LAC vs DEN ROUND 1 SERIES PREVIEW

[esqtvd]

Game 1 thread will be posted Friday. In the meantime...


Vegas does not believe. Do you?

BREAKING NEWS: VEGAS BELIEVES!!

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[LamarWho]

My biggest concern is Zu getting into foul trouble, since we don't have much in the backup big department. For them it's a matter of which version of Jamal Murray is gonna show up in this series? We need to target MPJ and Murray as much as we can on offense. Let's get our revenge from the bubble.

[clipperlover]

My biggest concern is Zu getting into foul trouble, since we don't have much in the backup big department. For them it's a matter of which version of Jamal Murray is gonna show up in this series? We need to target MPJ and Murray as much as we can on offense. Let's get our revenge from the bubble.

Totally different team we have this time around. We don't have a loose cannon like Marcus Morris picking up stupid technical fouls. Team will battle and stay composed. I know at some point Kawhi will guard Jokic. Hopefully, it will be be limited, strategic and purposeful. if we are putting him on Jokic out of necessity, then we are in trouble.

[og15]

Game 1: Clippers at Nuggets (Sat. April 19, 3:30 ET, ESPN)

It’s a matchup of strength vs. strength. The Nuggets have a top-five offense, while the Clippers have a top-five defense. They split the season series, with three of the four games coming in Denver

https://www.nba.com/news/2025-nba-playoffs-series-preview-nuggets-clippers

My biggest concern is Zu getting into foul trouble, since we don't have much in the backup big department. For them it's a matter of which version of Jamal Murray is gonna show up in this series? We need to target MPJ and Murray as much as we can on offense. Let's get our revenge from the bubble.

Simmons will likely be the one up in that situation

[Ballings7]

Clippers in 5. Doesn't go 7.

Yep. Gonna storm these Nuggs.

Be interesting to see how much Simmons plays. I think he can be a factor with the right line ups. Would luv to see him have some good moments in 2 or 3 games : ).

[Roscoe Sheed]

The Clippers are on a roll- let's hope they keep it going. Besides the obvious need for Kawhi to stay healthy, it is also vital that Batum is at full strength as there will likely be games in which Zubac gets in foul trouble. I don't trust Simmons to play big minutes at the back up 5. Batum can guard players who are bigger than him and he can get hot from 3, so he will pull Jokic out of the lane.

Aside from Murray and MPJ, I am also concerned about Gordon- very good player on both sides of the floor. Seems like Jokic knows where is at all times and finds him for rolls to the basket and open 3s.

Should be a great series.

[MartinToVaught]

My tentative prediction is Clippers in 6, with a strong chance it goes 7. We are the better and less dysfunctional team, but anything less than 6 feels overly optimistic. Jokic is still the best player on the court and the Clippers never make a playoff series as easy as it could be.

Still, there are no excuses for losing this series in my view. If we can't at least make the second round, it's time to move on from Frank and Lue.

[esqtvd]

Kawhi only played 37 games, many of them under a minutes restriction.

Winning 50 games with this crew was a frigging miracle, somehow making the best of Ballmer's failed all-in gamble on 213. Ty deserves COY and L-Frank, of whom I'm NOT a fan, did brilliantly in deciding to keep team MVP Beard, bringing in Dunn, DJJ, and Batum, having Coffey [who filled in almost 2000 desperately needed minutes] at the ready and then scooping up Bogi while dumping the mostly useless T-Mann before his 3yr/$47M contract kicked in...and scoring THREE SRPs in the process!

The playoff performance is up to the players now. And we may get something out of Simmons yet.

[neshy]

My biggest concern is Ty. We're not beating them with Dunn playing a lot of minutes. I know he's been hitting some wide open 3's lately but at the end of the day he's like 30% 3pt shooter. He's also small to guard Murray. Murray is struggling against big guards and Dunn is not that. We need to exploit their defense when Jokic, Murray and mpj are on the floor together. I am afraid we'll fall into trap by trying to expose Jokic in P&R and while he's not a good defender, most of he's weaknesses are exposed because of the other 2 who are the worst defenders on earth. By saying that we need to destroy them from 3pt line and we have much better shooters then them. Either Batum or Bogi will need to play more minutes with the starters than Dunn. With that change, one of the shooters will be open at all times and if I was a Nugget I would live with Dunn beating me from 3. Butum and Bogi are a different story. Also when it comes to Bogi, the more minutes he plays, more you get from him. He's not the type of player to play 15min and give you something. If we get into foul biting trap and exchanging 2's we'll lose this series. If we coach smart we'll win it in 5 or 6

[clipperlover]

The series is going to come down to coaching. I'll take our top to bottom coaching staff over theirs.

I'll take our coaching staff with over 200+ games of playoff head coaching experience vs their 0.

[neshy]

I fully agree with you. But what I am seeing from Ty, doesn't leave to much space for trust. He's going to play Dunn with the starters and Norm will not get benched for Batum or Bogi even if he's shooting below 40% fg. He'll also have unlimited trust to Harden. But let's be optimistic for now

[MartinToVaught]

Kawhi only played 37 games, many of them under a minutes restriction.

Winning 50 games with this crew was a frigging miracle, somehow making the best of Ballmer's failed all-in gamble on 213. Ty deserves COY and L-Frank, of whom I'm NOT a fan, did brilliantly in deciding to keep team MVP Beard, bringing in Dunn, DJJ, and Batum, having Coffey [who filled in almost 2000 desperately needed minutes] at the ready and then scooping up Bogi while dumping the mostly useless T-Mann before his 3yr/$47M contract kicked in...and scoring THREE SRPs in the process!

The playoff performance is up to the players now. And we may get something out of Simmons yet.

I agree that this season's turned out to be very good, but it doesn't exist in a vacuum. The last few seasons before this were unwatchable, and our roster is still old and slow with limited longterm upside. It's 2025 and we haven't won a playoff series since 2021. If we can't capitalize on this year's better team by winning even one series, then we've clearly peaked with Frank/Lue and need to make a change. Can't keep blaming the players every year and not the people who acquire and coach them.

[Captain Ballmer]

This series will tell a ton about Zubac and his career arch. Lets go big Zu, avoid foul problem against jokic, stay big, stay strong, make him put full effort and grab the rebounds.

[clipperlover]

My biggest concern is Ty. We're not beating them with Dunn playing a lot of minutes. I know he's been hitting some wide open 3's lately but at the end of the day he's like 30% 3pt shooter. He's also small to guard Murray. Murray is struggling against big guards and Dunn is not that. We need to exploit their defense when Jokic, Murray and mpj are on the floor together. I am afraid we'll fall into trap by trying to expose Jokic in P&R and while he's not a good defender, most of he's weaknesses are exposed because of the other 2 who are the worst defenders on earth. By saying that we need to destroy them from 3pt line and we have much better shooters then them. Either Batum or Bogi will need to play more minutes with the starters than Dunn. With that change, one of the shooters will be open at all times and if I was a Nugget I would live with Dunn beating me from 3. Butum and Bogi are a different story. Also when it comes to Bogi, the more minutes he plays, more you get from him. He's not the type of player to play 15min and give you something. If we get into foul biting trap and exchanging 2's we'll lose this series. If we coach smart we'll win it in 5 or 6

Dunn will be fine vs Murray

Murray 6'4" 215
Dunn 6'3" 205 with a 6'9" wingspan

Pound for pound Dunn is probably stronger than Murray, so he can more than hold his own. Dunn will be on him and making him work. Dunn just needs to stay out of foul trouble. Dunn should get a little more leeway in the playoffs as the calls won't be as ticky tack.

[esqtvd]

Kawhi only played 37 games, many of them under a minutes restriction.

Winning 50 games with this crew was a frigging miracle, somehow making the best of Ballmer's failed all-in gamble on 213. Ty deserves COY and L-Frank, of whom I'm NOT a fan, did brilliantly in deciding to keep team MVP Beard, bringing in Dunn, DJJ, and Batum, having Coffey [who filled in almost 2000 desperately needed minutes] at the ready and then scooping up Bogi while dumping the mostly useless T-Mann before his 3yr/$47M contract kicked in...and scoring THREE SRPs in the process!

The playoff performance is up to the players now. And we may get something out of Simmons yet.

I agree that this season's turned out to be very good, but it doesn't exist in a vacuum. The last few seasons before this were unwatchable, and our roster is still old and slow with limited longterm upside. It's 2025 and we haven't won a playoff series since 2021. If we can't capitalize on this year's better team by winning even one series, then we've clearly peaked with Frank/Lue and need to make a change. Can't keep blaming the players every year and not the people who acquire and coach them.

Same thing over and over about Ty and Frank. But if you expected nothing out of the season (I admit I didn't), it's illogical to have expectations out of the playoffs. It’s the same team except for Frank having the good sense to ditch the dead weight at the bottom of the roster like Bamba and Terance "The Future" Mann.

$49 million a year. Like any year of the 213 Era, and every team in the NBA for the last 4 decades, we'll go as far as our megamax superstar Kawhi takes us. It's on HIS head and well he knows it.

Yo, enjoy the ride.

[Roscoe Sheed]

My biggest concern is Ty. We're not beating them with Dunn playing a lot of minutes. I know he's been hitting some wide open 3's lately but at the end of the day he's like 30% 3pt shooter. He's also small to guard Murray. Murray is struggling against big guards and Dunn is not that. We need to exploit their defense when Jokic, Murray and mpj are on the floor together. I am afraid we'll fall into trap by trying to expose Jokic in P&R and while he's not a good defender, most of he's weaknesses are exposed because of the other 2 who are the worst defenders on earth. By saying that we need to destroy them from 3pt line and we have much better shooters then them. Either Batum or Bogi will need to play more minutes with the starters than Dunn. With that change, one of the shooters will be open at all times and if I was a Nugget I would live with Dunn beating me from 3. Butum and Bogi are a different story. Also when it comes to Bogi, the more minutes he plays, more you get from him. He's not the type of player to play 15min and give you something. If we get into foul biting trap and exchanging 2's we'll lose this series. If we coach smart we'll win it in 5 or 6

Dunn will be fine vs Murray

Murray 6'4" 215
Dunn 6'3" 205 with a 6'9" wingspan

Pound for pound Dunn is probably stronger than Murray, so he can more than hold his own. Dunn will be on him and making him work. Dunn just needs to stay out of foul trouble. Dunn should get a little more leeway in the playoffs as the calls won't be as ticky tack.

Dunn is a great defender, but as clipperlover stated, Murray seems to be more effected by bigger defenders- they may try throwing Jones or Kawhi on him periodically- make him shoot over length

[KL2]

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[jengmann3]

I hate how much credit the Clips are getting. It sounds like classic media tendency to build a team up just to tear them down. This is still a series vs the best player in basketball, in altitude, without home court advantage. Denver also has a lot of solid players. So I will be disappointed if it doesn't go the clippers way but it is understandable. I think the matchups are key, like MPJ and Murray. It seems like we have way better matchups for Murray than we did 6 years ago. Kris Dunn just seems like perfect for defending these type of guards. DJJ and Batum seem like pretty good pieces as well. Also, if Norm is locked in, and DJJ are locked in, they should be able to atleast slow down MPJ. Joker is just going to do Joker stuff, but Zu is going to try. Offensively I'm interested to see if James Harden tries to just go after certain matchups.

[esqtvd]

I hate how much credit the Clips are getting. It sounds like classic media tendency to build a team up just to tear them down. This is still a series vs the best player in basketball, in altitude, without home court advantage. Denver also has a lot of solid players. So I will be disappointed if it doesn't go the clippers way but it is understandable. I think the matchups are key, like MPJ and Murray. It seems like we have way better matchups for Murray than we did 6 years ago. Kris Dunn just seems like perfect for defending these type of guards. DJJ and Batum seem like pretty good pieces as well. Also, if Norm is locked in, and DJJ are locked in, they should be able to atleast slow down MPJ. Joker is just going to do Joker stuff, but Zu is going to try. Offensively I'm interested to see if James Harden tries to just go after certain matchups.

By all accounts, the best 1st-round matchup. And it's on NBA-TV. Law Murray is like, WTF?

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As for how much credit the Clippers are getting...NOT MUCH!


Because NBA ratings are about the stars, not the basketball. But this series IS exciting and should be the best first round series.

[MartinToVaught]

It's not even about the stars anymore. Otherwise they'd be heavily promoting a Jokic vs. Kawhi matchup. The league is 100% dependent on the Lakers, Warriors and Celtics now regardless of who's wearing the uniforms. They have no desire to promote anything else about the sport and wouldn't know how to even if they did.