The Denver Nuggets came back from a 3-1 series deficit in the first round to advance to the second round, Surely, they were not at all worried about being down to the LA Clippers by one game entering Saturday, and it showed, as the Nuggets evened the series against Kawhi Leonard and company with a win in Game 2. Check out our preview for Game 3 of this series below.
A day after Giannis Antetokounpo and LeBron James disappeared in the fourth quarter of their respective games, Kawhi Leonard had himself a scoreless final quarter in the Clippers’ 110-101 loss to the Nuggets last Saturday. Leonard proved that he is human after all, finishing Game 3 with just 13 points on an ugly 4-for-17 shooting from the field, though, he still produced 10 rebounds and eight assists in 39 minutes. Paul George led the Clippers with 22 points. Game 3’s loss was a wakeup call for the Clippers, who must realize by now that to beat Denver, they’ll have to play their best defense from start to finish, as the Nuggets came out firing from the get-go, and from there kept their offense going. The Clippers can’t also afford Leonard to disappear in the fourth quarter. At the end of the day, this team will go as far as where The Klaw takes them. One positive for the Clippers in the loss was their bench outsourcing Denver’s second unit, 38-26.
The Clippers are 9-1 against the spread in their last 10 games as the road team.
Maybe, the Nuggets were really just tired in Game 1, hence their loss. But in Game 2, they had more energy than all of Donald Duck’s nephews. Jamal Murray flashed his first-round form by dropping 27 points on 10-for-21 shooting from the field. Nikola Jokic also dominated in the game, as he scored 26 points on 10-for-17 shooting while also recording 18 rebounds. But those two were expected to lead Denver. What made the difference for the Nuggets in Game 3 was their sense of urgency on defense. Gary Harris and Jerami Grant were fantastic in anchoring Denver’s defense. Even Michael Porter Jr. stepped up defensively while also scoring 11 points off the bench. Harris complemented his great defensive work with 13 points and four 3-pointers. Whenever Harris plays that well on offense, the Nuggets are getting a huge bonus. It’s still tough to expect Harris to be that good on offense, but at least that’s a good sign for the defensive specialist.
The Nuggets are 3-1 against the spread in their last four home games.
