The Denver Nuggets and the Los Angeles Clippers are locked in combat in the first round of the 2025 NBA playoffs.
This is a fascinating series between two teams going in different directions. The Clippers were ascending, the Nuggets were declining. The former has been one of the best teams in the entire league over the last month, and the other felt compelled to fire their coach and general manager a week before the postseason.
It’s a shame, a basketball sin, that this series has to take place in the first round, as it has the makings of a Western Conference Finals. Nikola Jokic and Kawhi Leonard are not just two of the greatest players in NBA history, but defining players of their era. The Clippers and Nuggets are two teams that can have real championship aspirations, but only one can make the second round.
The series heads back to L.A. at 1-1, with what will be more premier basketball on display.
The Anchor Points
While Jokic and James Harden are the offensive engines of their respective teams, Kawhi and Jamal Murray are the transmission, for this analogy.
The Nuggets are a pretty good team with Jokic and Co., but they are championship-level with the best version of Murray. The same is true for the Clippers, as Leonard’s return has catapulted Los Angeles to an elite tier of teams.
The two teams need their anchor points. Their teams go as they go. We saw this in Game 1.
In Game 1, Murray got into the flow of the game and became the firework he’s demonstrated in past playoffs. He made momentum-swinging threes, worked the Jokic pick-and-roll excellently, and took the scoring burden off Jokic.
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On the other hand, Leonard only took 15 shot attempts and committed seven turnovers. His defense was still admirable, but he looked out of sync in the half-court offense. The Clippers still pushed the game to overtime, but their offense was much less dynamic without Leonard’s gravity.
Game 2 was a different story. Kawhi was ruthlessly automated, scoring 39 points on 15-of-19 shooting.
He was looking to score and entered a flow state that fueled the Clippers’ offense. The Clippers don’t win if Kawhi wasn’t the 2019 version of himself, stealing home court in the process.
Murray, despite battling a cold, was still effective in Game 2, scoring 23 points on 9-of-17 shooting, and even lifting Norman Powell for good measure, but Kawhi rendered that effort moot with his performance.
These two teams rely on their anchor points to raise their ceiling. Kawhi and Murray make these two teams scary. Games 4 through (hopefully) 7 will largely be decided on which player takes over.
The Coaching Wildcard
David Adelman has experienced a ‘trial by fire’ of playoff coaching.
He’s been the Nuggets’ interim coach for less than two weeks. This alone would be difficult for any coach. He has the added displeasure of facing Tyronn Lue, one of the league’s premier playoff coaches. Lue engineered the 2017 Cavs’ historic 3-1 Finals comeback, and got the most out of the wacky and hobbled Clippers lineups he has had up to this point.
Games 1 and 2 have already proven that this will be a series of constant adjustments. Russell Westbrook played a heavy amount of minutes in Game 1 and was a big reason for the Nuggets taking home the victory.
Michael Porter Jr.’s minutes have fluctuated, causing some odd rotations at times. Will Westbrook help or hinder the Nuggets, and will Adelman be forced to go to him early and often?
The Chess Match
On the Clippers’ side, Zubac, despite a heavy number of shot attempts, hasn’t been the monster down low he has been this season, despite the Nuggets’ lack of rim protection. Lue will need to find ways to get him in favorable positions besides rolling off a screen from the top.
Defensively, the Clippers were jumping Jokic anytime he got the ball anywhere near the paint in game two. This left shots open outside, but six of them were being taken by Westbrook and his 32.5 3PT%, which the Clippers will live with. As a result, Jokic wasn’t allowed any space to work his post game, and the Nuggets turned the ball over 20 times.
Maybe Adelman is just the right coach for this team. Maybe he pushes all the right buttons and the Nuggets make it through the series looking better than ever. He is beloved in the locker room, and maybe it translates to the court over a series. He has done admirably so far. Still, Adelman is David versus Lue’s Goliath, making for as lofty of a playoff debut as you will see.
The Rest-of-Series Outlook
This is an amazing basketball series. Both teams are evenly matched in talent and skill set. Jokic and Kawhi are playing the best they ever have. The wrinkles that Lue and Adelman have already found are fascinating, and will only increase as the series goes on.
Westbrook is the ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ of basketball, bringing positive and negative chaos at any given moment. Murray is capable of taking over games in an instant, but the Clippers have tons of length to throw at him throughout the series. Nunn, Leonard, and Powell can follow the blueprint Minnesota laid out last playoffs.
Harden has been quiet on the scoring front so far, but his downhill penetration has been disastrous for Denver. Adelman will have to fix that for this already porous Denver defense to stand any chance at all.
There hasn’t been the herculean Jokic game, but it’s coming, and it’s essential Denver wins that game when it does happen. They have already given up home court, and going back to Denver down 3-1 after a massive Jokic game would be demoralizing.
MPJ was a disaster in game one, so much so that he sat in crunch time to Westbrook. Jokic even commented on it. His spacing and length are too important in these close games. He was better in Game 2, but Porter needs to play quality minutes down the stretch so that evil-Westbrook doesn’t get to show his face.
It’s a waste that this series has to take place in the first round. Still, we are fortunate to have this matchup at all.
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