The Denver Nuggets defeated the Los Angeles Clippers in an epic overtime matchup to take Game 1 of the series.
Nikola Jokic finished with 27 points, 12 assists, and nine rebounds, a near triple-double and a lot of impact on both ends of the floor. Jamal Murray shot 7-of-20 but made important plays as well. Russell Westbrook closed the game over Michael Porter Jr. and hit an amazingly clutch three, though the full Westbrook experience was on display throughout the fourth quarter and overtime.
I’m trying something different for game recaps during the playoffs. Immediately, you will get game notes on how the game progressed and things I noticed. Subsequently, you will get a game story the following morning focused on quotes from the players and coaches and what they saw.
Up first, a big 112-100 win by the Denver Nuggets over the Los Angeles Clippers.
First Quarter:
- Energy really high early. Michael Porter Jr. scores first points off a corner three
- Jamal Murray moving well, made shots early
- Nuggets defense allowing easy layups on pick and roll and offensive rebounds. Zubac hurting them early
- Good energy and defense from Peyton Watson off the bench
- Harden burning Jokic and others in pick and roll, then hit two big stepback threes vs Christian Braun
- Nuggets down 35-27
JAMES HARDEN. STATEMENT FIRST QUARTER.
15 points, including this step-back to beat the buzzer 😤 pic.twitter.com/txunHmgTpQ
— NBA (@NBA) April 19, 2025
2nd Quarter:
- No Jokic or Murray to start the quarter, Denver couldn’t score for a while and gave up
- Nuggets and Porter struggling to generate open threes for him, Clippers staying attached to him and daring others to shoot
- Clippers started second quarter 16-9, Nuggets finished quarter on 13-2 run to recover
- Big corner three-pointer from Russell Westbrook, who Nuggets sub in for Porter to end the half
- Nuggets enter halftime down 53-49
3rd Quarter:
- Jokic aggressive scoring, not getting a ton of foul calls vs Zubac
- Murray struggling to free up for open shots but missing the jumpers he did get, and yet he still found ways to hit big shots
That ol’ fashioned three-point play pic.twitter.com/KzVMxzp9ym
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) April 19, 2025
- Clippers defense very, very impressive and disciplined, every player can guard
- Zero Nuggets three-point attempts for the first 9:33 of the quarter
- Nuggets not executing against the Clippers small ball unit with Jokic ON and Zubac OFF to end the quarter
- Nuggets trail 83-79 after three quarters
4th Quarter:
- Brief non-Jokic minutes, Denver doesn’t perform well but survives
- Jokic returns, Nuggets stabilize, locking in on the defensive end
- Two HUGE Murray three-pointers down the stretch
- Nicolas Batum making constant winning plays for the Clippers including a contested three with the shot clock winding down
- Jokic picked up a technical after getting hit in the face and letting a referee know about it with gusto
Nikola Jokic gets hit in the face, gets no call, then gets a Tech for being mad about it pic.twitter.com/2Rgbcguus5
— Bad Sports Refs (@BadSportsRefs) April 19, 2025
- Russ closing over Porter, Clippers helping off Russ offensively and doubling Murray at halfcourt
- Defense and Hustle elevated, including an incredible Christian Braun superman dive to save a possession
- BIG Russ three-pointer, followed by a BIG Harden floater, followed by a wild sequence where Russ passed the ball off a Clipper intentionally and couldn’t get a shot off. OT
- Nuggets and Clippers tied at 98 heading to OT
RUSSELL WESTBROOK IN THE CLUTCH 🎯 pic.twitter.com/uez8jYtXGK
— ESPN (@espn) April 19, 2025
Overtime
- No Michael Porter Jr. still, Nuggets closed game with Westbrook, who made plays and mistakes in equal measure
- Clutch stops for Denver forced by Braun, Gordon, and Murray
- Jokic tried to collect a ball out of bounds and nearly fought two Clippers assistants who wouldn’t relinquish the ball, including Jeff Van Gundy
- Huge Christian Braun three-pointer to extend Denver’s lead to 4
- 20 total Clippers turnovers for 29 Nuggets points off turnovers, including four turnovers in OT
- Clippers couldn’t get enough offense to stay attached at the end, Nuggets win with defense
Final Score: Nuggets 112, Clippers 110
Short Takeaway
This was an incredible basketball game. Denver finding a way to win it was a big deal, continuing to maintain that home court advantage that they worked hard for in the final week of the season.
The Clippers can and should feel good about the way this game unfolded though. 20 turnovers for the Clippers led to 29 points off turnovers for the Nuggets, and that’s something they will clean up going forward. This game became a hard-nosed, defensive affair pretty quickly, and the Clippers should be favored in that situation because they have more defenders to deploy.
Still, Denver needed to get this one. High minute totals for each of the starters except Michael Porter Jr., and when you don’t play one of your starters for as long as Denver did, you have to find a way to make it worth it.
Murray should probably shoot better in Game 2 and going forward. He has to if the Nuggets want to win this series.
But it was fascinating to see Denver find a way to win a defensive game after all of the struggles they’ve had defensively this year. It appears that effort, communication, and accountability do in fact get you somewhere in a playoff environment.
A full game story will be up tomorrow.
Final Rotations
