PLAYOFF-2020 (Game#2, R2): [3]Denver Nuggets vs [2]LA Clippers (0-1), SAT 22:00ET

[THE J0KER]

Let's pretend game#1 not happens, and that guys take day-free two days ago (which is actually not far away from the truth).

Playing against a better team on a neutral location makes already game#2 "must-win" game if we want to win this series.

Jokic has some GOAT moments in both series in the 2019 playoff, as well as Murray too this year against Utah. To beat the superteam like the Clippers, I think Jokic and Murray both need to play their best game.

From the rest of the team, my biggest hopes are Grant and Porter, which should play 35+ minutes IMO. Clippers best guard is Lou Williams, which coming from the bench but playing 30+ minutes, so I would use Harris to cover him.

I have no idea how we going to stop Kawhi Leonard, but fortunately, their 2nd star is wild player Paul George which during playoff knows to have horrible nights. Here is PG13 last 13 playoff FGM-FGA games:
6-13 6-19 12-18 3-14 3-16 4-17 10-22 14-20 8-21 3-16 11-20 8-24 2-16
It would be so helpful if he have one of these nightmare games in Saturday.

Of course, the worst case scenario would be another blowout loss, and this time no excuse for that.

[NuggetsWY]

Jokic is essential against LAC. Murray might not have it as easy as against Utah, but he still needs to score. Hopefully, Grant & Porter & Harris can all chip in with 10-15 each.

But most important, we need some serious team-defense.

[skywalker33]

Seems we got blown out once in the Jazz series yet we won the series, hope that is on their mindset tonight

[THE J0KER]

Harris is back into the starting lineup.

12-2 early start and Paul George 0-4 already, looks promising, but that is just 4 opening minutes. Still, a great sign for a "must-win" game.

[THE J0KER]

I don't know how this game will end, but 44-25 is probably the Nuggets best first quarter in this century, considering it is done vs "superteam" in a playoff! Murray and Jokic offensively on GOAT level, with the rest of the team following (+great defense)!

[THE J0KER]

+16 on halftime is just perfect. Hope Malone and the guys learned their lessons from 3rd quarters from Jazz series, because this is a must-win game. Jokic and Murray 20+ both (6-8 for three) already on halftime are too much for anyone, including the Clippers.

[skywalker33]

Guess the Nuggets are showing we have a couple of superstars too. Need to keep it up on the 2nd half to show Charles Barkley what idiots are made of !

[The Rebel]

Can anybody tell Reggie Miller and the rest of the TNT crew that there are actually 2 teams playing, and that despite all the hype the Nuggets and Clippers spent most of the season battling for 2nd seed, with the Clippers only getting it clinched after we had spent 8 games without Harris and Barton while tanking 3 of them? It would help if they actually watched some game film and studied the stats of the Nuggets once in a while, they really know only the very basics about the Nuggets and it is obvious listening to them.

These refs seemed to want the Clippers to win very badly.

Harris and Grant had Kawhi shook, that is possibly the worst game I have seen him play in 5 years.

MPJ looked great on both ends today, he had an affect on this game even if the stat sheets do not show it.

That was the best game out of Millsap since the bubble started, he also did well on George for the 1st half.

Jokic and Murray were amazing on both ends the entire 1st half tonight, they seemed to coast most of the 2nd half but we had the lead and guys were doing well enough. They did come alive when the score got down to 5, while Harris hit the 3s, Jokic and Murray were creating the offense.

Clippers are a dirty team, I wish we had an enforcer like Morris SR to level George and Kawhi a time or two after Jokic got racked.

Call me crazy, after tonight I am convinced we will win this series, and I am not sure if we get to 7 games. Kawhi will make adjustments, the Clippers as a whole will make adjustments, but how do they stop Jokic? They were doubling him and tripling him at times in the 1st half, and leaving guys wide open, and Jokic was still scoring efficiently. With Jokic and Murray If guys play this well on defense the rest of the series than we may get a break before the next round.

[THE J0KER]

Clippers won 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quarter, and we won only 1st quarter, but this is not tennis nor volleyball, and that 1st quarter was maybe GOAT 1st quarter in franchise history!

Jokic and Murray were out of the blue in the 1st half, but they are for no reason so passive in the 2nd half. Apart from that monster quarter, my favorite things from this game are Jokic rebounding (18!), Grant DPoY defense on Leonard, and Harris 3pt shooting. Harris is good in defense as well, Murray's overall game is very good 27-3-6 thanks to great 1st half, and Millsap was a much more useful than usually in this playoff. Morris was helpful as another player which was much better in the 1st half today than in 2nd, and Craig was good in defense. Porter was 11-7 in just 16 minutes, but his 3pt shooting was definitely damaged by Malone (14-28 in the first 5 playoff games, 2-19 since that in the next 4). Today, just like in game#7 vs Portland he has a perfect start in 1st half but Malone sits him after the first miss when we have a big lead and everything looks perfect, so in 2nd half, he is 0-3 useless from 3pt (but overall game was good with many offensives rebounds, and hustle defense).

Kawhi flirted with a triple-double, but we stop him on just 13p (4-17) in 38 minutes which is key for this win, and George with 22p and a good defense is not much better due to 7-19 poor efficiency, and the Clippers Lou-Harrell magic bench was nothing special tonight.

Great win, no doubt. We are a better team than Dallas, which put big pressure on the Clippers in the first round, so everyone who expected a routine win in this series for Clippers was obviously wrong!

[NuggetsWY]

A remarkable 1st quarter but did not win any of the other quarters. That's promising but still a little worrisome. Shooting after the 1st quarter wasn't so good and I do wish we'd attack the basket more. I loved seeing more motion on offense, but it only happened sporadically. We are not good enough, on most nights, to win with outside shooting.

I loved seeing more attention and activity on the defensive end - and that seemed to be consistent for most of the game.

Jokic was neutralized in the second half.
So was Murray.
Grant had a great game - except for his shooting.
Millsap played the way I've always expected him to.
Harris was very good and his shot was working. I've always wanted him to take more shots, but I was happy with his game.

Morris came in and was effective.
Porter had a nice game.

Both Kawhi & Willimas had poor shooting nights. That was somewhat due to more effective defense, but truthfully, they've both hit tougher shots than what happened in this game.

[TunaFish]

Jokic was neutralized in the second half.

I think Jokic may have had a "low blow" earlier in the game. Not sure he was the same since.

[The Rebel]

Jokic was neutralized in the second half.

I think Jokic may have had a "low blow" earlier in the game. Not sure he was the same since.

Your starting to sound like Reggie Miller and the TNT guys, everybody else knows Jokic caught a kick straight to the groin.

[skywalker33]

Jokic was neutralized in the second half.

I think Jokic may have had a "low blow" earlier in the game. Not sure he was the same since.

Your starting to sound like Reggie Miller and the TNT guys, everybody else knows Jokic caught a kick straight to the groin.

Think he sounds like you Rebel, seems you’re in agreement .