INGLEWOOD, Calif. — A year ago in Minnesota, the Nuggets squandered their chance to close out a playoff series with a convincing absence of urgency. They lost by 45. They tempted fate, and fate crushed them in Game 7 back home.
“We’re gonna look back at that, use it as a lesson learned,” Nuggets interim coach David Adelman said Thursday. “But this is now. This is a different team that we’re competing against.”
The overall Game 6 performance wasn’t as feeble this time, but the result is the same: a Game 7 on Saturday at Ball Arena after Denver’s 111-105 loss to the Clippers.
James Harden and Kawhi Leonard embraced the occasion at Intuit Dome, and the Nuggets couldn’t overcome a resilient performance from their hosts with a late push. Down 15 with six minutes to go, they clawed back. But Russell Westbrook missed a transition layup that would’ve cut it to four, and Norman Powell punished him with 1:47 left, his corner 3-pointer giving Los Angeles just enough insurance.
Harden bounced back from his dismal Game 5 with 28 points, six rebounds and eight assists. Leonard went for 27 and 10 on 11-of-22 shooting. The Clippers turned 14 Denver turnovers into 23 points.
Nikola Jokic scored 20 of his 25 points before halftime, being rendered ineffective afterward. Jamal Murray went for 21 points, eight boards and eight assists. Michael Porter Jr. — a team-best plus-34 in Game 5 — fluctuated wildly in the other direction as a minus-24. Adelman closed with Westbrook over him.
The Wall was not ready to give up hope. Intuit Dome’s baseline section for devoted fans was stocked with horse balloons, the latest creative gimmick targeted at Jokic’s free throws. One fan shouted at him during his warm-up routine that he would miss all his shots in Game 6 because “I wasn’t here before, but I am now, sucker!” Jokic acknowledged his heckler with a laugh.
He tried to give the crowd every opportunity to use those balloons, but the Clippers’ interior defense and the officiating crew’s leniency refused to parade him to the charity stripe. Jokic kept attacking close-outs on the 3-point line, only to dribble into fender-benders in the paint. Ivica Zubac and a crowd of Clippers stood him up at the rim repeatedly during a four-minute scoreless stretch for Denver in the third quarter.
Dribbling too much was a theme of the drought, which started in an airtight 68-66 contest. Aaron Gordon turned the ball over in isolation against Powell, who scored 11 points of his own in the third. Murray danced with a defender for too long then passed into a 24-second violation — the second time he was guilty of losing track of the shot clock on the evening. Jokic passed up 3s.
By the end of a 12-0 run, Clippers owner Steve Ballmer was foaming at the mouth in his court-side seat, and the Nuggets were left to regroup, not just for the fourth quarter but the seventh game.
But first, they made Ballmer sweat. Christian Braun made a pair of clutch free throws — his back to The Wall — then stymied Harden on a drive to get a stop. The Nuggets were out and running in transition, down 110-105, and the ball found Jokic open on the left wing. They would need a 3-pointer eventually to complete a comeback. But Jokic passed another one up, driving into Zubac instead. He was denied once more.
Want more Nuggets news? Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis.