Three Takeaways LA Clippers Denver Nuggets Game 1
The LA Clippers had a dominant showing in Game 1 of their playoff series with the Denver Nuggets.
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00:00The L.A. Clippers put on a clinic on Thursday night, running the Denver Nuggets off the
00:04floor in a 120-97 game-one victory.
00:07The Clippers were as close as any other team we saw during the second half of the Dallas
00:09series.
00:10They played with real urgency in this game, didn't hesitate to shoot the ball, communicated
00:14very well on defense, and more importantly, the rotations in this game were near perfect.
00:19As usual, Kawhi Leonard was the star of the show.
00:21The two-way superstar put up a line of 29 points, three assists, two rebounds, two steals
00:25and a block in a little over 30 minutes of this game, and looked dominant on both ends
00:31of the floor.
00:32It wasn't just Leonard that was terrific, though.
00:34Montrez Harold and Lou Williams looked more like the duo we saw with the regular season.
00:38Paul George had an efficient showing and played arguably his best defensive game of the postseason
00:42so far.
00:43Patrick Beverly's impact can't be overstated.
00:45He was great in his return, and Marcus Morris was his own section later on in this analysis.
00:50It was an excellent all-around team effort and a very encouraging way to win the series.
00:55Starting off, a look at how the Clippers dominated the paint in this game.
00:58From the jump, I think LA made a point to attack the Denver Dodgers under the basket,
01:02a plan that really worked wonders throughout the entirety of the game.
01:05LA finished the night with 66 points in the paint on 33 of 47 field goals.
01:10That's compared to Denver's 40 points in the paint.
01:13The main reason for that difference, I think, was the rim protectors in this game.
01:15Nikola Jokic had an invisible showing in that regard, offering little to no resistance at
01:20the rim for Denver.
01:22Leonard and others got plenty of easy looks inside, while Beverly had an instance where
01:26he went coast-to-coast and blew right by Jokic for a lay.
01:30Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green picked apart Jokic's defense during the NBA
01:33on TNT halftime show, calling him out for missing rotations and a lack of effort.
01:38It was a really, really great analysis.
01:40I thought I was impressed with that.
01:42On LA's end, Ibiza's Zubats had a great night.
01:44Jokic still got his usual shots to go, but Zub made things difficult for Denver's guards,
01:48in particular to get to the rim.
01:50There is still some work to be done in that regard, but so far, the Clippers have been
01:55pretty impressed with how they won this battle in Game 1.
01:57Moving on, looking at Marcus Morris in this game, I think he's really emerged in this
02:02year's playoffs.
02:03He's been a revelation for the Clippers, really.
02:04It's proved the front office right for making this trade for him back in February.
02:08Through his first eight postseason appearances, Morris is averaging 13.6 points and 5.7 rebounds
02:14per game, while shooting 56% from the field and 58% from beyond the arc.
02:19On Thursday night, Morris went for 18 points and 5 boards, while going 4-5 from deep.
02:25Spotting him alongside Leonard and George means defenders can't double Morris, and the
02:29attention that those two attract often makes Morris an afterthought for opposing teams,
02:33which is something that he's punished them consistently for this postseason.
02:37He's been fantastic as a catch-and-shoot guy from range, but he's also taken defenders
02:42off the dribble in this series and also in the first series and pushed them into the
02:45mid-range, where he's pulled up and knocked down pretty easy buckets.
02:49His shooting percentages, I don't think they're sustainable, and I would expect him to cool
02:52off at some point soon, probably against the Los Angeles Lakers in the Conference Finals
02:56if both teams do make it there.
02:58But still, for now, LA needs to keep him involved on offense as much as possible.
03:02The same is true of Morris' defense.
03:04He's been right there with Leonard, George, and Beverly in terms of hitting the perimeter
03:07this postseason.
03:08He's taken on some very challenging assignments as well.
03:11He was Luka Doncic's primary defender in that first-round series and spent some time on
03:14Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic last night.
03:17He's done a really, really great job in that regard.
03:19When you boil it all down, though, Morris is simply doing things that Moe Harkless couldn't,
03:23at least not on offense.
03:25He may still be taking a few shots away from Leonard and George, but as long as he's playing
03:28this efficiently and looking like this great of a player, it's hard to really complain
03:32about that and argue against it.
03:34The final takeaway is trying to figure out what Denver can do about Kawhi.
03:38He was unstoppable in this series debut, scoring 29 points and missing just four of his 16-shot
03:43attempts.
03:44And it's really not like Denver's defense was terrible.
03:47Leonard just had better offense in this game.
03:49He attacked the Nuggets in the paint and mid-range, taking just two of his 16 shots from beyond
03:53the arc.
03:54He got to his spots with ease and didn't really seem to notice his defenders at all.
03:57He kind of just shot it right over them like they weren't even there.
04:00And when he could, Leonard got to the rim for an easy bucket or slam dunk inside.
04:04Denver threw everything at him.
04:06Jeremy Grant was his primary defender all that long.
04:09They threw Gary Harris on him.
04:10They threw Paul Millsap on him.
04:11Obviously, Jokic was there when he was in the paint.
04:14Each of those guys spent some time on Leonard last night, but none really made a difference.
04:19If Leonard is isolated in this series on anybody, he's going to succeed almost every single
04:23time.
04:24The Nuggets could, of course, double him in this series if he becomes an issue, and he
04:27probably will be.
04:28But that leaves Denver susceptible to a barrage of points from either George or Marcus Morris
04:34or Lou Williams in the floor.
04:35There's a lot of guys that can score in an instant on this Clippers team.
04:39But with the way the L.A.'s forward trio of Leonard, George, and Morris looked in Game
04:431, Denver cannot afford to give any of them an easier opportunity to score.
04:47It'll take some major adjustments from the Nuggets to slow Leonard and the Clippers down.
04:51The question now is if they'll have enough time to figure out what works before this
04:54series comes to an end and the Clippers wrap things up.
04:57Clippers and Nuggets will take the floor for Game 2 on Saturday, September 5th at 9 p.m.
05:02Eastern time.