“We needed this win, let’s be honest.” Michael Malone, coach of the Denver Nuggets, was that clear after the hard-fought win this morning against the Los Angeles Clippers (127-115), who only succumbed in the last minutes of a match that places Colorado in sixth place in the Western Conference, since it gives direct access to the playoffs, with a balance of 43-30, and gives them some air after linking two consecutive losses and add four in the last six games.
It also allows Nikola Jokic to recover. The center had a superb performance with 30 points, 14 rebounds and 6 assists. Although the best was its performance at launch: 9/15 shooting from the field; 12/13 from staff. A 60% that looks even more so after the disastrous 34.8% (8/23) loss against the Boston Celtics on Sunday. It was a redemption. The Serbian accumulates a new double-double and they are already 59 in the 66 games he has played this season. Nothing bad.
Last minutes
Denver did not have it easy at all to get rid of a rival that is only getting carried away until the end of the regular season: the Clippers will play the play in. He has very few options to qualify directly for the playoffs (he is 7.5 games behind Denver in sixth place) and very few to be snatched from the eighth position with the cyclothymic Lakers 4 games behind and ten to play. A smooth sail to the preliminary rounds…and without Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. Its alot.
The Angelenos clung to the game for 45 minutes with Mann fired (24 points) and Morris (14), Jackson (14) and Hartenstein (14) quartermaster. With 5 minutes to go, the result was an uncertain 109-106 for the locals, who smashed their rival from the perimeter with three triples almost in a row (Morris, Green and Barton) that made any kind of assault on Colorado impossible. Important external contribution from Hyland (16 points, 4/6 of three). Facundo Campazzo ran out of minutes.