LA Clippers Denver Nuggets Game 2 Preview
The LA Clippers cruised to a dominant victory in Game 1. How will the Denver Nuggets respond in Game 2
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00:00 The LA Clippers were on a mission in Game 1,
00:02 piling on the Denver Nuggets in the second and third quarters to win 120-97.
00:06 It was an excellent all-around effort from LA and arguably the best defensive game we've seen
00:10 this team play since the postseason began last month. It's no coincidence either.
00:15 Not only did the Clippers match up well with Denver, but LA finally got Patrick
00:19 Beverly back for Game 1 of the series after he had missed five consecutive contests.
00:23 In addition to being one of the team's best perimeter defenders,
00:26 Beverly has established himself as a leader on this squad and is their best communicator on the
00:30 floor. It also has a good bit to do with timing. The Nuggets came into Thursday's contest with just
00:34 one full day of rest as the team had just closed out its first-round series of the Utah Jazz on
00:39 Tuesday night. It was an extremely quick turnaround time and it's hard to fault the Nuggets for looking
00:43 a little gassed at times in Game 1. Now as we enter Game 2, we should be prepared to get a
00:48 much better sense of where each of these two teams are at right now in addition to how the rest of
00:53 this series is going to go. Looking at some key storylines for tonight's game, for LA it's the
00:57 fact that they're fully healthy and have all the momentum right now. Clippers have looked pretty
01:01 much unpatchable in the last handful of contests. Since LA really turned things around in Game 5 of
01:08 their first-round series, Dallas, the team is averaging over 128 points per game while allowing
01:13 just under 102, a difference of 26.6 points per contest. Part of the reason LA has played so well
01:20 in that stretch has to do with urgency and energy. For the first time in a while, the Clippers look
01:24 like they truly want to compete and when they do build up big leads as we've seen in each of the
01:28 last three games, instead of giving them up, they're building upon them. Another factor though
01:33 plays into this is health that includes both mental and physical. Paul George has looked like
01:37 a much different player since he spoke to a psychiatrist. Montrezl Harrell, who was recently
01:41 named this season's Sixth Man of the Year, is finally getting back in the swing of things.
01:45 They're spending a month away from the bubble and Patrick Beverley, who went 17 days between
01:51 appearances due to a calf strain, is back on the floor once again. Momentum is on LA's side right
01:57 now. It's going to be very difficult for any team to take that away from them. Looking at Denver's
02:01 Key Storyline, we're just trying to figure out how the Nuggets respond in Game 2. They were
02:05 thoroughly outplayed in Game 1 of the series and to a degree that was to be expected. As we mentioned
02:10 earlier, the team hardly got any time to rest before Thursday's contest and looked absolutely
02:14 gassed at times. That said, Denver's problems I think extend beyond exhaustion. Effort seems to
02:20 be a major issue as well. There's only so much this team can do to stop the likes of George,
02:25 Kawhi Leonard, and Marcus Morris from getting theirs in each of these games. That trio combined
02:30 for 66 points on 25 with 39 shooting from the field in Game 1. And while that's a big enough
02:35 problem as it is, it becomes even more so when you realize that Gary Harris, Jeremy Grant, and Paul
02:39 Mills sat for the primary defenders, who are the three best perimeter defenders on this team right
02:44 now. Will Barton is part of that conversation as well, but he's been out of the bubble since August
02:48 17th. It'll be interesting to see how the Nuggets handle those three in Game 2. A prediction for
02:53 tonight, you know, look for Game 2 to be a bit closer than the first. Both teams have now had
02:58 an equal amount of rest and know more about one another than they did coming into the series.
03:02 On top of that, the stakes feel a little bit higher right now. The last thing Denver wants to do is
03:06 suffer two embarrassing losses in a row, but for the Clippers this is the perfect opportunity to
03:10 prove that the urgency and intensity aren't going anywhere. It might be a close first half, but I
03:15 expect the Clippers to pull away the second and put the Nuggets away for good early in the fourth
03:19 quarter. For that, we have the Clippers with 117, the Nuggets with 105. You can watch the next game
03:25 on TNT. The Clippers and Nuggets will take the floor for Game 2 at 9 p.m. Eastern time.