How will the LA Clippers respond after losing 110-101 in Game 2?
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00:00 The LA Clippers suffered their first loss of the second round series to the Denver Nuggets
00:04 on Saturday night, falling 1-10 to 1-0-1 in a game that really wasn't as close as the
00:08 final score reflects.
00:10 The Nuggets led wire to wire and went up by as many as 23 points early in the second quarter.
00:14 They were the first team to land a punch in this game, building a 44-25 lead at the end
00:18 of the first quarter that LA never managed to recover from.
00:21 Nikolai Jokic and Jamal Murray broke the Clippers down, combining 53 points, 21 rebounds, 10
00:26 assists, 4 blocks, and 2 steals on 20 of 38 shooting from the field, while key role players
00:31 like Gary Harris and Paul Millsap were productive as well, combining for 26 points on 6 of 12
00:36 shooting from beyond the arc.
00:37 Now that the series is tied at one game apiece, Game 3 is a pivotal contest.
00:42 Clippers have yet to lose consecutive games in the playoffs so far, and a loss tonight
00:46 would give Denver a 2-1 lead in this series.
00:49 If LA is going to win, they'll need to be the team that throws a punch out of the gate
00:53 and maintains intensity throughout, not Denver.
00:56 So looking at some key storylines from tonight's game, for LA, we're trying to figure out how
00:59 Kawhi, Marcus Morris, and Paul George are going to respond.
01:03 Those three dominated the Nuggets in Game 1, and in Game 2 they looked a little bit
01:07 lost and really struggled to get things going.
01:10 Looking at how each player performed from the first contest to the next, Kawhi Leonard
01:14 scored 29 points in Game 1 and 13 in Game 2.
01:18 Marcus Morris scored 18 points in Game 1 and 11 in Game 2, while Paul George scored 19
01:24 in Game 1 and 22 in Game 2.
01:27 There's more that goes into that.
01:28 Obviously the shooting numbers weren't great in Game 2.
01:31 Kawhi went from making 12 of his 16 shots in Game 1 to 4 of 17 in Game 2, while Morris
01:36 went from 7 of 10 in Game 1 to 3 of 9 in Game 2, and George's numbers took a dip a little
01:41 bit as well.
01:43 So you'll notice, obviously, that George's numbers, I think for the scoring at least,
01:47 were pretty consistent, while Leonard and Morris struggled there.
01:51 Those two Leonard and Morris combined for 47 points on 73% shooting in Game 1, and in
01:56 2 they scored just 24 on 27% shooting.
02:00 For the most part, each player took the same shots they did in Game 1.
02:04 A lot of them just rimmed out.
02:05 But Denver also made an effort to play much better defense on all three players, and it
02:09 paid off in a major way, as you can tell.
02:12 The Nuggets swarmed and doubled Leonard whenever possible, doing their best to make other players
02:17 on the team beat them.
02:18 The game plan was most effective in the second half, as Leonard failed to record a made field
02:22 goal in the final two quarters, and scored just 4 points at the stripe in the second
02:26 half of the play.
02:28 All three players must succeed if LA is going to make it out of this series, and Leonard
02:33 has proven he's more than capable of leading this team.
02:35 Ultimately, it's just going to take better ball movement, better shot selection, and
02:38 more physicality to get LA out of this rut.
02:41 I would expect a screen-heavy offense and more shots in the paint and the clippers in
02:44 Game 3.
02:45 And if Denver effectively shuts down the lane and keeps the clippers away from the rim,
02:49 it might be best to throw Jermichael Green at center instead of Vyvytse Zubas to help
02:52 space the floor.
02:53 He was one of LA's best players in Game 2.
02:56 For Denver, the key storyline is Nikola Jokic's health.
02:59 He was in surprising condition in Denver's injury report on Sunday afternoon, and it
03:02 was a bit more of a shock to see him stay there, listed on Monday morning.
03:07 The 7-footer is officially listed as questionable for a game 3 with a right wrist sprain, and
03:11 it seems we might not know his playing status to be a closer tip-off.
03:15 If he is able to play, which I would expect at this point, nothing really changes for
03:20 Denver.
03:21 They'll still have the best player on the floor, and he'll probably still have another
03:22 terrific game as he did in Game 2 as well.
03:24 If he isn't able to play, the Nuggets could be in trouble.
03:27 Jokic appeared in all 73 of Denver's games this season and has missed just 20 games throughout
03:32 his five-year career.
03:34 The Nuggets' next best big is Mason Plumlee.
03:38 Clippers always seem to have his number.
03:39 That goes for both Vyvytse Zubas and Montrezl Harrell, who gives up a few inches to Plumlee
03:45 but is still a very effective option to throw at him, at least on offense.
03:50 His status could change the course of this series, so it's something worth monitoring
03:54 as the series progresses.
03:55 We'll have an update here as soon as we do get an official status for Jokic ahead of
04:00 tonight's game.
04:01 Prediction for the next game.
04:03 The Clippers haven't lost back-to-back playoff games yet this postseason, and it's hard to
04:07 see that happening right now with an opponent that is at Denver's quality.
04:13 The team has shown plenty of backbone in situations like these all season long, and with a roster
04:18 full of consistent playoff performers, you have to assume they return to the norm tonight.
04:22 I would assume that Game 2 is a bit of an outlier for both teams.
04:25 Denver is not going to get up easily or the Clippers have their way in this game, but
04:29 they did struggle to handle LA's pace and intensity in Game 1, so a return to that level
04:33 of play should tilt the contest in LA's direction.
04:36 For that, we have the Clippers winning this one 116-110.
04:40 Clippers take the floor for Game 3 on Monday night at 9pm ET.
04:44 This game will air on TNT.