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

[JM00n69]

Didn't watch the game but most of the players getting criticism were neutral to positive on plus-minus.

AMAZING feedback. Thank you, that over rides everything the rest of us saw.

[Exp0sed]

key takeaways from game 1:

- Nuggets forcing Harden to the left in first quarter
- Murray not going for that midranger vs Zubac in drop is strange to say the least
- Harden not dropping ball to Zubac when he has smaller player on him on multipple occasions, even though Zu had it this game
- Westbrook playing for both teams is thing that will happen, luckly for the nuggets he made the 3 and that stupid attack on the rim in the OT didnt cost them the game
- Ty Lue slow as always to start the series, good thing for Clips he is on of the vest to adjust
- Leonard need to shoot in 5 secs after recieving ball or he is in trouble
- Porter is usless if he is not hot. I thought he can at least help on the boards, but he was lazy tonight, good call by Adelman, but Nuggets cant win this without him, or better to say with Russ playing 35 mins
- Nuggets giving easy switches is such a bull strat, they are doing it even against fake screens?! More P-Wat minutes on Harden please
- Where were Norm and Bogi? I expected more of them. Bogi was non- existant



It was super interesting game. I think the Nuggets need to make games ugly in order to win.
Nuggets have to improve:
- no lazy switches
- dont let Harden go left
- Porter more effort on the glass
- Murray midrange vs drop

Clippers have to improve:
- give the ball to big fella when he has missmatch
- Leonard getting rid of the ball or shooting it faster
- more Harden/Zu PnR, it was BBQ chicken in the first
- defensive rebounding. They were great in first half, but bad at the end


I had Clips in 6, still staying with that prediction. As Nuggets fan, hope im wrong.

MPJ is useless indeed but they'e not cooked without him (or with him playing 20 mins off the bench) vs. the Clippers

They can start Watson at SF and they should

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[Butterfingers1]

Great defense by Westbrook and Aaron Gordon. Nuggets gonna need to play little over their heads on defense if MPJ isn’t a big factor, because he is such a big part of their offensive firepower. Even Murray had that big steal on Kawhi, which they might need more of that from him

[Gordon]

Feel like Clippers played pretty bad game, both in terms of taking care of the ball and boxing out, and still lose just by 2 points. Kawhi didnt look like himself in 2nd half, is he having some issue again?

[makubesu]

Fun game, love the defense. A few thoughts:

1) lousy fans for game one in Denver. Hopefully the real fans get in for game two, and make this feel like the playoffs.

2) Denver looked poorly coached at times, giving up wide open stuff. They will fix that now that they’ve seen it.

3) at one point the Clippers were running a Bogdonovic Simmons pick and roll to setup their offense. I don’t care that Harden is in foul trouble, that’s a disaster.

4) Clippers doubling Murray late was intriguing, I wonder if we see it more in game two.

[pepe1991]

Clippers had them on the ropes and choked. Especially that Kawhi TO.
This series will be brilliant for nba fans.

[Zvaart]

Was surprised Denver won. Clippers are the better overall team, they have so many offensive weapons vs that Denver mediocre defense. Still have them in 6, even if i want the Nuggets to advance.

[Tomhomes33]

I think Lue will have to shift from playing Zubac ONLY when Jokic is playing.
This game not only he did that, but left Zubac longer on the bench in 4th qtr while Jokic was playjng.
On the other hand in 2nd qtr he could keep Zubac in thegame for a few minutes while Jokic was on the bench and maybe use this advantage to score more. With both Jokic and Zubac on the bench Nuggets outscored Clippers 13-2 in the last 5min of the qtr.
I also noticed during time-outs, Jokic was holding the board and drawing smthng, talking to his teammates.
It seems he and Adelman outcoached Lue last night.

[JShuttlesworth]

Anyone else worried that the heavy minutes Kawhi has been playing might catch up to him?

From an outsiders perspective, it looks like the Clippers did a good job of managing Kawhi's minutes throughout the season. I haven't heard any rumblings about knee issues this year heading into the playoffs, but I have noticed Kawhi's minutes have been pretty heavy the last 4 games.

38 minutes against the Rockets, 42 mins vs the Kings, 47 mins against the Warriors, and 41 last night against Denver

How long can Leonard keep that up?

[hardenASG13]

Was surprised Denver won. Clippers are the better overall team, they have so many offensive weapons vs that Denver mediocre defense. Still have them in 6, even if i want the Nuggets to advance.

So many offensive weapons? They have a declined James Harden, declined Kawhi, Zubac and Norman Powell, who hasn't been good at all since returning from injury. Are you saying Kris Dunn, Derek Jones, Ben Simmons, Batum and Bogdan are weapons? I keep seeing this, but keep being confused.

[nomansland]

Fun game, love the defense. A few thoughts:

1) lousy fans for game one in Denver. Hopefully the real fans get in for game two, and make this feel like the playoffs.

2) Denver looked poorly coached at times, giving up wide open stuff. They will fix that now that they’ve seen it.

3) at one point the Clippers were running a Bogdonovic Simmons pick and roll to setup their offense. I don’t care that Harden is in foul trouble, that’s a disaster.

4) Clippers doubling Murray late was intriguing, I wonder if we see it more in game two.

Regarding point 1, a local podcaster was there and said the arena was incredible. Best all year. So I dunno what you expect.

Regarding point 2, I'm curious why. Examples?

[Wolfgang630]

Feel like Clippers played pretty bad game, both in terms of taking care of the ball and boxing out, and still lose just by 2 points. Kawhi didnt look like himself in 2nd half, is he having some issue again?

MPJ and Jamal Murray played a pretty bad game and still won. Denver should feel good.

[rolling_91]

I like the Clippers here in 6. I think they’re the better team.

Clips are a serious contender to me. They executed their plan to rest Kawhi until late in the season and if he stays healthy, they have all the necessary parts to make a run. That includes a great coaching staff. Amazing how they turned their fortunes around in 1 season.

[psimanic1]

Denver never plays well these early games at home, so tbh it was weird seeing them win, maybe I am wrong, but I can't remember last good game they played around this time, at home...

[tsherkin]

MPJ and Jamal Murray played a pretty bad game and still won. Denver should feel good.

Clippers had 20 turnovers, 7 of them from Kawhi who, despite shooting 60% from the field, looked pretty rough. Powell looked like crap. I'd bet that the Clips look better in game 2, so I wouldn't be relaxing just yet.

Denver dug deep for this one, and four of their starters played 45+ minutes. They're going to need MPJ to not be a ghost in this eventually.

Looks like it's gonna be a dogfight of a series to me.

[KL2]

Anyone else worried that the heavy minutes Kawhi has been playing might catch up to him?

From an outsiders perspective, it looks like the Clippers did a good job of managing Kawhi's minutes throughout the season. I haven't heard any rumblings about knee issues this year heading into the playoffs, but I have noticed Kawhi's minutes have been pretty heavy the last 4 games.

38 minutes against the Rockets, 42 mins vs the Kings, 47 mins against the Warriors, and 41 last night against Denver

How long can Leonard keep that up?

He looks healthy so that’s a plus. But having him play that many minutes is asking for trouble. Especially since two of those games he played the entire 4th/OT without a rest. He’s gassed and making sloppy turnovers or hitting the front of the rim on his shots.

What other options does Lue have though? Powell and Bogi are wetting the bed. Coffey hasn’t been much better. Dunn is all ready playing enough minutes. DJJ? Batum? Simmons?

Until Powell and Bogi wake up and provide something they’ll have to run with Leonard and hope his knees don’t give out.

[Wolfgang630]

Didn’t that one player on the clippers hit Jokic in the nuts and people are saying he flopped?

[davidfr94]

Still don't understand what the clippers did at the trade deadline.

They lost athletism, playmaking, defense, depth... Went frome kpj, Terrence mann, bamba to eubanks, bogdanovic, Simmons ? Very weird from a usually smart franchise

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[og15]

Didn't watch the game but most of the players getting criticism were neutral to positive on plus-minus.

AMAZING feedback. Thank you, that over rides everything the rest of us saw.

Yea, on the Clippers side, maybe, just maybe those lineups (since it's not 1v1 and your +/- is it just you) could have been even MORE positive if Kawhi (-2) didn't have 7 turnovers and Powell (0) didn't have 4 turnovers with at least half just being unforced or sloppy play.

[_NoMas]

One things for sure. OKC are going to have a huge rest advantage and will be hoping these two have a 7 game slugfest