As Clippers-Nuggets series heads to Game 3, both teams know every moment matters

New York Times

24-04-2025

How close is the first-round series between the LA Clippers and the Denver Nuggets?
Take one play inside of three minutes to go in Game 2 and LA leading, 98-97. Denver point guard Jamal Murray was dealing with a draining shot clock and had Clippers defender Kris Dunn in his grill more than 30 feet from the basket. Murray had his choice of screens set by center Nikola Jokić and power forward Aaron Gordon, and he drove left by Jokić's side. All that did was get Murray trapped by Dunn and Clippers center Ivica Zubac.
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Jokić popped out, so Clippers point guard James Harden left Gordon to take the next pass away once Murray picked up his dribble. Denver shooting guard Christian Braun cut from the weak-side corner, and Murray ejected the ball in Braun's direction. Kawhi Leonard, who was on Michael Porter Jr., came within inches of stealing Murray's harried pass. But Braun secured the reception and turned towards the basket, with only Norman Powell having any kind of inside position in the paint.
With less than three seconds on the shot clock, Braun had to make a decision. He could have forced an attempt over Powell. Porter was cutting from the wing, completely uncovered. But Gordon was also cutting from the nail. Braun flipped it to Gordon, who took one dribble and rose for what would have been an electrifying go-ahead dunk to get Ball Arena in a frenzy.
Except … Gordon, preoccupied with the shot clock, spiked the attempt so badly that the ball landed in front of Denver assistant Popeye Jones. The Nuggets never led again in Game 2, and the Clippers survived to tie the series and steal home-court advantage.
'We just had a couple missed opportunities,' Murray said after Game 2. 'We definitely had a chance to win the game, but now our minds switch, and we have to go to LA with an attack mindset and get one of these games.'
That's been the story of this series so far as Game 3 awaits Thursday at Intuit Dome. Two teams playing so hard, and with such intensity, that even their mistakes are made at full speed. The Clippers had 20 turnovers in Game 1, and the 20th turnover was made in the last minute of the game while trailing by three points. The Nuggets had 20 turnovers in Game 2, and the 20th turnover was made in the last minute of the game while trailing by three points.
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Out of the eight first-round series, none have been closer than Clippers-Nuggets. The point total is Clippers 215, Nuggets 214. For contrast, the Oklahoma City Thunder — who are likely awaiting the winner of this series — have outscored the No. 8 seed Memphis Grizzlies by 70 points through the first two games of that series. Fifteen minutes of the Clippers-Nuggets series have been played in clutch time; none of the other seven series has had more than four minutes of clutch time, and three series haven't had a minute of clutch time yet (Grizzlies-Thunder, Orlando Magic-Boston Celtics, Minnesota Timberwolves-LA Lakers).
This series has had several needle-moving events. Made jump shots that would have been worth an extra point if shoe sizes were smaller. Technical fouls. Missed free throws by the bushel. As the Clippers gathered Wednesday for practice, coach Tyronn Lue noted that the little things matter more in a series like this.
'That's basically our film session today,' Lue said. 'We had five plays out of timeouts that we didn't execute the right way, we were in the wrong positions. You can't waste possessions in the playoffs. Rebounding the basketball, like we talked about all year. We gave up 15 offensive rebounds. I think they beat us 50-32 on the glass. We gotta be better just understanding what we're doing. We gotta hit bodies, we gotta secure the rebounds. And when we do that, we can play with more pace and get out in transition.'
The little things aren't just about what either team isn't doing or not doing well enough. It's the small moments that wind up mattering more in the big picture as well.
The Clippers have been on backup center Ben Simmons' case about being more aggressive and being a threat to score. Simmons hasn't scored in double figures since the All-Star break. He hasn't attempted a free throw since Feb. 23. Leonard had multiple turnovers in Game 1 trying to find Simmons, who failed to score for the fourth straight game.
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But in Game 2, there Simmons was, checking in with 6:20 left in the first quarter. It was a rotational wrinkle Lue threw out there.
'It was good for us,' Lue said with a wry smile.
Asked Tyronn Lue about the Ben Simmons shifts in 1st and 3rd quarters… and yeah, he smiled like Draymond Green during a national anthem
'It was good for us… it worked tonight. So we'll see going forward what happens'
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— Law Murray 📘 (@lawmurraythenu.bsky.social) April 21, 2025 at 11:34 PM
After not being in the same zip code in Game 1, Leonard and Simmons hooked up on Simmons' third offensive possession of Game 2 for a pick-and-roll. Simmons rolled hard and finished. It was his only bucket of the game, but one that Simmons felt good about.
'It's going to be there, I think, most of the series,' Simmons told The Athletic. 'Just got to be in the right position. Give my teammates the opportunity to find me.'
Sometimes the little things in this series are about what happens after a big moment, and how a player may respond. That was certainly the case for Powell in Game 2.
Midway through the third quarter, Powell created space between himself and Murray, enough to draw a reaction from the Ball Arena crowd. By the time Powell finished his Iverson cut and squared up, Murray was back in the picture to greet him with a foul, punctuated by picking Powell up off the ground.
The agitated Powell reacted strongly, and Braun and Dunn rushed in to exchange pleasantries. Powell, Braun, and Dunn all got technical fouls, and Murray got to cut a point into the Clippers' lead.
'No, that don't matter,' Powell said of the incident two days later, declining to give it any air. 'Next question.'
By the end of that third quarter, Powell had missed 15 of 22 shots in the series. But Powell, a 2019 champion with Leonard on the Toronto Raptors, tapped in to make multiple winning plays. He cut into the paint to receive a Leonard pass out of a double team for a go-ahead floater. Another floater put the Clippers up by four a minute later. With Denver leading 97-96 with just over three minutes left to play, Powell beat Murray to get to the paint, then found Zubac for a bucket through a Gordon foul; that's a play that it has taken Powell and Zubac years to figure out, with frustrating turnovers littered along the path to reaching a zenith.
'It's been a back-and-forth dialogue, and making sure we get those plays completed,' Powell said. 'We were able to do that for an and-one late in the game. But we've been talking about that play all year long, because of how much I get into the paint and put pressure on the rim.'
No play for Powell was bigger than the 3-pointer he made that gave the Clippers the lead for good with 90 seconds left to play in Game 2. Denver had just gotten the defensive rebound off a rare Leonard miss, only for Porter to mishandle the ball and turn it over in the backcourt.
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But what many will forget is that Harden had a similar backcourt turnover after a Clippers' stop earlier in the fourth quarter. Dunn stole a Jokić pass intended for a cutting Gordon, and Harden tried to get the ball down the floor to Leonard, who would have had a two-on-one fast break. But Jokić got his hands up, and then found Porter for a game-tying and timeout-inducing 3-pointer.
'I tried to advance it,' Harden said. 'It was the right play. I've just got to complete the pass, and it's a layup or a 3. I've still got to be better than that in that sense.'
Poise will go a long way towards performance. This series now shifts to Inglewood, and the maiden voyage of Intuit Dome in the postseason. As much as that should theoretically energize the Clippers, it should also cause the Nuggets to focus more on their details as well. The clash of the little things will continue, with both teams having more than enough evidence to realize that everything that happens throughout the game could matter at the end.
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(Photo of Kawhi Leonard and Aaron Gordon: Matthew Stockman / Getty Images)