05/03/25 10:31:00
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05/03 22:30 CDT Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets advance with 120-101 Game 7
laugher over stunned Los Angeles Clippers
Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets advance with 120-101 Game 7 laugher over stunned
Los Angeles Clippers
By ARNIE STAPLETON
AP Sports Writer
DENVER (AP) --- Not this time.
Nikola Jokic got plenty of help from his teammates and Denver's scoring surge
held up in a 120-101 blowout of the shellshocked Los Angeles Clippers in a Game
7 laugher on Saturday night.
The Nuggets led by as many as 35 and while the franchise's biggest blowout in a
win-or-go-home scenario won't make up for last year when Denver blew a 20-point
fourth-quarter lead over Minnesota at home in Game 7 of their Round 2 series,
it certainly exorcised some of those demons.
"It feels good," interim Nuggets coach David Adelman said, "but I also know
we're flying to O-K-C tomorrow."
The No. 4 seed Nuggets advanced to take on the No. 1 seeded and well-rested
Oklahoma City Thunder, which swept Memphis in the first round and has had a
week off heading into the second-round series that begins Monday night.
When Adelman reminded a friend recently that the reward for surviving this
gritty series with the Clippers was a date with the team that went an NBA-best
68-14, his buddy retored that what actually awaited the winner was a 72-14 team.
"OK, that's right," Adelman replied. "Appreciate that, bro."
The Nuggets and Thunder split their season series 2-2 and if Denver can
reproduce its effort from Saturday night, the next series could be a tight one,
too.
Jokic had 16 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists in 33 minutes but for a
change he was overshadowed by his teammates. Aaron Gordon led Denver with 22
points, Christian Braun had 21, Jamal Murray and Russell Westbrook chipped in
16 each and Michael Porter Jr. scored 15.
"In playoffs we know that everybody needs to step up, offensively, defensively,
whatever, energy-wise. And everybody who plays needs to contribute something,"
Jokic said. "It was special today the guys did that."
Braun also played terrific defense on James Harden, who was held to 7 points on
2-of-8 shooting.
"Everybody behind me allowed me to guard him. But I think maybe the biggest
part was Russ," Braun said. "He's played against James, he's played with James,
so he knows his game. ... The coaches trusted me tonight. We didn't want to
switch. They kept me on him all night. So, credit goes to those guys and the
coaches."
Kawhi Leonard led Los Angeles with 22 points and Ivica Zubac had his quietest
game of the series with 10 points.
"I don't think this team was 30 points better than us," Leonard said. "We saw
that throughout the first six games of this series, but you've got to give them
credit. They came out, ran hard in transition, got easy points and they made
shots."
Hanging over the Nuggets all season, one that included the firings of their
head coach and their general manaer, was their Game 7 fiasco in Round 2 last
year just when it looked like they were primed to defend the franchise's first
NBA championship.
And after frittering away a 22-point fourth-quarter advantage in Game 4 of this
series --- only to be saved by the first buzzer-beating dunk in NBA playoff
history, courtesy of Gordon --- the Nuggets and Ball Arena crowd only grew more
energized instead of anxious as the lead kept growing and the Clippers kept
missing.
The Nuggets outscored LA 72-40 over the second and third quarters and blew this
one open with a 17-0 run in the third quarter after Leonard started the second
half with a 3-pointer to cut LA's deficit to 58-50.
"The rebounding and defense was amazing," Jokic said. "We had a lot of
opportunities to run and a lot of guys stepped up and a lot of guys made
baskets."
After picking up his third, fourth and fifth fouls over a 48-second span late
in the third, Jokic went to the bench. The Nuggets began celebrating early in
the fourth quarter when Westbrook willingly took a technical for swinging on
the rim after a steal and breakaway dunk put Denver up 107-76.
Courtesy of team owner Steve Ballmer, more than 100 Clippers fans were flown to
Denver and assembled behind one of the baskets to provide extra noise. They
were rowdy when the Clippers took a 26-21 lead after one quarter but were as
bewildered as the Los Angeles bench as the Nuggets ran away with it.
___
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