The Denver Nuggets host the Los Angeles Clippers Friday night, with both teams coming off an extended rest and with after some questionable performances. The Clippers lost by 28 to the Minnesota Timberwolves and by 11 to the Houston Rockets in the past 8 days, while Denver got blitzed by the Cleveland Cavaliers and somehow by the Washington Wizards also before stomping on the Atlanta Hawks to finish Denver’s road trip.
Nikola Jokic has been doing absolutely everything for the Nuggets just to be able to keep their heads above water during a difficult opening stretch to the season, made harder by Denver’s own mistakes. James Harden has been great for the Clippers but their own injury situation is limiting their options and their upside. Neither team has played since Sunday, so either there will be a new-found attention to detail or both squads will be working the rust off early. Either way, both teams are near the bottom of the Western Conference current playoff standings and have work to do to get consistent despite their injuries.
The Essentials
Who: Denver Nuggets (12-10) vs Los Angeles Clippers (14-11)
When: 7:00PM MST
Where: Ball Arena, Denver CO
How to watch/listen: Denver Stiffs does not condone piracy. Altitude TV where available. NBA League Pass for those not in the Nuggets market. Altitude 92.5 FM. Bring a map to help Denver find a path to victory against James Harden.
Rival Blog: 213 Hoops
Injury report: Aaron Gordon – probable (right calf strain), Christian Braun – probable (right quad contusion), Jamal Murray – questionable (right hamstring inflammation), Dario Saric – out (left ankle sprain), Vlatko Cancar – out (the worst luck ever and also knee surgery), Daron Holmes II – out (Achilles); Kawhi Leonard – out (right knee), Derrick Jones Jr – out (right hamstring), Terance Mann – out (left middle finger fracture), Kobe Brown – out (back injury management), PJ Tucker – out (pouting)
The Three Things
The thing to watch for: Can Denver start to build good habits?
Yes, I said that before the Wizards debacle, and I’m saying it again. They had time to get in some practices this week. Will it come with renewed focus? The Los Angeles Clippers have the fifth-best scoring defense and seventh-best defensive rating in the league. They will make the Nuggets take shots they don’t want to take – can Denver make them, or rebound misses? Can the Nuggets maybe not give up over a dozen points on fouled shooters like they did last game? The Atlanta Hawks game was a good start for Denver in getting the correct mentality to approach these games, but they still gave up far too many offensive rebounds to the Hawks. Denver needs to limit Los Angeles to one possession, take care of the ball, and execute in the crucial minutes. Just waiting for the world’s greatest player, Nikola Jokic, to bail them out is not enough. Twice this year they’ve been out-executed by the Clippers down the stretch – something the Nuggets used to do to other squads. It’s about time to flip that script.
The thing to remember: James Harden is just one man
The Nuggets have had this bad habit of letting Harden do whatever he wants in the first two games this year. The second game of the season against them, Harden had 23 points on 11 shots (with 13 free throws!) to go with 16 assists. They kept fouling him and let him carve them up with his passing to boot. Earlier this month they then coughed up 39 points to Harden, who again had 13 FTs and double-digit assists. It’s a microcosm of the season where Denver doesn’t deny an opponent anything and instead just waits for them to fail – which gets problematic when they don’t in fact fail. Denver has to take away something, and if that means double-teaming him and making Norman Powell and the rest beat the Nuggets, then maybe try that. Anything to get the ball out of Harden’s hands rather than allowing him to get switched onto whichever defender will helplessly foul him.
But also please stop Norman Powell, he already has 65 points against Denver in 2 games and it’s humiliating.
The thing to bet: Over 226 (-110)
Denver hasn’t shown any signs of slowing many teams down, especially this Clippers squad. They’ve given up 109 and 126 to L.A. in the first two matchups, and something in the middle probably feels right. Denver will likely need to outscore the Clippers rather than flexing defensive might, especially with Aaron Gordon and Christian Braun showing up on the injury report with some nagging lower body issues, so if you think Denver wins then they’re likely going to break 226 midway through the 4th. Expect fireworks, but hopefully the Nuggets only scorch the nets rather than burning down the arena.
