• 6 months ago
The LA Clippers and Denver Nuggets will meet one final time in Tuesday night's Game 7.
Transcript
00:00The LA Clippers blew another substantial lead on Sunday afternoon following 111-98 to Denver
00:04Nuggets after coming up by as many as 19 points early in the second half.
00:09Without getting too far into it, the loss was nearly identical to the one LA suffered
00:13in Game 5.
00:14The Clippers built up a big lead, got comfortable with where they were at, and waited far too
00:17long to respond once Denver began fighting back.
00:20This time, though, was an even more egregious example of complacency.
00:23The LA led by as many as 16 points in Game 5 and trailed by as many as 8 late in the
00:28fourth quarter, whereas in Game 6, the Clippers' 19-point advantage was turned into a 16-point
00:34deficit by game's end.
00:35At one point, the Nuggets rattled off 17 executive points, while Clippers struggled to get a
00:40single quality look on offense.
00:42There was no stopping the bleeding once it began, and it wasn't just Denver knocking
00:46out every shot it put up.
00:47It was Clippers settling for contested jumpers and going away from the plan that had worked
00:50so well in the first half of each of the last two games.
00:54Now after leading 3-1 in the series, it's come down to a Game 7.
00:57The winner will advance to the Western Conference Finals for a meeting with the Los Angeles
01:00Lakers.
01:01The loser will be sent home.
01:02Looking at some key storylines of tonight's game, for LA, we're wondering who earns all
01:07the minutes.
01:08One of the main strengths of this Clippers team at the beginning of the season was its
01:11depth.
01:12The first four guys at the bench could realistically start for another competitive team in the
01:15NBA.
01:16But in the postseason, that's been a bit of a different story, and it's time the
01:20rotation tightens up a little bit.
01:22Fortunately, Dr. Rivers agrees with that.
01:24He said, quote,
01:25You don't worry about minutes as much in a Game 7 on Monday.
01:28You can extend minutes.
01:29Now extending minutes can be dangerous because some guys just can't handle them, and so
01:32if they can't handle them, you can't do them.
01:35So looking at that, you have to wonder who would be a candidate to have his minutes cut,
01:38or really who should have the minutes cut, and Montrezl Harrell is one player there for
01:42sure.
01:43The Clippers have been abysmal on both ends of the floor when he's on the floor with
01:47Nikola Jokic in this series, and Denver has completely taken advantage of that.
01:51In the fourth quarter of each of the last two contests, the Nuggets have gone to an
01:55almost all-offense lineup, and it's worked wonders for them.
01:59Now, Harrell isn't necessarily unplayable in this series, at least not in my opinion.
02:03The Clippers have done fine when he's on the floor with Mason Plumlee, for example,
02:07but LA can't afford to spend another minute with both Harrell and Jokic on the floor together.
02:10It's become a nightmare of a matchup.
02:13Other players who should have the minutes cut include Richie Jackson and Landry Schamett,
02:16who offer very little on defense and the same main skill on offense, which is people
02:20when shooting.
02:21Now, Schamett is the better player of the two, and if a situation calls for it, he can
02:25be the one that gets called on to try to get something going on offense if need be.
02:30But as far as who should have the minutes bumped up besides the starting rotation, because
02:33all of them deserve it, obviously Kawhi, PG, they've been terrific.
02:37Marcus Morse played more minutes in this game.
02:39Patrick Beverley has been under restriction, but he should see more minutes as well, and
02:43the same goes for Reece Zubats.
02:46Michael Green has had a very solid series and is easily LA's best rebounder off the
02:50bench.
02:51Given his ability to space the floor and feast on the glass, he should get someone at center
02:54when he beats the Zubats on the bench.
02:57The key in this game would be avoiding the Harrell-Jokic minutes, and if LA can make
03:02that happen, there's no reason why they can't win Game 7.
03:06For Denver, the main scoreline here is another big fourth quarter.
03:10Does that await for the Nuggets in this game?
03:12Over the last two games, the Denver Nuggets have been most dominant in the fourth quarter.
03:17They're averaging 36 points in the frame to LA's 22, and their shooting has been spectacular
03:22down the stretch.
03:23It's one of the main reasons why the last two second halves have gone the way they have,
03:26along with LA's offense just completely collapsing.
03:29In the fourth quarter of Game 5, Denver shot 11 of 18 on field goals and 7 of 9 from three-point
03:35range.
03:36Jokic, Jamal Murray, and Jeremy Grant were 6 of 6 from deep in the frame.
03:40Again, that's in Game 5.
03:42In the fourth quarter of Game 6, Denver shot 13 of 21 on field goals and, once again, 7
03:47of 9 from deep.
03:48Jokic and Gary Harris were 5 of 5 from three in that frame, while Michael Porter Jr. and
03:53Torrey Craig sank the other two.
03:56Plenty of Denver's attempts from three have been wide-open looks as well, which simply
03:59can't happen.
04:01Miscommunications on defense have been a big issue in each of the last two fourth quarters.
04:04And what is to be expected when Patrick Beverley fouls out early in the frame of Game 6, LA
04:09is far too good a team to let that happen, especially defensively.
04:13That said, Denver deserves a lot of credit here as well.
04:15They've been relentless on offense in this series, and they've played extremely well
04:18at the backs against the wall over these last two games.
04:21As far as the prediction goes for tonight's game, regardless of who wins Game 7, this
04:26one's going to be a slugfest.
04:27Expect a low-scoring, high-intensity contest that's decided by 10 points or less.
04:31If Clippers are going to win, they'll come down to a few specific adjustments.
04:35Doc Rivers said it best.
04:36This team has the formula to win this series.
04:39We saw that in their three wins so far in this series.
04:42They've been terrific in each of those games.
04:44That much is obvious.
04:45It just depends on how closely everybody follows the game plan and how well they execute on
04:49the stretch of this fourth quarter in Game 7.
04:51Does LA play a full 48 minutes and stick to the instructions?
04:56Or does Denver overwhelm them again and make them overcomplicate things on both ends of
04:59the floor?
05:00It's a coin toss, but we have to go with LA on this one, a tight one.
05:04For that, we have Clippers 96, Nuggets 90.
05:08You can watch tonight's game on ESPN.
05:10The Clippers and Nuggets hit the floor for Game 7 on Tuesday, September 15th at 9pm ET.

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