionable for precautionary reasons. Clippers: Kawhi Leonard – out (ankle), Bradley Beal – out (hip).
The Three Things
The thing to watch for: Who’s suiting up for Denver?
The Nuggets are on their second back-to-back in a row (after a 3 day break) and they rested both Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon for precautionary reasons on the second night against the Pacers on Saturday. Will they do that again? Will they choose to rest star Nikola Jokic who helped them close out the Kings last night and just finished winning the Western Conference Player of the Week after an outstanding start to the season?
Will they rest no one and push for a win against this desperate Clippers squad? Nobody knows yet, but who plays will help determine how they play. I do expect Denver to be aggressive at the rim early and then settle for jumpers late, but with a deeper bench it’s always possible they just stick to their formula and see if the deeper rotation guys can catch fire if the top of the rotation takes a break. It’s a long season and Denver doesn’t want to run out of gas again due to injuries and exhaustion – the goal is the Finals. But racking wins in November helps with that goal too, even when the scheduling gods are not in your favor.
The thing to remember: Denver has an identity on both ends, but the Clippers do not
Denver has not had an especially strenuous schedule thus far, but they have definitely dominated it. They are second in Offensive Rating, Defensive Rating and also Net Rating. The Clippers meanwhile are in the 20s in all those categories. Los Angeles just hasn’t been able to find either a consistent attack or defense and rely on James Harden and Kawhi Leonard to share the scoring burden, and now with Kawhi out they have to find someone who can put points on the scoreboard. The Clippers have the worst defense in the league when Bradley Beal is on the floor this year, and he hasn’t given them much offensively so him missing the game might allow them to find a better solution, but trying to find defense without Kawhi is going to be a very tough ask.
Ivica Zubac is always up for wrestling with Jokic, but now that Denver has two seven-footers to deal with and can match up handily with Zubac and Brook Lopez, Los Angeles is going to have to rely on Denver being tired and perhaps resting some guys to take advantage of a potential schedule loss and get their work done early. If they let Denver hang around – and Denver is very good at hanging around – then execution could become a real issue late in the game.
The thing to bet: Bet the under
The Clippers haven’t been scoring titans this year, and Denver is not likely to be sharp tonight (and hasn’t been hitting threes efficiently even when they are sharp) so scoring in bunches may not happen for either squad. If it’s going to be ugly against a team that doesn’t run and a team that likely can’t today, keep your scoring hopes low.
