2025 NBA PLAYOFFS West First Round: #4 Denver Nuggets vs #5 LA Clippers (DEN WINS 4-3)

[uconn83]

Ty Lue spending the whole of the second part of the season and not figuring out Batum and Bogdanovic should be part of the main core coming into the playoffs is certainly something

[G R E Y]

Allez Nuggs lol

[G R E Y]

lol WHAT?!!! Spurs are tanking. You're getting another good pick. That's a win. This sucks for a neutral. Sheesh. Now I'm looking for tomorrow's games. Have to plan my dinner early so I can watch game 1 of Cavs-Indy

I love Pop.

Im happy he's ok health wise.

But this is a hard time of transition and i need a drown my sorrows boohoo night.

This game will do to lift spirits as I drown in them.

Yeah that's hard. He's not dead though. but after a stroke nobody ain't the same. I expected this move.

He tried so hard to come back to coaching, bless him. I'm happy Pop is well enough to do full on POBO duties and oversee us behind the scenes. Unmatched competitiveness FTW.

[Adelheid]

so who replaces Pops as full-time spurs hc?

[G R E Y]

Three kisses on the cheek is common in Eastern European cultures.

While Serbia is listed as southern east of Europe it’s far apart in their culture from true Eastern European Block Countries

Three kisses on the cheek , yes it was common in eastern communist block countries 30+ years ago, not so anymore

Eh communist block former or not it's a thing. Lots of Euro countries do it or bring it over with them.

It's a three cheek parade when my fam gets together.

[G R E Y]

so who replaces Pops as full-time spurs hc?

Mitch Johnson. Was interim HC while Pop was recovering. With Spurs since 2016. Now new HC. Pop POBO.

[Thaddy]

Jokic is going to get them to really rally now. Winning a game 7 in the playoffs against good competition gets teams hot in the playoffs. They're going to run over the Thunder in 5 games. I have a feeling Jokic will take that series personally because SGA is going to win the MVP.

[Revived]

Read on Twitter

[lambchop]

First time in my life I’ve felt bad for Kawhi. Get the man some help this game

Should have stayed in Toronto... he made his bed lol

This. Had an ideal setup there.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

Remember when Malone was fired because he wanted Westbrook?

if you do you rememeber it wrong, he was not fired because of that

[QPR]

Jokic is going to get them to really rally now. Winning a game 7 in the playoffs against good competition gets teams hot in the playoffs. They're going to run over the Thunder in 5 games. I have a feeling Jokic will take that series personally because SGA is going to win the MVP.

They have no chance. OKC is far too deep and talented.

[durden_tyler]

Jokic is going to get them to really rally now. Winning a game 7 in the playoffs against good competition gets teams hot in the playoffs. They're going to run over the Thunder in 5 games. I have a feeling Jokic will take that series personally because SGA is going to win the MVP.

i hope you bet on that with actual money if you really believe that. Denver series win pays 5x i believe.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Alatan]

Yes.

14 points on 13 shots, and easy to rack up assists when your role players are hitting their shots.

Jokic was not Jokic tonight, stop it. Nobody cares because his team is winning in blowout fashion. But if this was a close game, he'd be getting criticized right now.

He’s an amazing passer and he’s been getting open looks for his teammates. Also, players typically shoot poorly in game 7s.

Kobe had the 6-24 game where Paul Pierce shot 5-15 and Ray Allen was 3-14. Duncan had a 10-27 game in game 7 of the 2005 finals. In 2016 NBA Finals game 7 Lebron shot 9-24 and Curry shot 6-19.

lol I’m not saying he’s not great.

I’m saying we can stop with the narrative about his supporting cast, because they won them the game tonight with Jokic being pretty blah.

The Nuggets carried Jokic this game. They played great, props to them. But lets not kid our selves, historically theyve been pretty mid to bad. Especially compared to other championship rosters.

[Mrakar]

Hard day for eyetoma, chokic and SpurNani. Now they will wait for 68 win team with far superiro talent around their superstar to beat Denver to crawl back from the caves and undermine Jokic.

[kazyv]

In the first and partially second quarter, when nothing was really falling for the Nuggets, it felt like they were the most one dimensional team ever. Only thing that they are good at and can succeed at was attacking the rim. But the Clippers should know that and were obviously trying to stop that. Yet, the level of play of the Nuggets when it came to this very aspect is just that high. They want to score inside and they manage to break down your interior defense. It's like they always say, fear the man who studied one strike for a thousand hours

[Mrakar]

This will be my official breakdown, keys to the series and predictions.

Nuggets
Murray/Braun/Porter Jr./Gordon/Jokic
Westbrook/Pickett/Strawther/Watson/Jordan(Naji)

Clippers
Harden/Dunn/Powell/Leonard/Zubac
Bogdanovic/Coffey/Jones Jr./Batum/Simmons(Eubanks).


key matchups of the series:

Injuries: Murray(calf/hamstring), Gordon(calf), Leonard(knee), others?
Ofc injuries are always big part of every series, but here it is probably most likley to happen since there are 3 players with lingering injuries. Murray has calf/hamstring problems since championship run, Gordon has been hobbled whole year and didnt look near as explosive as he was. What to say about Kawhi, we were in situations when we are waiting for him to start, just to get a message he is not playing at all. I have to say he looks the best out of 3 in the momment but that can of course change in a second.

Zubac/Jokic faceoff:
We all know there is no stopping Jokic, but the question is, is the Zubac really the best guy to throw at Jokic in whole NBA? He is strong, he is smart, he rebounds well. How much can he really slow down Jokic? If they decide to let him play 1v1 and he gets Jokic to around 58-60 TS% i think its a win for Clippers since the other guys outside of Murray are not making it happen if they are not wide open. Ofc i still think Lue will send double teams of guys like Braun/Westbrook/Watson, but Zubac allows him to not do it all the time. For me more of the question is if Jokic can put him into foul trouble. Jokic usually doesnt get enough calls but i think if he flops a bit he could get it against Zu since he is also big guy and refs see it different then when smaller guys slapp or push him. Is this a Jokic flopper series? For the Nuggets sake i hope it is.

Leonard/Gordon faceoff:
Kawhi Leonard is a guy who, when healthy, is going to do his stuff. Be efficient, get to his spots, bully other guys, just simple be Kawhi Leonard. In this series he is facing probably a guy who is (also if healthy) best suited to guard Kawhi. Kawhi is not fast, but he is abnormaly strong for his size. Gordon can keep up with him but he is also strong as hell and i think he can give him some problems, in the same way Zu can give Jokic problems, not stop him, not slow him down, just bother him enough to be a little bit less efficient then usually. Kawhi is not the guy that hunts switches(or better to say get the switches) a lot, that is why i think we will see this matchup a lot. On the other side, biggest question is ofc if Gordon can hit his shots. He is having best shooting year of his career but is in shooting slump recently. His 3pt shot will be one of the colossal questions of the series.

Harden/Powell vs switches:
We can talk about Harden-Braun or Powell-Braun/Murray matchup but those 2 guys are excellent at hunting their preferred matchups, especially Harden. Can Murray and Porter Jr. stay alive on defense against those guys, and can Jokic avoid being pulled to 3pt line by Harden? Nuggets defense will have to be creative here, and i think Watson will have to play a lot in this series since he is only guy on the Nuggets that navigates around screens successfully. I know Adelman will try Westbrook a lot on those 2 guys(i will write about that later). Porter Jr. is huge, but Harden is to crafy and to fast for him, so that will be disaster for the Nuggets if they allow it to happen. Question is if Porter can at least bother Powell in this matchup since he will probably be on him to start. I really fear for the Nuggets on defense vs Harden/Powell and that is Clippers main advantage in this series.

Murray vs drop:
Zubac plays a lot in the drop by design. Question is if Murray can take advantage of that. Dunn is with Amen Thompson best guy in the NBA to navigate trough screens which will be a problem for not so fast, and potentialy hobbled Murray. Can he get enough seperation to get to the midrange, and can he hit his 3s of the dribble in case Dunn(or Jones jr.) sometimes goes under? In the whole series i think this is the biggets swing factor. If Murray cant be a 25ppg scorrer on solid efficiency, Nuggets are in big trouble.

Westbrook conundrum:
This guy really grinds my gears. He could be such a valuable asset for any team, if he would just dial down on some things. However we know he will not. Nuggets need him on defense in this series. He could be really valuable on Harden and Powell even though he is not great defender. Nuggets just dont have better options. Braun/Watson/Westbrook are their 3 guys to throw at those 2 in this series, and if Westbrook is so bad on offense that he cant be played, its a problem for the Nuggets. I think they need him 10-15 minutes a game, and during that time he needs to limit his braindead plays, especially turnovers and those bank shots. Clippers have a great coach and they know Westbrook, they will let him do whatever he wants since they know that is not efficient enough for playoff basketball. Can Westbrook be smart about it and tone it down, focus on defense?

other stuff:
I didnt focus other stuff, because i think they are less relevant in this series. Clippers have huge bench advantage. Porter Jr. has size advantage on whoever is guarding him but he cant use that since he cant create for himself. Clippers have coaching advantage, even though Lue can be a bit slow to start the series. However he is one of the best coaches in adjusting during the series. Adelman is new coach, and even though he gets praises all around the NBA, being first time HC in toss-up series is hard.


Nuggets keys to the win:
- Limit turnovers - they can be loose with the ball and that cant happen in this series
- hit open 3s - there will be a lot of them for Braun, Gordon and Watson especially
- Murray - this is his series, he needs to get advantage of his matchups. If they win, next series is not for him, OKC will kill him, but this has to be his series


Clippers keys to the win:
- limit Murray - Jokic will get his, rest of the guys outside of Murray are not serious threats. Can they stop Murray?
- hunting weaknesses - Nuggets have a lot of defenders to exploit. Harden and Powell have to be efficient in getting their stuff
- late game excecution - they had troubles in the past, and we know how good were the Nuggets in the clutch over last few years. Can Kawhi get to his spots, is this finally Hardens breaktrough series?

Nuggets have best player, not only in the series but in the world. However his supporting cast had his ups and downs over the years and we saw how it looked when they are up(2023) and when they are down 2024/2025. Home court is an advantage always but especially in the altitude that is why i think if it goes to 7, Nuggets should have it. However i think i will end earlier. Im picking Clippers in 6, mostly because of favourable matchups across the board, far deeper bench and more expirienced coach. I was rooting for the Nuggets whole season, but i just saw too much problems on both sides of the floor, from lack of shooting to atrocious decision making by some players on the offense, or slow feet and not giving everything on every posessions on the defensive end. Of course my predicion is based on the fact that everyone stays healthy. I hope it will be like that and we have a great series. Let the better team win!

This was my post before the series started, i always like to reflect on it later, some hits and misses here but i think i guessed the keys in the series.
I also said Clippers in 6 which was wrong but mention if it goes to 7 that Nuggets should win which they did.

Of the mentioned stuff, Clippers won in injuries(no injuries vs MPJ injury), Zubac/Jokic matchup did as well as you can expect it, Murray vs drop wasnt big deal.
Denver won in Gordon/Kawhi matchup IMO, Kawhi had huge game 2 but rest he was just ok, and gordon outside games 2 and 3 looked really good.
Harden and Powell vs switches didnt work for Clips as i thought it could. Westbrook had "giveth" series, was far better then anyone could expect.

With keys to the win i think the biggest standout was Clippers not hunting weaknesses enough. Harden not attacking the rim more is only on Lue IMO and not giving it to big Zu in the post vs smaller defenders is also crazy. Also Nuggets hit enough open 3s, especially Westbrook.

Really good series, sad that it ended with blowout, but happy that the Nuggets won.

[hardenASG13]

Quality win for Denver. Clippers were a solid team, but the amount they were over rated in this thread was funny. They had no shooting, size, or depth. I don't get where the notion that they had 2 stars (Harden started declining 4 years ago, Kawhi scores sometimes, isn't a playmaker and plays decent defense. It's safe to say playoff Kawhi is no longer a thing and hasn't been really ever aside from 2019). The notion they were loaded and deep wasn't true at all. They had no bench and a weak 5th starter. People here were pushing that LA had 7 of the best 10 players in the series right till the end haha. But it ended up being

Jokic
Kawhi
Gordon
Harden or Murray
Zubac
Braun
Westbrook
Porter
Powell

Now on to OKC. A team with 0 holes, depth and shooting everywhere. This is the matchup I wanted to see. If Denver wins, I'll give massive Kudos. Porter not being able to raise his left arm is definitely a concern, it looks like he can still shoot the 3 but not much else. Jokic will have to have a dominant series, with Gordon continuing his play and playoff Murray showing up at least 3 or 4 games.

[Hans1984]

Another terrible game by Harden when it matters the most. He just disappears.

[Wolfgang630]

It’s hard to understand Harden and why this happens so much in a game 7.

[KGDirkTD_Fan]

I won't trust the Clippers ever again. Until they win 4 games assume they won't.