On the heels of their Game 7 win over the Utah Jazz, the Denver Nuggets began their second-round series against Kawhi Leonard‘s Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday.
Despite a short time to recover from their unlikely first round win over the Utah Jazz, the Denver Nuggets looked sharp to open the first quarter. Gary Harris got on the board early, Jerami Grant hit a pair of threes and the Nuggets were leading 17-16 as the Clippers took a timeout with 5:40 in the period.
Out of the timeout, Harris knocked down a triple, but Kawhi Leonard scored six straight points for the Clippers. That said, Los Angeles still trailed by two (24-22) with 3:31 remaining in the quarter. A Nikola Jokic dunk off a sweet dish from Jamal Murray in the waning seconds of the period tied the game at 31.
Neither squad scored a field goal until the 9:50 mark of the second quarter, when a reverse layup by George gave the Clippers a five-point lead. But a Torrey Craig three-pointer and a 21-foot pull up jumper by Monte Morris tied the game at 36 with 9:03 to play in the half.
LA began to pull away from Denver following two straight scores from Leonard, giving the Clips an 11-point lead (51-40) with 5:12 remaining. Los Angeles finished the half on an 18-8 run, taking a 69-51 advantage heading into the break.
The Nuggets had no answer for Leonard in the first half, as he finished with 19 points on 8-11 shooting. Marcus Morris and George also had 13 points and 12 points, respectively.
Jokic totaled 11 points and two assists in the first half, but the Denver’s biggest contributor was Grant, as he totaled 12 points and three assists for Denver.
The Clippers opened the second half shooting 5-7 from the field, taking a 83-62 advantage before the Nuggets took a timeout with 6:34 remaining. Denver was outscored 22-16 in the third quarter, and they trailed by 24 (91-67) entering the fourth.
The Nuggets outscored LA in the fourth, 30-27, and many of Denver’s reserves got playing time during the final 12 minutes. But the Nuggets dropped Game 1, 120-97, putting them behind 1-0 in the series.
Leonard led all scorers with 29 points, followed by his two teammates George and Morris, who had 19 points and 18 points, respectively. The Nuggets did have five players score in double-figures, but Denver could not contain the Clippers’ offense whatsoever.
The Nuggets will look to bounce back in Game 2 on Saturday, Sept. 5th, at 9 PM (EST).