Nuggets-Clippers Game 2 3-pointers: Kawhi Leonard goes nuclear as Clippers even series
Another championship in the Nuggets first-round clash with the Clippers went down to the wire a final heave from Nikola Jokic falling off as Los Angeles evened the series - with a - win Monday night Let s break it down Kawhi Leonard punishes single coverage After the Nuggets successfully stymied Clippers stud wing Kawhi Leonard to seven uncharacteristic turnovers in Battle Denver threw the kitchen sink at him in Encounter Aaron Gordon battling Peyton Watson grappling shadowing with help when Leonard got Jamal Murray on an island Nothing really mattered Outcomes seemed predetermined from the very second the ball touched Leonard s fingertips on the wing in the first half Monday a tween-tween sequence leading to a rhythmically robotic pull-up from the elbow or midrange turnaround hands in his face invisible He ended the frame points on -of- shooting an unreal display of shotmaking capped off by a halftime buzzer-beater through a thicket of defenders Curiously through a tidal wave the Nuggets didn t elect to send consistent extra bodies at him He buried a massive stepback transition trey to put the Clippers up - with minutes left and Leonard didn t miss another shot from the floor until just over three minutes into the fourth quarter With seconds left and Gordon isolated Leonard elevated again and stuck a jumper in his eye his th point in a ridiculously efficient -of- performance Michael Porter Jr earns his redemption Through days of discourse around his complete evaporation in Challenge through pointed comments from David Adelman on his role and an apparent lack of on-court engagement Porter seemed to be clinging white-knuckled to his future in a Nuggets jersey On Saturday though Porter looked every bit the member the Nuggets gave a max extension to in a matured version of the same self that helped win Denver a title with spacing and sheer -foot- hustle in - Quietly as the Clippers continued to cut off his airspace in limiting him to four three-point attempts Porter grabbed a playoff-career-high rebounds including six monumental offensive boards Adelman turned to him down the stretch after turning away from him in Encounter One and for a moment it looked as if Porter might play hero He nailed a game-tying three with left to even the result at - and gave the Nuggets the lead on a subsequent possession after being fouled off another offensive board But he didn t result the rest of the way and Denver fell - to the Clippers The Joker-Harden chess match continues After a Tournament loss maestro James Harden pointed out there were only a handful of things the Nuggets could do defensively to contain the Clippers offense Either the Joker either he ll be up in pick-and-roll try to blitz or he s going to be in deep coverage Harden revealed then Quietly this is the key to the entire series an all-time genius pick-and-roll guard trying to read and attack an all-time genius center And in the first half Saturday Jokic s defense a topic of discourse with a near-impossible consensus often buoyed the Nuggets capably retreating in drop coverage and nabbing a couple of steals Harden came alive with a pair of s late in the second quarter and nailed two more in the third Denver s strategy to drop rather than blitz biting them with every lefty moonbeam He went scoreless in the fourth quarter as Leonard took over and the back-and-forth battle persists Related Articles Clippers coach Ty Lue on Nuggets interim David Adelman He has a good demeanor about him on the sideline Nuggets vs Clippers Themes from Championship to watch as playoff series continues Nikola Jokic wrestles Jeff Van Gundy for the basketball on Clippers bench He was in the weight room afterward Why David Adelman turned away from Michael Porter Jr to close Nuggets Tournament win Renck Russell Mania is maddening But Nuggets don t win without Westbrook Want more Nuggets news Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis
