2025 NBA PLAYOFFS West First Round: #4 Denver Nuggets vs #5 LA Clippers (DEN leads 1-0)

[Ssj16]

Jokic homers seem to be having an existential crisis.

A. They are listing how good Jamal Murray, Braun, Gordon are etc.. and how the Clippers have no clear matchup advantages really.

B. After arguing all season that Jokic was carrying scrubs and the corpse of Murray.

Obviously both things cannot be true. Either Jokic did a carry job, or the Nuggets are a very good team period. Because the Clips aren’t a one man show. IF the Jokic homers are right that it’s only Jokic, Denver will lose in 5. Reality? Denver has several very good role players and it goes to 6-7 for me.

Both are kind of true though. Murray is a fringe 2nd option during the reg season but lets not forget that he becomes a top 5-10 caliber player every post season. Check the numbers. They back it up. Denver has the players to compete in the post season.

Problem is it won't be enough. The league has caught up a long time ago. Kawhi cancels out whatever Murray does for Denver and as great as much as people want to say Joker carries the Nuggets, he isn't on that GOAT tier where he can carry a team in the playoffs. He can only do that in the regular saeson. Joker has never put the Nuggets on his back in the playoffs ala Lebron. He's been great in all the series' he's won but so has Murray. He has never had to win a series by himself. Go look at how Denver has done without Murray in the playoffs. Jokic gets cooked. Hell, Rudy Gobert looked like a mini Hakeem in the close out game vs Joker. Denver is just a flawed team from top to bottom.

Bottom line - Clippers in 6, if we see Kawhi stay healthy.

I think this narrative that Jokic can't carry a team by himself is a little ridiculous. Jokic has shown that he's pretty much a team by himself. Jokic did all he could do in that Minny series where they threw 3 bodies at him. Also look at what Jokic did in the Olympics. Lebron has to assemble the Avengers + Embiid just to get past Serbia. You take Jokic off that team and it probably loses by 40.

[PeteyPablo]

People keep saying if Kawhi is healthy

What if Jokic gets hurt or any Nuggets players.

Injuries are possible for both teams.

[Astaluego]

Jokic is a legendary-level offensive dynamo, but he remains a poor fit in today's NBA. A center who is a defensive liability (or relatively easy to exploit) is a huge handicap, detracting from his overall impact. I think the Clippers win this in 6.

[TravisScott55]

If the Nuggets lose this series my prediction is they aggressively pursue Durant

[BelgradeNugget]

Jokic is a legendary-level offensive dynamo, but he remains a poor fit in today's NBA. A center who is a defensive liability (or relatively easy to exploit) is a huge handicap, detracting from his overall impact. I think the Clippers win this in 6.

As we saw in 2023

[soxperry]

In terms of quality, this is PO-2025's 1st round best series!

Zubac and Powell improved significantly this season from out of the TOP100 to around TOP50 players, while finally healthy Leonard is back into all-star shape right in time this spring, and Harden didn't decline at all at 35y. The mystery is the Clippers' bench, nobody knows what to expect from Bogdanovic and Simmons.

Denver's late coach-change shock therapy works so far, 3-time MVP Jokic has a career-best season, while Braun improved significantly. The mystery is Jamal Murray's health, who, when healthy, is an all-star level player.

Lol


Its not even close to Luka/Lebron vs Ant

Its a nice runner up

[Bergmaniac]

If Kawhi stays mostly healthy throughout the series (a huge if, of course) I just don't see how the Nuggets can win this. As amazing as Jokic is, the Nuggets defence just isn't good enough to beat a top defensive team with plenty of firepower of its own. The Clippers are oen of the best equipped teams to keep Denver's offense relatively in check - Zubac is a very good Jokic defender, they can put Dunn on Murray and also Kawhi on some possessions and they have some solid bench defenders too. Of course Jokic will still get his and they should still have good offensive games, but with their poor D they need to be great consistently on that end to beat healthy Clippers. And Murray has had injury issues all year and looked nowhere near 100% the last time I watched him (the Memphis game).

[PeteyPablo]

Lakers , Nuggets , Clippers all finished the season with a record of 50-32

Clippers played the first 43 games of the season with out Kawhi. Then when Kawhi came back , he was on minutes restriction ( 24 minutes per game) for about 15 games. Then Clippers at the trade deadline let go of :

Mo Bamba
KPJ
Terrance Mann
Bones Hyland
Kai Jones

And brought in Brogdan Bogdanovich , Ben Simmons, Patty Mills and Drew Eubanks ( veteran players )

Clippers went 17 - 3 in their last 20 games of the season and won 9 in a row to finish the season.


QUESTION : Could the Lakers and Nuggets reach a record of 50 - 32 if Jokic or Lebron missed 43 games ?

[BelgradeNugget]

Lakers , Nuggets , Clippers all finished the season with a record of 50-32

Clippers played the first 43 games of the season with out Kawhi. Then when Kawhi came back , he was on minutes restriction ( 24 minutes per game) for about 15 games. Then Clippers at the trade deadline let go of :

Mo Bamba
KPJ
Terrance Mann
Bones Hyland
Kai Jones

And brought in Brogdan Bogdanovich , Ben Simmons, Patty Mills and Drew Eubanks ( veteran players )

Clippers went 17 - 3 in their last 20 games of the season and won 9 in a row to finish the season.


QUESTION : Could the Lakers and Nuggets reach a record of 50 - 32 if Jokic or Lebron missed 43 games ?

Good point, but Nuggets are much more dependable on Jokic as their playmaker, best scorrer, rebounder...than Clippers are on Kawhi. Harden doesn't need Kawhi to be this good. Kawhi doesn't need Harden to be this good. But the level Murray reaches WITH Jokic is pretty high. In 2020 playoffs against clipps Murray WITH Jokic was as good as Kawhi and better than PG13. In 2023 WCF Murray WITH Jokic was as good as Jokic or LeBron and way better than AD. And this is the fact with all Nuggets starters. Without Jokic they are meh. WITH Jokic (and without Malone) they are different players.

Of courese clipps are great team on great run, but I keep repeatin, Nuggets are not the team with Malone and bad vibes any more. Some posters said they are hot mess. I will say they were hot mess. They are free now. They will play hard now. They were 21st in D this year. They were 8th with almost the same team last year. Why? They gave up on their coach. Malone would have been fired 2 years ago if he didn't win. Why? Bad chemistry. He lost his locker room. They didn't play hard. Thay are now. People should not underrate them. Or maybe should, it is good place to be underdog sometimes.

[Exp0sed]

Clippers in 6

Kawhi has been playing and bringing it too..no1 expects Spurs Kawhi but looks like Toronto Kawhi is back

Murray was rushed back to shake some rust off in the final game (knowing he'd have an extra week of rest if they win) but he isn't in game shape or form yet (he was awful vs. the Rockets)

Zubac is insanely underrated and no1 is better than Harden at unlocking a player like Zubac as a roll man or in the Dunker's spot and their chemistry and 2 man game numbers have been off the charts since KL is back

If Jokic is high on the screen he can't recover in time to stop the lob, he's great at cutting off the angles and picking off the pocket pass but Harden is a master lobber and can forego the pocket pass entirely and use Zubac's length and mobility as a lob target

Off switches, with Jokic out on the perimeter there's no1 to keep Zubac (the best offensive rebounder in the NBA) off the offensive glass, Nuggets will have to sell out on boxing him out and leave open shooters

Nuggets haven't looked right all year, Lue is going to run circles around Adelman and their horrid bench situation would mean Jokic is going to have to play absurd (like 40) mpg in this seriea for them to come out on top

They're not gonna put this kind of strain on Jokic just to win a first rd. series in a year they're not gonna win it all anyway


With that said, i wouldn't be shocked to see this series develop differently:

Personally i'm long of the mind that Malone was awful and useless. it does seem as tho the team kinda quit on him, evidenced by Kroenke's decision surprising timing (firing a hc and a gm a week before the playoffs) but also by just how bad the Nuggets defense was this season, despite having largely the same and\or comparable roster to the one that played much better D and even elite D in the playoffs, just two years prior

In the 3 games post-Malone (no pun intended) their defense was much improved both statistically and by the eye test

If we have that version of the Nuggets defense back, it might be a different story

As good as the Clippers have been on D, the Jokic led Nuggets are still an offensive jugernaut and the Clippers don't have the personnel to really slow them down. If Nuggets defense is "back", it should be enough to hold back the Clippers unless Norm and Harden really light it up, both will get alot of open looks in this series

Clippers also have bench issues of their own, Zubac has been their best "net" player all year (by the numbers) and since the ASB he's argubaly been the 3rd or 4th best Center in the league, they're a much worse team when he's off the floor and he doesn't have a competent backup

if Jokic can get him in foul trouble, Clippers don't really have anyone at Center besides Zu (much like the Nuggets with Jokic)


Lastly and part of the reason why I think this series could potentially go either way and also probably the closest and most interesting series of the first Rd in the West is that the Clippers do have some matchup issues as 1-4 they don't have anyone who can match up with Gordon in the paint and this version of AG who can consistently knock down 3 pt. shots, means sagging off or leaving him open are just not viable anymore

Offensively, with both AG and Jokic shooting so well from deep (and willing to shoot), this team is actually better than the title team, even Braun is at this point clearly a better offensive player (in his role) than KCP. Thus, if the Nuggets are firing on all cylnders offensively - it's hard to imagine the Clippers can keep up

I'm a Jokic Stan so my heart says Nuggets in 7 but my gut says Clippers in 6


I view this Clipper team when healthy as having a legit big 3 in Kawhi,Harden and Zubac. For the Nuggets to beat them, at least two of Murray\AG\MPJ or Braun have to join Jokic to form a big 3 of their own

[cocktailswith_2short]

Clips got this .

[Scoundreldays]

So many factors on both teams can swing this series. Is Kawhi going to remain healthy or is Murray going to unlock his playoff form?

[TheFire]

Based on this poll and general media reaction, Clippers are pretty big favorites here.

[JM00n69]

Clippers in 6. Harden knows how to pick them apart particularly on Jokic. He has Zu as a lob threat offensively. Dunn will wreak havoc on Murray but they also have a long defender with Jones and overall a great defensive team. This is assuming the team stays healthy of course.

Let's see. From our side I think Braun and Watson will be more than enough to give Harden trouble. Should be a good series this. Lets hope for a consistant whistle and healty lineups for both teams.

[JM00n69]

Based on this poll and general media reaction, Clippers are pretty big favorites here.

Standard for Denver fans. We were underdogs every game agains LAL in the Conference Finals where we went 4-0.

[at87on]

Jokic is a legendary-level offensive dynamo, but he remains a poor fit in today's NBA. A center who is a defensive liability (or relatively easy to exploit) is a huge handicap, detracting from his overall impact. I think the Clippers win this in 6.

He's like Steph Curry. His impact "gravity" on the offensive is so much greater than the weakness on the defensive end.

Having said that if Kawhi, Harden and Zubac play like they've been playing down the stretch and MPJ and Murray play like they've played all season, it will be too high a mountain for Jokic to overcome on his own.

[at87on]

Based on this poll and general media reaction, Clippers are pretty big favorites here.

Barring health, it's Clippers (Kawhi's) series to lose.

[OkcSinceSGA]

Read on Twitter

I think this series is gonna come down to Harden TBH. Zu will contain Jokic in the paint and force him out to shoot jumpers, so Clippers will need to be sharp on rotations. Gordon will guard Kawhi well I’m sure.

The difference will be Harden and each team’s role players. If Harden vanishes Denver wins in 6. If Harden continues his recent play Clips in 6 or 7.

The guys like Braun, MPJ, Batum, DJ, Dunn, Bogi are gonna also make or break this series.

[JM00n69]

To all the non-Nuggets fans, this is the best version of Jokic we've seen. And the team is finally healthy (aside from Saric/Cancar/Holmes). Our 1-7 rotation has missed over 100 games total this season. This will be a great 1st round series.

[Woodsanity]

Jokic is a legendary-level offensive dynamo, but he remains a poor fit in today's NBA. A center who is a defensive liability (or relatively easy to exploit) is a huge handicap, detracting from his overall impact. I think the Clippers win this in 6.

He's not even close to even being the worst defender on his own team. Swap SGA with Jokic and the Thunder would still be a top 5 defensive team.