The Denver Nuggets lost to the Los Angeles Clippers 109-104 after two different collapses during the game. Denver shot under 30% in the first half, then allowed 39 points in the first quarter, and those failures on both sides of the ball doomed them to an 0-2 start to the season. Nikola Jokic had 41 points and 9 rebounds but only 4 assists, and his missed three in the waning seconds was the final nail in Denver’s self-made coffin. Jamal Murray added 22 points and 5 assists, but his fourth-quarter defense was part of the problem as Normal Powell had 37 points to lead the Clippers, with James Harden adding 23 points and 16 assists and Ivica Zubac putting in 24 points to go with 15 rebounds. Neither team’s bench contributed much – this was a starter affair, and Denver’s just didn’t have enough to overcome their own struggles.
Game Recap
Jokic won the the tip for the Nuggets, but Aaron Gordon missed his first two shots on back-to-back possessions. MPJ played good defense to force a bad shot and Jamal Murray buried a transition 3. Aaron Gordon made a great baseline move for his first bucket but Normal Powell answered with a floater. AG was fouled going for an oop from Jokic and made 1-of-2, and Mike made a long step-back with a foot on the line, but the clippers went on a 7-0 run to take a 9-8 lead. Jokic came out of a timeout and made a pair of buckets, but Zubac answered with a couple of his own including an oop. Strawther had his first bucket on a putback of a Jokic miss, then Jokic hit a three to cut the Clippers lead to 18-17. The Clippers had a dunk and a layup, then a Harden 3 to stretch the lead to 8, while Denver went cold from the field and were 8-for-24 in the first quarter, trailing 27-19 after one.
Westbrook opened Denver’s scoring in the second quarter with a pair of free throws. Both teams kept bricking shots for the first couple minutes of the quarter though, with the first bucket of the quarter coming from Jamal at the 9:47 mark. Kris Dunn made a three off an offensive rebound for the Clippers, but the Nuggets still couldn’t make shots and Jokic came back in the game down 9 at 33-24. It only got worse from there as the Clippers went up 18, and Denver made only 9 of 39 shots until Murray hit a step-back three. Immediately after Denver hit two more threes from Aaron Gordon and Nikola Jokic, the second and third assists for Denver’s whole team so far which cut the lead back to 9. Harden hit a floater, Murray made a free throw, and Jokic hit a jumper to cut the lead to 44-36. Denver made a concerted effort on the glass, Aaron Gordon made a pair of free throws, and Jokic answered a Zubac paint bucket with a straight-away three. Jokic had 16 points on 13 shots in the first half and his effort closed the deficit to 48-42 at the half.
Christian Braun hit a deep 3 as Denver closed the game to just 59-57. Jokic had a transition bucket off an MPJ rebound to tie it at 59, but the teams just exchanged buckets from there with Denver unable to retake the lead. Aaron Gordon bricked a contested transition layup but got the rebound to kick it out to Julian Strawther for a 3, and Christian Braun had a block on Harden upheld on review. Off a turnover, Braun’s transition bucket finally gave Denver the lead, and Peyton Watson got free throws off the next turnover as Denver’s defensive intensity picked up. Strawther had a couple of bad fouls but got a nice tip turnover that Russell Westbrook couldn’t finish. Dunn made a bucket for the Clippers, Braun answered with free throws after a great quarter, and Denver headed into the fourth up 71-70.
Zubac made a paint bucket and Dunn had a 3 pointer for the Clippers, but Strawther answered with a banked 3 of his own. Jokic and Gordon came back in at the 10 minute mark and they immediately hooked up for the oop reverse jam. Jokic buried a pair of threes to make it a five point lead, but Norman Powell answered with a three of his own. Jokic hit a runner off a rebound to force a timeout, then hit another three pointer after forcing a turnover as he had a monster game from deep. Powell drove to the rim for an easy layup, then made a three after a Jokic turnover. Murray made a pullup, MPJ missed a layup but got his rebound and dunked it. Denver could not pull away though, with Powell making another 3 and Harden getting to the line. Murray buried a 3, but the Clippers answered with two paint buckets to take the lead at 96-94 with 3 minutes to go. Jokic made a pair of free throws, Powell answered with a bank shot, but Murray’s free throws and Jokic’s career-high 7th three-pointer of the game put Denver up 101-100. Murray made another pair of huge free throws but Powell – who was on fire this game – made another three as the Clippers couldn’t miss and the game was tied at 103. Harden got a foul call and made a pair of free throws to put the Clippers up 2, and then Nikola Jokic missed one of his free throws with 19 seconds left which had Denver trailing by 1. Harden then made another pair of free throws to force Denver to need a 3-pointer to tie, and Jokic tried to get fouled shooting it rather than trying to make it. It didn’t work, and Denver lost 109-104.
Final Thoughts
– The learning curve of the season will be real. Russell Westbrook doesn’t really know how to play Jokic Ball and also is not familiar with his new bench teammates. Learning those things will take time. Christian Braun is adjusting very well to playing with the starters but probably has an easier job with that than Peyton Watson, who is now a known non-shooter playing with some other non-shooters and having to figure out spacing and rebounding. Dario Saric hasn’t been able to defend or rebound through the first two games, continuing a years-long trend for Denver’s backup centers, and Julian Strawther racked up 5 fouls in 16 minutes before being benched despite good effort and several buckets. The Nuggets have to clean up that execution, and soon – the pieces might be unfamiliar but they need gel soon before it costs Denver too many games.
– Denver’s starters have to care more. The Nuggets fell behind by 18 in the first half, and it was not all the bench’s fault. Denver’s starters were not playing with urgency regardless of whether shots were falling, and were not hustling for rebounds. They got out-boarded by the Clippers 44-37 and while some of that is because of the absolute bricks they put up, the Nuggets didn’t give themselves assist chances (just 5 assists in the first half) or in any way make the game easier for themselves. They fought back hard in the last few minutes of the first half and for most of the second, but their lack of conditioning showed in giving up nearly 40 points to a Clippers team playing at altitude. They just couldn’t or wouldn’t make the hustle plays and could not get Powell to give the ball up.
The starters are the engine that makes this whole thing work. Some nights Michael Porter Jr. is going to go 0-for-6 from three, but then the playstyle has to get more determined not more tentative. Denver neither shot with authority (outside of Jokic) nor drove or rebounded. Jokic and Braun both showed up in this game, but the rest of the starters are not as engaged as they need to be. Coach Michael Malone talked about conditioning at the end of the preseason and Denver has gassed in both games so far, which is inexcusable on the home court.
The Nuggets need to play like they did in the third quarter for the whole game, with the kind of desperate effort required to win games consistently. The Nuggets so far have played like these games are not serious, and so have two losses to start the season that could have been turned around with simple effort even if the efficiency isn’t there right now. Malone always says he shouldn’t have to coach effort and I agree with him – whatever else happened in this game, sleepwalking through half of it and then gassing at the end because the conditioning isn’t there reflects on the mentality of a team that isn’t showing the toughness yet that will be needed to pursue a championship. Here’s hoping they find it soon, because dropping these games at home is an incredibly unserious start to the year.
