A look at what we should expect from the LA Clippers' series with the Denver Nuggets.
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00:00The LA Clippers will finally return to action and begin their second round series against the Debris Nuggets on Thursday night.
00:06It's bound to be an entertaining matchup and one that will decide whether LA can continue to make history within the franchise this season.
00:12The Clippers last qualified for the Conference Semifinals in 2015 when Chris Paul and Blake Griffin were leading the team.
00:18There they went to battle with the Houston Rockets to the commanding 3-1 lead in that series before collapsing down the stretch and losing in Game 7.
00:26As a franchise, that's the deepest the Clippers have ever gone into the postseason.
00:30Because of that, this series will take on some additional meaning for longtime fans of the team.
00:36Fortunately, this year's squad is quite different from the ones we saw for the Lob City era.
00:41Kawhi Leonard is here for one thing and he looks terrific against the Dallas Mavericks in the first round.
00:45But this Nuggets team isn't merely a roadblock for LA.
00:49Between Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic, there's some upset potential here and the Clippers need to be at the top of their game
00:54to move on to the Lesser Commons Finals in a hurry.
00:57As a key matchup in this series, especially in Game 1 here, the first one to look at for LA is Kawhi Leonard and Paul George against Denver's Wings.
01:04Kawhi Leonard is going to be a thorn in the side of teams no matter who you throw at him.
01:08The same is true of Paul George, especially lately with how he's looked since the second half of that first round series.
01:13They've already done major damage to Denver's Wings this season and that should only continue into the playoffs.
01:19On the year, Leonard and George have played some of their best basketball against Denver.
01:23The two have combined to average 50.5 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists per game in this series.
01:29And both have converted over 50% of their looks from the field in those games.
01:32Denver's perimeter defense has improved with the return of Gary Harris.
01:36But the Nuggets are still without Will Barton, who's arguably Denver's best two-way player.
01:40The 6'5 inch forward left the bubble on August 19th, so he had his right knee and hasn't returned since then.
01:46So it seems unlikely he'll be available to play in this series.
01:51Denver's best remaining option then is Jeremy Grant.
01:54He's a very physical defender, a great shot blocker.
01:57He could wind up being the X Factor in this series if he can handle Leonard and George and provide some buckets on offense as well.
02:03But that's a big if, and it's never wise to bet against playoff Kawhi.
02:07For Denver, the main matchup to look here is Nikola Jokic against LA's Biggs.
02:12Denver's success in this series will come down to how effectively LA's Biggs can defend Nikola Jokic.
02:17The 7-footer is one of the league's best playmakers.
02:20He's a terrific shooter from the mid-range.
02:22He can step back and hit a three-pointer when need be.
02:24Where he's most effective, though, is the paint.
02:27According to Cleaning the Glass, Jokic ranks in the 96th percentile of all centers in the short and mid-range,
02:32making him one of the toughest Biggs to defend in the NBA.
02:35There's only one player on LA's roster that really makes sense to guard Jokic, and that's Ivica Zubac.
02:41The 23-year-old has the size and defensive ability to keep up with Jokic, especially in the paint.
02:46He'll still knock down his perjury of jumpers and get three-pointers to go.
02:49There's no stopping that.
02:51But Zu will do a far better job of containing him in the paint than either Montrezl Harrell or Zlatko Grin could do.
02:57Take this nugget from the Athletics' Yovan Buha as evidence of what Zu can do against Jokic.
03:02On this season, Denver logged a minus 14.3 net rating when Zu and Jokic were on the floor together in 61 minutes.
03:10On the other hand, in 24 minutes with Jokic on and Zubac off, Denver logged a plus 30.5 net rating.
03:18So if that trend continues into the playoffs, Denver may need to find some additional means of production in a hurry.
03:25Looking at the injury report for tonight's game,
03:27Patrick Beverley has become a familiar face in this section of the previews, but fortunately that may be a change coming soon.
03:33On Wednesday, Clippers coach Doc Rivers said he was pretty sure that Beverley would be good to go for Game 1,
03:38but couldn't guarantee it at the time.
03:40We didn't receive an update since then on Beverley's status, but the indication seems to be that he will play in this game.
03:45Otherwise, he'll probably make his series debut in Game 2 on Saturday.
03:50If Beverley does remain out, look for Landry Schammett to continue to start in his place.
03:54For Denver, there are no injuries to report besides Barton's.
03:57However, star guard Jamal Murray suffered a thigh injury in Game 7 against the Jazz on Tuesday
04:02that may slump down in the first few games of this series.
04:05Prediction for tonight's game, last we saw the Clippers,
04:08they closed out their first-round series to the Dallas Mavericks in comfortable fashion on Sunday evening.
04:13That was four days ago.
04:14The Nuggets, on the other hand, took Game 7 from the Jazz on Tuesday night by a two-point margin.
04:19For that alone, it seems safe to assume that L.A. has a significant, at least, rest advantage in Game 1.
04:24But more importantly, the Clippers are the better team in this series
04:27and should be favored in each game as it goes on.
04:29Because of that, we've got L.A. winning big tonight with the Clippers with 128, Nuggets 109.
04:35You can watch tonight's game as the Clippers and Nuggets hit the floor at 9 p.m. Eastern Time.
04:40That game will air on TNT.