Stellar capturing efforts from lead guards Jamal Murray and Russell Westbrook emboldened the Nuggets to seize a decent maintain of Sport 5 on the best way to a convincing 131-115 triumph. Murray initiated an 11-0 fourth quarter run to place the ending touches on the Clippers and stop any ideas of the Sport 4 comeback from taking place once more.
With Jokic (13 factors, 12 assists, and 10 rebounds) getting a uncommon night time ‘off,’ it was Murray (43 factors, 7 assists, and three steals) and Westbrook (21 factors) that stored Los Angeles at bay tonight. Aaron Gordon (23 factors and 4 rebounds) had one other unsung statline tonight, whereas Christian Braun (11 factors and 12 rebounds) had his most impactful sport of the collection.
Los Angeles’ Kawhi Leonard (20 factors, 11 assists, and 9 rebounds) and James Harden (11 factors and eight rebounds) picked the worst time to place up comparatively subpar numbers. Ivica Zubac (27 factors) shined brightly once more with the assist of Bogdan Bogdanovic (18 factors), Kris Dunn (15 factors), and Norm Powell (12 factors), who carried out properly sufficient within the robust highway sport to maintain their group inside shouting distance within the second and third quarters.
LA’s starters put up 19 of the group’s 23 factors within the quarter and so they needed to do it the onerous manner with just one three-pointer getting into. Murray and Gordon provided a lot of the firepower for the Nuggets with Jokic as fulcrum, and so they have been capable of push the ball in transition off of many Clippers’ misses to achieve the vital early benefit. Denver left the primary interval up 35-23.
Denver’s Murray and Westbrook carried the whole lot of their group’s offense whereas Jokic bought some wanted benchtime. Leonard drove to the basket with abandon whereas eschewing his jumper. Zubac proceed his series-long success along with his array of floaters and push-shots within the lane. Undetterred Murray knocked down a tough jumper over Batum and Westbrook willed residence an and-1 over Bogdanovic to maintain the stress on LA. Dunn linked on his first two (very open) threes. Regardless of each groups capturing more and more properly, the Nuggets went to the break nonetheless up 67-59.
Murray did his greatest to personally help Denver in busting the sport large open in a 3rd quarter the place the Nuggets bought out to a 13-4 run. Los Angeles once more was capable of preserve tempo – with Norm Powell and Dunn initiating many of the driving – however nonetheless not placing a dent into their deficit. Harden and Leonard, specifically, deserted their outdoors capturing alternatives to drive it into Denver’s smaller frontline. Westbrook and Braun erased the entire Clippers’ positive aspects with back-to-back threes to shut the third.
Observations
A foregone conclusion – Stephon Fort simply gave the impression to be an ideal match as a Spur.
This was essentially the most pissed off I’ve seen Leonard look in a while.
Jokic’s struggles on the line this collection jogs my memory of the difficulty Tim Duncan had all through the 2005 playoffs. Duncan had a nagging ankle damage to work by way of, although.
Sequence of the Sport #1: Partway by way of the opening stanza, Murray put Nic Batum on skates within the paint and scored a nifty lay-in.
Sequence of the Sport #2: Midway by way of the third quarter, Murray lofted a feathery lob to a streaking Gordon for an alley-oop to make it a 17 level sport.
Sport Rundown
The groups got here out of the gates wanting no worse for put on after Saturday’s dramatic Sport 4. A spry Leonard took it almost the size of the courtroom of a Klaw Slam, and an equally spry Murray took it down the center for the same dunk. Denver drew a number of Clippers fouls within the first minutes. Christian Braun discovered a slicing Gordon baseline for an and-1 that put the Nuggets up 9. Harden often attacked deep into the paint like he time-traveled into the “Seven Seconds or Much less” Suns offense. Regardless of who was charged to protect him, Murray continued to do injury from distance. On successive possessions, Jokic threaded the needle to Braun for a lay-up, and tossed in a floater over Zubac. The groups stayed glued at 28-19 for some time, and Denver left the primary up a dozen.
Murray and Westbrook continued their capturing prowess to begin the second quarter, whereas Bogdanovic tripled the LA three-pointer depend to… three. The second of Westbrook’s threes for the body put Denver up 13. Murray continued to pop out and in of pick-and-rolls to knock down more and more tougher pictures. Bogdanovic was whistled for this third foul, however remained within the sport. Dunn got here alive from the sphere to hit two threes and shut the hole to single digits. The groups impressively traded baskets over the remainder of the half, however the Clippers had no reply for Denver’s bucket getting capabilities. The fast-paced first half yielded an eight level lead for the Nuggets.
With Zubac draped throughout him, Murray hit a shotclock-beating 20-footer to begin the third. Jokic fed Murray for one more pair of threes and the Nuggets’ lead grew to 17. With the burden of Denver’s offensive stress bearing down on them, LA continued attacking the rim to develop the foul depend and gradual the sport down within the hopes of chipping away on the margin. Bogdanovic picked up the place he left off within the second quarter to hit a nook three, and with Powell’s driving lay-up, the Denver lead did shrink to eight. Westbrook and Bogdanovic chirped at one another and have been assigned technicals. But it surely was Westbrook and Braun’s threes that made it 99-83 Nuggets heading into the fourht.
