DENVER (AP) — The sizzling Los Angeles Clippers rolled into the playoffs as the NBA's hottest team having won 18 of 21, including their last eight.
Kawhi Leonard was playing like his old self after dealing with injuries ever since joining the Clippers five years ago. James Harden increased his scoring average better than six points from a year ago and Ivaca Zubac had a breakout season in his eighth year in the league, setting career highs in points (16.8), rebounds (an NBA-best 12.6) and assists (2.7).
The trio combined for 75 points in the Clippers' first-round opener at Denver on Saturday, but Los Angeles came away 112-110 losers in overtime after ruining a 43-for-86 shooting performance with uncharacteristic sloppiness on offense.
“If you turn over 20 times against the team that is No. 1 in offensive transition, then you’re gonna lose the game,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue after Los Angeles blew a 15-point first-half lead.
The Clippers' only hiccups in the last month were close losses to the two teams seeded first in each conference — 103-101 to West-leading Oklahoma City and 127-122 to the East-leading Cleveland Cavaliers.
Add to that exclusive list the Nuggets, who just 11 days earlier stunned the NBA by dismissing the winningest coach in franchise history and the general manager who connected the final pieces of the team’s only championship puzzle in 2023.
The Nuggets improved to 4-0 under interim coach David Adelman, who watched his team fall behind by 15 points in the first half before clawing its way back against a red-hot team that had all five starters score in double figures and outscored the Nuggets both in the paint and on the break.
“We’re in good shape, we just have to do what we’re supposed to do,” Lue said. “We’ve talked about it, we can’t turn the ball over 20 times and expect to beat a good team. So, 20 turnovers for 29 points, it’s hard to beat a good team when you turn the ball over that many times.”
The Clippers jumped out to a 49-34 lead before the Nuggets awakened behind Nikola Jokic, who had 29 points, a dozen assists and nine rebounds.
“They got physical, they got more physical defensively. I thought Joker did a good job of mixing up his coverages of whether he’s going to blitz or be in a drop,” Lue said. "We just didn’t read it well once he did do that. I just thought their physicality really changed the game defensively.”
Leonard said the Clippers need more of an attacking mindset for Game 2 on Monday night lest they go home down 2-0, and Harden lamented what he called the Clippers' so many unforced errors.
“That’s the game right there,” Harden said. "It was nothing that they did, it’s us, all us.”
Actually, it was former teammate Russell Westbrook who forced the Clippers' turnover on an inbounds pass with about 10 seconds left in overtime and the Nuggets ahead by 3.
The ball went off Harden, and Westbrook said it wasn't so much that he read the play well, but that he knew just what he had to do to seal the Nuggets' victory.
“I just know that (inbounds) play,” from being there the previous two seasons, Westbrook said.
Harden said letting one slip away won't derail the Clippers as they aim for a deep playoff run.
“It’s a little frustrating just because it is self-inflicted," he said, “and it is something that we have been really good at these last few weeks.”
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
Arnie Stapleton, The Associated Press
