DENVER — Through two games, one thing is clear. Nothing is going to come easy in a first-round playoff series between the Clippers and the Denver Nuggets.
After ending up on the wrong side of an overtime thriller in the series opener on Saturday, the Clippers rode a 39-point effort from star forward Kawhi Leonard to a 105-102 victory in Game 2 on Monday night, swiping home-court advantage in the best-of-seven series as it shifts to Los Angeles for the next two games.
Leonard powered the Clippers across the finish line Monday, authoring a vintage performance in a game that featured 18 lead changes and 12 ties. The 33-year-old two-time NBA Finals MVP shot 15 for 19 from the field (4 for 7 from 3-point range), hit a pair of midrange basket late and came up with a steal in the final minute.
“This is what Kawhi lives for, you know, trying to get to this point where he’s healthy for the playoffs. We know if we’ve got a healthy Kawhi, we can win any series,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. “That just shows what he’s capable of doing. … Tonight, we needed every bit of it.”
Leonard stole a Nikola Jokic pass with 37 seconds left, but James Harden missed at the other end and the Nuggets’ Christian Braun grabbed the defensive rebound with 11 seconds left. The Nuggets had two looks at a game-tying shot, but Braun was long on a 3-point attempt with six seconds left, then Jokic grabbed the rebound but also missed a 3-point try with one second remaining.
Games 3 and 4 are Thursday night and Saturday afternoon at the Intuit Dome, where the Clippers went 30-11 during the regular season.
James Harden had 18 points and seven assists, Ivica Zubac had 16 points and 12 rebounds and Norman Powell added 13 points for the fifth-seeded Clippers.
“Kawhi had it going. So at that point, you just sit back and you figure out, ‘How can you impact the game?’” Harden said. “It was a big-time game; Norm hit some big-time shots in that fourth quarter, (Zubac), (Kris Dunn) had some offensive rebounds – it was a team effort.”
The Clippers haven’t lost back-to-back games since March 2-4, a stretch of 23 games, and they handed Nuggets coach David Adelman his first loss in five games since replacing Michael Malone in a stunning move on the eve of the playoffs.
Jokic had his 19th career playoff triple-double for the fourth-seeded Nuggets (26 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists), but he had seven of his team’s 20 turnovers and missed four of his 10 free-throw attempts. Jamal Murray had 23 points and six assists. Michael Porter Jr., held to three points in Game 1, had 15 points and 15 rebounds, and Russell Westbrook contributed 14 points off the bench.
The midrange shots were working early and often for Leonard. He hit his first six shots, missed a pull-up jumper early in the second quarter and didn’t miss again until early in the fourth.
Leonard scored 12 of his points in the first quarter. Late in the period, he backed down Murray on the baseline as the Canadian flamboyantly defended. Leonard spun into help, but knocked down the 11-footer anyway, taking the air out of the Ball Arena crowd.
He had 21 points by halftime and only missed one of his 10 shots before the break. He deflated the Denver crowd again at the halftime buzzer, making a ridiculous pull-up 3-pointer with two defenders tightly on him to break a 52-all tie.
“It feels like he didn’t miss a shot,” Harden said. “His shot-making ability is elite.”
Good thing, too, because Leonard’s teammates were a combined 26 for 66 from the field (39%).
With timely baskets down the stretch, Leonard kept the Clippers locked in a back-and-forth game. He also took better care of the ball, turning it over just once compared to his seven giveaways in Game 1.
“I made shots tonight, shot a little bit more than I did last game, but it wasn’t about that,” said Leonard, who had 12 points in the fourth quarter. “Some of my turnovers last game was just being aggressive, trying to save the ball or getting rebounds and getting pushed out of bounds. … Just wanted to come out and get a win.”
After appearing in just two playoff games over the last two years, Leonard is healthy and looking like his old self after he missed the first 34 games of the season because of lingering issues with his surgically repaired knees.
“I’m just happy I’m able to move, you know, coming out of the game feeling well,” Leonard said. “I sat and watched these playoff games the last two years, so yeah, to be front-line out there, it feels good.”
The Nuggets had nothing but praise for Leonard.
“To his credit, he was awesome tonight,” Adelman said.
“He just got to his spots,” Murray said. “And even when we’re there he made some tough shots. He had a night. He got going and he was tough to stop.”
In the series opener, the Clippers committed 20 turnovers to Denver’s 11. That script flipped on Monday, but Lue thinks there’s still improvements to be made.
“We still had some bad turnovers, like some unforced turnovers. We’ve got to be better,” Lue said. “We understand they’re going to play different defenses, but to me, if we just take the time and execute the way we can execute, we can get any shot we want. … It’s going to be a back-and-forth chess match.”
Of Jokic’s six first-half field goal attempts, five were from behind the arc. Midway through the third quarter, his frustration started to boil over. After a Leonard basket at the 8:07 mark, Jokic was visibly upset with teammates, then a couple of possessions later, he hooked and elbowed Zubac for an offensive foul. A few minutes later, he missed a pair of free throws.
The Clippers used a 9-2 run to lead 87-81 early in the fourth, but the Nuggets answered (getting a pair of Westbrook 3-pointers along the way) to retake the lead. The Clippers went back up by four with 5:16 left on a Powell floater.
Jokic split a pair of free throws and Porter hit a 3-pointer off a turnover to tie it before Porter sank a go-ahead free throw (but missed the second) with 3:31 left.
Zubac’s layup and Leonard’s 10-foot jumper gave the Clippers a 100-97 lead before Murray and Powell traded 3-pointers, leaving the Clippers ahead 103-100 with 1:30 left. Jokic’s two free throws with 1:16 left cut the deficit to one before Leonard hit another jumper with 54.1 seconds remaining, setting up the drama of the final possessions.
Things became heated with 5:18 left in the third quarter. Murray was called for a foul when he grabbed Powell around the waist. Powell reacted with a swipe at Murray, and both teams and coaches came out to try to defuse the situation.
Braun, Powell and Dunn were given technical fouls.
INJURY UPDATE
Porter sprained his left shoulder in the closing minutes when he turned the ball over and hit the floor with Dunn rolling over him in the scramble. Porter grimaced while getting dressed afterward and said he hoped that his shooting in L.A. won’t be affected being that it was his left shoulder.