LOS ANGELES — Not many, if any, coaches would welcome the defending NBA champions, along with their two-time league MVP, to their arena. Yet, Clippers coach Tyronn Lue did just that before Thursday night’s game against the Denver Nuggets.
“Anytime you get a chance to play against the champs, you got to be up for that,” Lue said. “And Joker (Nikola Jokic), who’s a tough cover, is a great player. I love watching him play.”
Lue might not have been feeling the same early on as the Clippers, playing without Kawhi Leonard, struggled to contain the Nuggets and fell behind by 17 points in the first half.
But behind a solid defensive effort in the second half and playing with the kind of energy not seen lately in Crypto.com Arena they held on for a 102-100 victory, overcoming a 36-point triple-double from Jokic to end a five-game home losing streak.
But it wasn’t easy.
After Jokic hit a 3-pointer to get Denver within 102-100 with 1:46 left in the game, Zubac missed a layup. The Clippers got the ball back when Aaron Gordon lost the ball out of bounds with 33.1 seconds remaining, giving them a shot at padding their lead.
James Harden’s 3-point attempt, however, fell short, giving the ball back to the Nuggets with five seconds left. Jokic then threw up a last-second 3-point shot that fell short as time expired.
The Nuggets began to chip away at an 11-point third-quarter deficit, eventually pulling to within two 94-92 on a 3-pointer by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope with 3:51 left to play. Denver further closed the gap to 98-97 on free throws by Jokic with 1:46 left.
But the Nuggets (53-24) couldn’t complete the comeback.
Leonard missed his second consecutive game and eighth this season, because of right knee soreness and his status for Friday’s game against the Utah Jazz was yet to be determined.
Sitting Leonard, who has had surgery on the knee in 2021, could be a precautionary move considering Thursday’s game was the start of a five-in-seven run. The All-Star wing has played 68 games this season, the most he’s played since his 2016-17 All-Star season,
While the Clippers missed Leonard’s team-leading 23.7 points per game in Tuesday’s loss to the Sacramento Kings, Thursday was a different story.
They had four players in double figures, led by Paul George, who had 28 points and four rebounds. Harden finished with 20 points on 6-for-23 shooting (2 for 13 from 3-point range) to go with eight assists and six rebounds. Russell Westbrook added 12 points and six assists, while Zubac had 14 points and 15 rebounds.
Norman Powell added 11 points.
Denver is a team the Clippers have had trouble with, having lost two of the first three meetings this season. And that certainly was the case early as the Clippers failed to find an offensive groove in the first 12 minutes.
Whatever Lue told them between quarters seemed to shake them out of their malaise as Powell, Westbrook and Amir Coffey got the Clippers back into the game with a 8-0 run to pull within 31-30 with 9:53 left in the first half.
The Clippers’ bench outscored the Nuggets’ bench 21-0 in the first half and 34-9 for the game.
Then Harden got hot, ending the hand-wringing about his recent lack of scoring. He buried a 3-pointer and then scored a 3-point play to give the Clippers a 40-37 lead.
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In between two 3-pointers and a layup by Jokic, Harden added a 10-foot jumper, three foul shots after being fouled on a 3-point attempt that pushed the Clippers ahead at 48-46 with one minute left before halftime. Harden added a 3-pointer and George to close out the half ahead, 53-49.
Harden had 14 of his points in the first half.
The Nuggets, having already clinched a playoff spot, were led by Jokic, who had his 24th triple-double of the season, posting 36 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists.
The Nuggets were without star guard Jamal Murray, who sat out the game because of inflammation in his right knee, but Denver had plenty of others who picked up the slack.
But Denver had to finish the game without Coach Michael Malone, who got ejected with 7:54 left after walking on the court to argue with the officials, drawing two technical fouls.
More to come on this story.
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