The LA Clippers have a chance to eliminate the Denver Nuggets in Game 6.
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00:00The Clippers suffered one of their worst losses of the postseason on Friday night, losing
00:03111-105 to the Denver Nuggets after leading by as many as 16 points in the game.
00:08It was a story that felt all too familiar for Clippers fans as LA has blown multiple
00:12leads throughout the season and the playoffs.
00:14It's been one of this team's few bad habits, and for whatever reason, they cannot seem
00:17to shake it.
00:19Now LA is in a much more difficult situation than they were in Game 5.
00:22This series is 3-2 in LA's favor, but Denver has all the confidence in momentum right now.
00:27The Nuggets' margin for error is still much slimmer than LA's, but if Clippers lose in
00:30the game of this series, it will come down to a winner-take-all Game 7.
00:34To make matters worse for LA, the Los Angeles Lakers eliminated the Houston Rockets in five
00:39games on Saturday night and could end up with a significant rest advantage over the Clippers
00:43if they are to advance to the conference finals.
00:45The time is now for LA to finish off Denver, and if they don't do it in Game 6, they may
00:49not do it at all.
00:50We'll look at some key storylines for today's game.
00:53For LA, we're wondering if the Clippers have the tone in this game that they really need
00:56to.
00:57They've struggled to maintain the intensity of the postseason, and it's burned them multiple
01:01times.
01:02Obviously, this is the most recent loss on Friday night in Game 5, but LA are also led
01:05by as many as 21 points in their overtime loss to the Dallas Mavericks in the first
01:09round.
01:10Unfortunately, this is just not a new issue.
01:12On Saturday, Marcus Morris spoke to reporters with the team's fantasy look to throw off
01:15the gas, saying, quote, we had a comfortable lead in that game, we should have put that
01:19game away.
01:20That was one of our Achilles heels, just kind of messing with the game when we get
01:22up.
01:23Teams where we're trying to get to, and that's being champions, have to be better.
01:26It has nothing to do with coaching, it's on the players.
01:29Morris also offered a solution to LA's struggles, it's pretty foolproof plan, saying, quote,
01:34we know what we did, and we can be better.
01:36We know we're the better team.
01:37Just continue to match the intensity.
01:38If we play desperate, you know, good riddance to them.
01:41Now, we've seen the Clippers respond to adversity and play desperation as recently as the first
01:45round, and uncoincidentally, it came on the heels of their overtime loss to the Mavs.
01:50LA blew out Dallas in the game that followed by 43 points in a 154 to 111 victory.
01:56Finding that emotion and intensity and maintaining it will be essential for the Clippers if they
02:00continue to progress throughout the playoffs.
02:02For Denver, the key storyline is wondering kind of who steps out for them today.
02:06In game five, Nicole Jokic and Jamal Murray, they both stuck to their games, combining
02:10to 48 points, 22 rebounds, and 12 assists, but those two weren't the reason the Nuggets
02:15won.
02:17who was otherwise at a pretty quiet postseason, went off for 17 points in game five, and 14
02:22of those points were scored in the third quarter when Denver began to chip into LA's lead.
02:27The veteran forward was the spark plug the Nuggets have needed in this series.
02:32But the Clippers have never viewed the film.
02:33It doesn't seem like Millsap's going to have a repeat performance, so they're going to
02:36let him do that on Sunday afternoon, but that does not mean someone else won't rise up in
02:40his place.
02:41Torrey Craig and Mate Morris have both not really played to their potential in this series
02:46just yet.
02:47Neither has Jeremy Grant, who averaged only 19 points per game on the Clippers during
02:50the season.
02:51Gary Harris and Michael Porter Jr. are names to watch as well.
02:55Regardless of who it is, the Clippers cannot afford to let another role player take over
02:58in game six.
02:59You can live with Jokic and Murray getting there, so that's to be expected, but guys
03:05like Millsap are capable of changing the course of the contest as well.
03:08LA must make sure that everybody's accounted for.
03:11Prediction for today's game.
03:12You know, if there's ever a game for the Clippers to prove who they really are this season,
03:17it's game six.
03:18A Western Conference Finals berth is on the line here.
03:20A win this afternoon would give them significantly better odds against the Lakers in game one
03:23of that series as well.
03:24It'll come down to intensity, really, is all it is.
03:27We know Denver's going to bring it, but if LA can match that level of urgency or dictated
03:31pace in this game, they should wrap up the series in advance.
03:35But as we've seen, that might be a big ask.
03:37It's either going to be really close or not at all, but we've got a feeling the Clippers
03:40will show up in game six and put this thing to an end.
03:43So for that, we have Clippers winning this one, 117-102.
03:47We have an early game today.
03:49The Clippers now hit the floor for game six on Sunday, September 13th at 1pm Eastern Time,
03:53and that contest will air on ESPN.