- Denver Nuggets came back from 1-3 to eliminate the LA Clippers.
- Kawhi and the crew choked again in the second half, dropping a double-digit deficit.
- Murray dropped 40, Jokic posts a triple-double.
- Nuggets are in the West finals for the first time since 2009.
Fantastic Denver Does it Again
No team has ever managed to win back-to-back playoff series coming back from a 1-3 deficit in both of them. Until Denver Nuggets.
Michael Malone couldn’t wish for a better birthday present than the one his player handed him last night. Denver defeated LA Clippers, 104-89, completing a historic achievement, and eliminating the No.1 candidate for winning the Larry O’Brien trophy.
“You have to celebrate the moments,” Malone said. “This is a moment. It’s my birthday. We’re going to go party.”
And the Nuggets have every right to do so, especially after the way they beat the highly-favored rivals. The same as in the previous games, the Clippers had a double-digit lead and were pretty confident throughout the first half.
Doc Rivers’ team was up 12 points with 4:36 until the end of the second sequence, 50-38 when they started blacking out. Denver rallied to make it a two-point game at the halftime before LAC bounced back for a short time at the start of the third.
After that, it was all about the Nuggets, nothing else on the court. Jokic was performing as a future Hall of Famer, while Murray looked like one of the best shooters ever.
These two guys punished the opponents all night. Murray tore their defense with 40 points, shooting 15-for-26 from the field, and drilling six threes. Meanwhile, Jokic delivered another triple-double, his second in Games 7.
The Joker had 16 points, but amazing 22 boards and 13 dimes, six of them in the third quarter. It seems that the All-Star center had an extra motive to shine in tonight’s match.
“Before the game I told him, ‘Coach, I’m going to give you a really good present. I’m going to get you home or I’m going to get you to the conference finals,'” Jokic joked with his mentor. It seems that the Serbian thought that the West finals would be a better gift.
Clippers Disastrous Ending
In all three games where they needed just a win to advance to the next round, the Clippers collapsed in the second half. Tonight they scored only 33 points, who throughout 24 minutes.
Both Kawhi and Paul George couldn’t make a field goal in the last quarter, missing all of their 11 combined shots. Kawhi had 14 points, while George added 10, both being far from the expected level.
Doc Rivers took the blame after the game, saying that his team didn’t develop proper chemistry on the court.
“Honestly, you could just see the difference in the two teams. That team’s been together,” Rivers said. “We haven’t. And you could see it as the games went on.”
While the Clippers head home, the Nuggets prepare for the conference finals against the Lakers. Game 1 is this Friday.
