Nuggets star power
Of course, if the Nuggets want any sort of shot of upsetting the Clippers, Jamal Murray needs to continue the dominance he showed against the Jazz.
Teams can be as aggressive as they want when defending a player who has all of the momentum. However, as we saw with Luka Doncic last week, it’s nearly impossible to stop a player who’s that hot no matter who you have on defense.
Aside from the obvious importance of his scoring, both in general and with timely buckets, there’s another benefit to an aggressive Murray: fatigue. One of Utah’s better defenders in Royce O’Neale showed signs of fatigue throughout most of the fourth quarter in Games 5 and 6 when defending Murray.
However, outside of O’Neale, Utah didn’t have the defensive depth for another solid defender to take a stab at Murray. By contrast, the Clippers have an army of defenders who not only can guard opposing wing players, but elite guards such as Murray.
In late game scenarios, expect a variety of defenders to rotate in guarding Murray. Particularly if he continues his momentum into this series.
Nikola Jokic is probably relieved that he doesn’t have to deal with Rudy Gobert’s annoying rim-protection and rim-running. Zubac will be tasked to defend the Joker instead.
A solid defender, like the rest of his team, Zubac provides decent interior defense while not being a prone to committing fouls.
Off-ball movement will most likely be limited due to the Clippers advanced coverage in off-ball defense, which points to Jokic having a much larger role for this series compared to his performance against the Jazz. Jokic needs to be alert when posting up Zubac or another proficient interior defender, as scrappy guards in Beverly or Jackson could easily pick the pocket of Jokic when posting up.
For situations like these, Denver’s perimeter offense needs to relocate for Jokic to find an open man on the wing when Beverly or Jackson are too distracted on Jokic in the paint.
This series is going to be a dog fight. Plain and simple. But boy, what a matchup this will be. I would be surprised if the Nuggets won more than a game this series, but my prediction is Clippers in 6.