The Denver Nuggets are moving on to round two of the NBA playoffs after defeating the Clippers in Game 7 on Saturday night by a final score of 120-101. After a slow start, the Nuggets completely took over in the second quarter and kept that momentum going until they were up 30+ points and LA pulled their starters, waving the white flag.
In a critical game like this one, Denver fans were confident, knowing that they had the best and most reliable player in Nikola Jokic, while the Clippers were led by James Harden, who isn’t exactly known for coming through in big playoff games.
The Nuggets have struggled all season due to a lack of depth and talent behind Jokic, but they hoped the big man could drag them over the finish line in this one. And while the team did end up dominating their competition, that wasn’t the case at all.
Struggling Jokic bailed out by supporting cast
In a surprising twist, Jokic struggled to ever get going in this one. He started off 0/5 and was in foul trouble. He got some early assists, but he never got into a good rhythm and took over. The Joker finished the night with just 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 8 assists on 6/14 shooting.
For the three-time MVP, that amounts to a pretty terrible game for his standards, and to do it in the Nuggets’ biggest game of the season is almost unfathomable. But when they were needed most, his supporting cast stepped up and bailed him out. It’s only right, as Jokic has carried this crew all season, that they would return the favor when they needed it the most.
Making it even more impressive, it wasn’t a matter of Jamal Murray going nuclear. Relatively speaking, Murray was held in check as well, scoring just 16 points on 7/15 shooting. Instead, it was everybody else coming through for David Adelman; all the guys who have been up and down all years carried them home in Game 7.
MPJ, Gordon, Westbrook, and Braun shine for Nuggets
It was “the others” as Shaq and others like to call them, and boy did the others come through. Michael Porter Jr. and Aaron Gordon, who have been the topic of trade rumors and received criticism for inconsistency, were both excellent while playing through a lot of pain.
Gordon fought through his calf injury and led the team with 22 points to go along with 4 rebounds and 5 assists, shooting 9/16 and adding excellent defense. Porter Jr. battled his shoulder injury and had 15 points and 6 rebounds, including 3/8 on threes.
Christian Braun also had one of the best playoff games of his career, as he was everywhere on both ends of the court, flying around, seemingly at a higher speed than anyone on the Clippers. He ended up with 21 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists, and shot 3/5 from three-point range.
Nuggets’ bench shows up in a big way
And we have to give a big shoutout to the much-maligned Denver bench in this one. Nuggets were terrified all season long about having to trust Russell Westbrook in a big playoff game, and he put those fears to bed, and then some.
Russ was incredible, immediately putting his fingerprints all over this game with his energy and making a massive impact all over the court. He played 27 minutes and had 16 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 steals while shooting a highly efficient 5/9 shooting and 2/4 from three. He also had one of the loudest exclamation points of all time with a steal, dunk, and boisterous celebration for the Ball Arena crowd.
Even Peyton Watson stepped up and impacted the game, scoring 9 points on 4/4 shooting with his usual stout defense and solid energy in his 17 minutes off the bench. For a team that has struggled to go more than 5-deep in a lot of these games, it was amazing to see them getting great production from 7 players in this one.
Game 7 performance a great sign ahead of matchup with Thunder
It’s hard to say that based on one game, all of the Nuggets’ problems are suddenly fixed, but this was incredibly positive to see in a game of this magnitude. Enjoy this win, Nuggets fans, but the turnaround is quick and the opponent is a hungry, well-rested juggernaut.
Denver is going to need the other to keep coming through like this next round, and with even greater consistency. Jokic and Murray almost certainly won’t struggle like this again, but if the supporting cast can play close to this well going forward, they are going to have a real chance to pull off a major upset and beat the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Semifinals.