The Denver Nuggets overpowered the LA Clippers in Saturday’s Game 7 to win and advance to the second round.
After a close first quarter, the Nuggets pulled away in the second, took a roaring lead in the third and shut down the Clippers’ offense. All of Denver’s five starters, as well as veteran Russell Westbrook, put up double-digit points in the 120-101 win.
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Denver advances to face the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference semifinals.
Nuggets 120, Clippers 101
(Denver wins series 4-3)
How the Nuggets dominated
In a Game 7 the Nuggets needed to win, in a series with so many storylines, Westbrook and Peyton Watson changed the course of the game in the second quarter. They came off the bench, played terrific defense and provided a level of energy the Clippers weren’t able to match.
More importantly, during some of Saturday’s most important moments, they took and made big shots. They started their portion of the game 3-of-3 from 3-point range, and they made the Clippers pay for choosing not to guard them. The Nuggets, trailing by 26-21 heading into the second quarter, started the quarter on a 7-0 run, all with Nikola Jokić on the bench.
In a series in which the bench struggled mightily to generate offense without Jokić on the floor, Watson and Westbrook provided the minutes and production needed for the starting group to turn Game 7 into a rout. — Tony Jones, NBA staff writer
17 UNANSWERED POINTS.
24-4 RUN.
35 POINTS IN THE QUARTER.DENVER EXPLODED IN THE THIRD ON TNT ‼️ pic.twitter.com/uVYQimCXN6
— NBA (@NBA) May 4, 2025
Denver’s bench provides a spark
The Nuggets’ lack of depth hasn’t been a season-long issue. It’s been a seasons-long issue, a reason former coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth were fired in the last week of the regular season. It most clearly manifested itself in last week’s Game 4, when interim coach David Adelman devoted just seven total minutes to reserves in the second half. Part of that was because Westbrook was injured, but part of it reflected the old issue: Malone didn’t trust the young players Booth drafted, and Booth didn’t retain veterans whom Malone used. That resulted in a thin, unproven bench.
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The Nuggets have struggled without Jokić on the floor forever. The three-time MVP, however, struggled to start the game, and Adelman rested him to start the second quarter. Naturally, it was Westbrook (a veteran Malone relied on, perhaps too much) and Watson (a 22-year-old wing whose role changed frequently under the old coach and a draft-night acquisition of Booth’s in 2022) who supplied the minutes that allowed Jokić to steady himself.
Overall, Watson and Westbrook combined for 17 points in the first half, including 5 of the 7 while Jokić sat, while the Clippers’ dangerous bench had just 7. Jokić eventually got it going, finishing two assists shy of a triple-double.
It is easy to imagine Malone and Booth watching the game unfold, nodding and thinking they knew what they were talking about all along. — Eric Koreen, NBA senior writer
What happened to the Clippers?
Energy. It’s something Adelman said his players needed from one another before Game 7. It certainly helps to be home, and it certainly helps to play one of the NBA’s oldest teams.
It also helps if your second-oldest player is Westbrook, the former Clipper who was traded despite picking up his player option. The Clippers held a 26-21 lead after the first quarter, but Westbrook had a sequence in the second quarter in which he hit a 3, drew a foul on defensive target Bogdan Bogdanović, got back-to-back steals and capped a 10-2 Denver run with an assist to Aaron Gordon.
The Clippers never led again. And the Clippers looked like a team that, once again, couldn’t handle the energy the Nuggets had at home. Westbrook matched Kawhi Leonard for a quarter-high 10 points, with both players essentially spending the entire period on the floor. By halftime, the Nuggets had outscored the Clippers 14-4 on fast breaks, 9-4 on second chances and 30-26 in the paint.
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LA didn’t have legs to shoot, missing 13 of 18 shots outside the paint in the first half. Ivica Zubac was in rare foul trouble, as was Norman Powell, who had more fouls in the first half (three) than buckets.
As for the Clippers’ stars, they didn’t star. James Harden played 46.5 minutes in Game 6 and predictably had a slow start with as many first-half turnovers (two) as field goals (2-of-6). Derrick Jones Jr. got the start over Kris Dunn and Nicolas Batum, but Westbrook outscored the Clippers’ bench 10-7 in the first half.
And when Batum started the second half in place of Jones, the Nuggets absorbed a Leonard 3 and immediately put the game away with a 17-0 run. It’s a tough ending for the Clippers in a series in which perhaps going the distance wasn’t in their best interests, but it’s also difficult for them to accept that they were eliminated by a Nuggets bench led by a player they had on their team last season. — Law Murray, Clippers beat writer
(Photo: Ron Chenoy / Imagn Images)
