2025 NBA PLAYOFFS West First Round: #4 Denver Nuggets vs #5 LA Clippers (Series tied 1-1)

[TimberKat]

I really like Adelman. He gets it.

No meltdown tonight. If this was Malone he would have totally flipped out postgame.

Watch on YouTube

Yes, I was impressed with the tone, steadiness and professionalism of Adelman, especially considering he is a rookie coach that was just thrown in to the playoff fire.

Yes, he seems to be ready to take on a head coach job.

[bbms]

I know the Thunder will play like a Tesla Plaid fully charged and will play at 100%. They play all out for majority of the 48 minutes. ( youth on their side )

I feel they had a chip on their shoulder this season after being eliminated in the playoffs last year 2023-2024 season.
We will just have to see how things plat out.



Starters :

Shai - Kawhi who is the better player right now ?

J williams - J Harden ?

Holmgren - Zubac ?

L. Dort - Norman Powell ?

I. hartenstein - Dunn or DJJ ( Ty Lue will start who ever he choses )


BENCH :

Clippers : Nic Batum , Brogdan , Ben Simmons, Derrick Jones Jr , Amir Coffey

Thunder : Jay Williams , A. Wiggins , A. Caruso , K. Williams ( I really dont know who their bench will be )

bench is in order of utilization cason wallace, wiggins, joe and caruso. jwill, kenrich, ajayi compete for the 10th role.

against kawhi i suspect caruso would see heavier utilization. caruso would probably be the best fit vs kawhi on the roster.

[MrPainfulTruth]

Healthy Peak Kawhi > KD btw

Nah. And the urge to constantly rank everyone is really pathologic.

Prime KD, prime Kawhi are a joy to watch. Dunno why there always have to be arguments over who is "the best" or "x better than y".

Found the KD fanboy

Actually Kawhi spurs jersey one of the few i have. Pretty dumb comment but thank oyu for coming out.

[TheShow2021]

Adelman seems like a real basketball coach with legit IQ. Mike Malone was more of a personality manager with low IQ.

[og15]

Feel like if Dunn could just make a wide open 3 the Clips would be legit contenders.
Love his defense but it’s 4 vs 5 on offense when he’s on the floor. Dude can’t do anything but make uncontested layups lol

Im not the best at digging this stuff up but I think he’s actually been solid from the 3 lately. I think I heard from the announcer hes been shooting over 40% in the last 2 months or so while the Clips have been on that good run.

I just checked his last 5 games and he’s been 7 for 17 from 3, so 41%. Now this is on pretty low volume and when he shoots, you can probably count to 5 mississippi before any defender gets to him lol, but still, if he can keep hitting 40% ish throughout the playoffs, that’s a HUGE win for the Clips.

You know that moment when Westbrook fires off a 3 and you make that yeesh face like you know there’s no way its going in and its a bad shot but theres a small part of you thats just like - maybe this is the one? Well I kinda get that everytime Dunn shoots but at a much less stressful lvl… if that makes sense

He's definitely the dare him to shoot guy.

I think there a stat cited from game 1 that he had the furthest average closest defender on his 3PT shots in the league.

[TinmanZBoy]

We used to see Nuggets routinely winning in mile high city with authority… this season is different, seems every win has been a drag… I have a feeling they are going to lose big in next two away games

[Wolfgang630]

This series was predicted to go long and the only way that happens is with it coming back to Denver 2-2.

[Cubbies2120]

I'm sorry, but, you forgot the 7 turnovers and inability/unwillingness to take shots down the stretch (and really all game). Westbrook almost bailed them out, again. 16 FG attempts just isn't nearly enough. He had lots of opportunities to lower his head and get into the lane and shoot. This has been a knock I've consistently had against him, for when he's up against a good team in the playoffs. He's gotta take over and show he can create shots outside of slipping the pnr or popping after a screen/hand-off. Last night he forced passes a bunch when he could've shot, and turnovers were an issue as a result. These players he's playing with are supposedly trash, so go off script and make a play scoring if you're "the best player in the league". Thats what it takes in close playoff games/series, and what separates great players. It's no BPM, DRAPM, the LEBRON formula or any of that. He was too passive as a scorer last night, but got his triple double because their whole passing system runs through him. At no point has it felt like Jokic is dominating in this series yet, despite his numbers.

The flopping has to embarrassing for the crew who's adamantly stated he doesn't flop for years as well.

that or show up for the offensive board

He's often standing at the top of the key/not in position to to use his size on the offensive boards.

He's also choked at the FT line in both games, which would get talked about for say, a LeBron James. But he had a TrIpLe DoUbLe haha and I'm sure some great EPM RAPM efficiency percentage. I recently pointed out his shot diet contributes to his percentages, and that he'll need to show he can improvise outside of the looks he likes to shoot. Last night was a prime example of what I was talking about, and this was only game 2. It gets harder and more important for superstars to be able to create their shot out of nothing as a playoff series goes on when facing a good team. Unless his/Denvers plan is for Westbrook to carry them down the stretch.

Unusually bad game from Jokic
- FT line clanks
- Unforced turnovers

I think the Clippers threw him off with their sending the weak side help defender as soon as he'd put the ball down to drive. A few different possessions that ended up in turnovers / bad shots occurred when:
1. Jokic begins dribbling and driving to paint
2. Defender gives him one side, and shades him to help defense
3. Defender from opposite side of court starts running to paint, anticipating his spin move (think it was Dunn who forced him into a bad pass anticipating his spin)

I can't see Jokic playing much worse than he did in game 2, despite the 'numbers showing he had a good game'. It was a C- Jokic game at best.

[HardenGoat]

The overreaction takes on this forum after both game one and two are hilarious. Both games ended as one possession games. It truly could not be any closer. Somebody asked Joker after the game how frustrating it is to go to LA 1-1 instead of up 2-0, and he rightly said they could easily be 0-2, that’s how close these games have been. He also said this is the best basketball being played right now.

There isn’t any truth to takes like “The nuggets can’t X, so the clippers will win.” Or “The clippers aren’t able to Y, so the nuggets will win.” The entire series could come down to one or two made shots in either direction. Both teams look like the 2nd and 3rd best teams in the west to me. It’s a heavyweight fight and both teams are throwing haymakers.

I think the main issue I see is the games should not have been that close. There's a 21 free throw disparity already after 2 games just to start. I also counted 4 flops game 1 then 3 flops game 2 by Jokic which he got the positive whistle for. The first game second quarter that took the momentum away, its worse than a turnover because the player penalized gets a foul tacked on and it changes the defensive mindset. They want to stay on the floor. If the refs just stop that bulshiz then the Nuggets will have to play fairly to win.

[og15]

Read on Twitter

?s=19

Casual fan sitting at home who has never dealt with consistent multiple sports injuries: He just like doesn't want to play basketball man, and is just trying to find any way to avoid it

Btw, I told you guys Norm is a beast in game 1, thought I was kidding:

Read on Twitter

?s=19

[PeteyPablo]

Read on Twitter

?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1914566363588464968%7Ctwgr%5E255ab5be4d13adc274b093f5ab3111c4c56cb929%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fforums.realgm.com%2Fboards%2Fviewtopic.php%3Ft%3D2454409start%3D80

[Mrakar]

What i realised today is that Kawhi is only player i can see cooking my team and be fine with it. Guy doesnt flop, doesnt bait for fouls, he just plays his game. Only thing that i dont like about his game is creation for others. Nuggets let him cook Murray and get hot, later they did better job but it was too late, he was hot as surface of the sun.

[OkcSinceSGA]

Read on Twitter

[scrabbarista]

Counting free throws is baby stuff, so I'm not referring to that, but, aside from that, I was a bit extreme in my rhetoric for Game 2. It honestly wasn't even that rigged too much completely. I would do things very differently in retrospect. This series is on track to be probably the best First Round matchup I've ever watched. Great stuff. Hopefully it continues going forward.

[Twizlers]

Jokic had a bad game for his standards, Kawhi went into god mode, and Nuggets just get killed with turnovers. Despite that they lost by 1 possession .. you will take that all day as a Nuggets fan.

Not coming at you, but I see these kinds of posts a lot and think does it really matter? Like has the next game ever been influenced because the previous game happened like that? What if next game Harden goes god mode and Kawhi plays great? I think any time you lose, saying the other team played great but you played below your standards is a cop out

I agree with you actually. And I predicted from the start that Clippers would take this in 5, maybe 6, and still stand by that prediction despite Nuggets winning game 1. LAC just looks like a better team and although Nuggets have surprised with their defense, they just don't match up.

[hardenASG13]

that or show up for the offensive board

He's often standing at the top of the key/not in position to to use his size on the offensive boards.

He's also choked at the FT line in both games, which would get talked about for say, a LeBron James. But he had a TrIpLe DoUbLe haha and I'm sure some great EPM RAPM efficiency percentage. I recently pointed out his shot diet contributes to his percentages, and that he'll need to show he can improvise outside of the looks he likes to shoot. Last night was a prime example of what I was talking about, and this was only game 2. It gets harder and more important for superstars to be able to create their shot out of nothing as a playoff series goes on when facing a good team. Unless his/Denvers plan is for Westbrook to carry them down the stretch.

Unusually bad game from Jokic
- FT line clanks
- Unforced turnovers

I think the Clippers threw him off with their sending the weak side help defender as soon as he'd put the ball down to drive. A few different possessions that ended up in turnovers / bad shots occurred when:
1. Jokic begins dribbling and driving to paint
2. Defender gives him one side, and shades him to help defense
3. Defender from opposite side of court starts running to paint, anticipating his spin move (think it was Dunn who forced him into a bad pass anticipating his spin)

I can't see Jokic playing much worse than he did in game 2, despite the 'numbers showing he had a good game'. It was a C- Jokic game at best.

Agreed, lots of pressure on him to deliver a W in game 3 or 4. He's gotta show more takeover ability and ability to function outside of the pocket pass on PnR or the return pass out of a handoff/screen. That stuff plays great into efficiency ranking systems but falls short in a playoff series, as you know I've been harping on for years with Jokic. This isn't the 23 suns, Lakers or Heat they are playing. He's gonna need more than just making the right play over and over. Get into the paint and shoot, or start on the block more instead of the top of the key. For the record, I think he could dominate if he played on the block the majority of the time. His assist numbers would go down though.

[SpurNani]

I picked Nuggets in 6 but the way the first two games have gone, I wouldn't be surprised if this is the opposite way, Clippers in 6.

What happens when Norman Powell, who has been a Denver killer, actually starts to shoot well from outside? Harden was great in game 1, Kawhi in game 2 but what happens when you get the game when they're both great together? What happens when Clippers actually get some scoring off their bench? What happens when Westbrook inevitably has his bad game?

The only major difference i can see for Denver would be if Jokic stops trying to be cute with his fancy passing and says I have score 40 tonight. Aaron Gordon has been good, Murray has been good. MPJ was good in their last game. Westbrook hasn't self-destructed yet and been amazing for 1st two games. It's just nor many more cards Denver can throw except Jokic being more aggressive.

[The High Cyde]

Jokic looking like 2015 Finals LeBron, doing everything he can, with them 80s shorts and all lol

[PeteyPablo]

Game 2 team stats

Clippers. Nuggets
FG 41-85 37-79
Field Goal % 48.2 46.8
3PT 13-34 14-32
Three Point % 38.2 43.8
FT 10-12 14-22
Free Throw % 83.3 63.6
Rebounds 32 50
Offensive Rebounds 7 15
Defensive Rebounds 25 35
Assists 24 23
Steals 13 8
Blocks 5 1
Total Turnovers 11 20
Points Conceded Off Turnovers 12 21
Fast Break Points 18 14
Points in Paint 46 38
Fouls 19 14
Technical Fouls 2 1
Flagrant Fouls 0 0
Largest Lead 7 8

[FuShengTHEGreat]

Jokic is clearly an All time great Center, but thinking back to the Jokic vs Hakeem thread this series is yet another reason i can never put him above Dream or be overrawed by his offensive prowess like others on RealGM are.

His counterpart Zubac is almost putting up 20 ppg on 60+ % FG so far.

And no not all these baskets by Zubac are being scored against him, but in the few instances Zubac hasnt had any trouble scoring against Jokic. id like to see a greater degree of separation statistic wise and being able to limit Zubac's effectiveness.

Dream during his b2b title runs was making it a absolute nightmare for All time great Centers like Ewing and Robinson on the offensive end of the floor. Not even factoring in what he did on offense vs them....

And Hakeem averaged 27 in the finals, alongside his GOATed defense.

It's like comparing Magic to MJ (yes i know they play different roles). Yes Magic was a offensive GOAT tier dynamo but I just can't count on him to lock anyone up if need be or make the big game changing defensive play like Michael could while simultaneously killing teams offensively.

Jokic could get his offensively in any era but I shudder to think of him in the 90s defensively against the myriad of HOF Cs in a playoff series in that decade if he's not able to limit Zubac more effectively.