INGLEWOOD, Calif — The only blowout on Thursday night was in the one series where the games had been incredibly tight in the first two games. Let’s break it all down.
CLIPPERS 117, NUGGETS 84 (Los Angeles leads series 2-1)
Maybe the billions Steve Ballmer spent to build a new home — the Intuit Dome — for his basketball team was worth it.
In their first-ever playoff game inside their new home — which was rocking and loud — the Clippers’ offense just clicked. This wasn’t simply the cliche “role players play better at home” — everyone on the Clippers played well and the team was energized top to bottom. Every Clipper talked postgame about the energy from the crowd.
“It was crackin,’ it was loud. Just how I expected it to be,” James Harden said. “That’s one of the reasons why we jumped out to a huge lead.”
The other big takeaway from this game: Denver is in trouble.
The Clippers are asking questions the Nuggets can’t answer. Their depth of talent — Nicolas Batum had a huge game with four no-dip 3-pointers plus three blocked shots— is too much for a thin Denver squad.
Nikola Jokic had an efficient triple-double of 23 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists, but take him out of the equation and the Nuggets shot 34.9% on the night. During the regular season, in moments like these, the Nuggets asked their MVP to do more, but against Ivica Zubac and a quality Clippers defense, can he?
“I mean, I don’t know,” Jokic said. “I’m just trying to play the game how I know how to play the game. Maybe I should be. Maybe I shouldn’t. As long as we have an open look, I think we need to be satisfied. Sometimes we miss, sometimes we make. I think we need to get open looks; that’s the most important thing.”
Additionally, Michael Porter Jr. said that he is playing at about 30% due to a sprained shoulder.
Denver has less than 48 hours to answer those questions, Game 4 is Saturday afternoon back at Intuit, and if they don’t they will be in a hole they will not climb out of against a Clippers team finding its stride.
THUNDER 114, GRIZZLIES…
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