Denver Nuggets: Previewing potential matchup with Clippers

Even after the hiatus, the Nuggets remain one of the league’s most dangerous teams. Here’s how they might fare in a matchup with the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Clippers, despite their ranking of fifth in the NBA in defensive rating, might still be the most defensively gifted team in the NBA. Their elite cast of perimeter defenders make them absolutely menacing defensively with three different long, sizable wings who make it supremely difficult to get off quality shots.

Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, and Patrick Beverley have all made the all-defensive first team at least once in their careers. JaMychal Green is no slouch defensively either, as he routinely defended Anthony Davis during the team’s matchups with the Los Angeles Lakers throughout the season.

The Nuggets, however, could match up with the Clippers with the strength of their front court. The Clippers performed an all-time great heist when they somehow acquired Ivica Zubac from the Lakers in a deadline deal last season, but the team is still getting their feet wet with their center. Zubac hardly played at all during the team’s first round playoff series against the Golden State Warriors last season, and his usage rate this season is a career low 16.1.

Denver could absolutely punish the Clippers with Nikola Jokic and Paul Millsap inside and expose the Clippers’ lone weakness. While Millsap is having his worst season in Denver and has become much more rooted in outside shooting than at any point in his career, he can still abuse a lighter opposing front court and force defenses to respect him both inside and outside the three point line.

The Nuggets picked up their 27th win of the season when they outlasted the Clippers paced by Jokic’s 20 points and 15 rebounds. Denver held the Clippers’ offense to just 24 percent outside shooting, and managed to survive despite nearly blowing a 20-point lead. The Nuggets’ defense was shredded during the team’s second meeting with the team, when they capitulated 132 points and allowed the Clippers to bomb away from beyond the arc at a 46 percent clip.

Denver will be able to hang with the Clippers, but the biggest key to their chances will be their ability to keep them at bay from range. Denver is strong enough in the interior to win in the front court, but consistent perimeter play will be the tipping point.