The first-round playoff series between the No. 4 seed Denver Nuggets and No. 5 seed LA Clippers figured to be an evenly matched pairing. Saturday’s Game 1 in Denver bore that out, with the teams battling to overtime before Denver ultimately came out with a hard-fought, 112-110 victory.
The Clippers started hot, running out to a 35-27 lead after the first quarter and eventually building a 15-point lead. But the Nuggets battled back, and a Russell Westbrook put-back gave Denver a 93-92 lead with 3:37 to go, the Nuggets’ first lead since early in the first quarter. It was a back-and-forth battle the rest of the way from there.
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Nikola Jokić led the way for Denver with 29 points nine rebounds and 12 assists. But he had plenty of help, too. Aaron Gordon scored 25, Jamal Murray had 21 and Westbrook chipped in 15 while making several key plays down the stretch. The Clippers were led by the 32 points of James Harden.
Earlier Saturday, the Indiana Pacers rolled out to a 67-43 halftime lead and cruised to a 117-98 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks to take a 1-0 lead in their first-round series.
Andrew Nembhard and Pascal Siakam were the early catalysts, combining to score 27 points before the break on 12-for-15 shooting. Indiana shot 61 percent as a team in the first half, including 41.2 percent from 3-point range and a perfect 10-for-10 from the free-throw line.
Watch as Haliburton directs Siakam to the corner… pulls the defense into the middle… then hits Siakam for the open 3. 👏👏 pic.twitter.com/6VjpHmFsPJ
— NBA (@NBA) April 19, 2025
The Bucks were without star guard Damian Lillard, who missed the final 14 games of the regular season due to blood clots in his leg. Lillard is no longer taking blood-thinning medication and could potentially return to action in this series.
Without Lillard, the Bucks were led by Giannis Antetokounmpo, who scored 36 points. The Pacers had five players in double figures, led by Siakam’s 25 points.
In other first-round action Saturday, the Detroit Pistons visit the New York Knicks (live now on ESPN) and the Minnesota Timberwolves take on the Lakers in Los Angeles (8:30 p.m. ET on ABC).
Nuggets 112, Clippers 110, OT
Zubac is a problem for Jokić, Nuggets
The effect of Ivica Zubac is real, and the Denver Nuggets are going to have to figure out how to handle his presence in the paint going forward in this series, even with a 1-0 lead.
In Game 1, he displayed a significant ability to make Jokić work, by bumping him off his spots and presenting resistance at the rim. Jokić, because he’s the best player in the NBA, was still dominant. But Zubac kept him from being otherworldly. More than that, Zubac’s defense at the rim deterred a number of drives to the basket by other Denver players.
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Jokić defended well, especially in the second half, and really increased his impact level in the second half. It’s clear that the Clippers are a deeper team than Denver in this series, and that Los Angeles has multiple ways to find offense. And that means Jokić is going to have to be the best player in this series by a significant amount. The Zubac effect meant that a tired Jokić missed two big free throws with less than two minutes remaining, free throws that could have given Denver a three-point lead. The Zubac effect meant a bad shooting night for Murray, in part because of Kris Dunn’s defense, but also in part because he couldn’t get easy looks at the rim.
The Nuggets will have to be better and quicker in getting into their offensive sets, especially down the stretch. Denver also can’t afford to spot the Clippers a 15-point lead, as it did in the first half, because of lackluster defense. Denver won Game 1 because it was able to defend at a high level for three quarters. The Nuggets put Game 1 in peril because they didn’t defend at all for the first 18 minutes.
This series is one game old and fatigue may already be a factor. Game 2 will be on Monday night at Ball Arena, but you could already see the tired legs in overtime of Game 1. It’s a product of two older rosters, but also a product of the emotion and the physicality that went into Game 1. Whichever team can deal with that the best will have a big advantage in Game 2. — Tony Jones
Clippers hurt by lack of ball security
This series is about the possession battle, especially for the LA Clippers. The Denver Nuggets have the best player in the series in Jokić. And he’s the best player because he leads an offense that is the only one in the NBA that makes more than half of its attempts.
The equalizer for the Clippers, besides how strong their offense has developed since March began, is that they are one of the best defensive rebounding teams in the league and one of the best at forcing turnovers, too. On the flip side, the Nuggets have struggled with turnovers.
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The Clippers had an 18-point second quarter. But that’s when they started getting crushed in the possession battle. Denver forced eight second-quarter turnovers, bringing that lead down to four by halftime. At the end of the third quarter, Jokić got a steal and a bucket. In the fourth quarter, Westbrook’s activity on the offensive glass kept the ball in Denver’s hands, essentially extending the game. And then in overtime, Westbrook blew up LA’s ATO.
Denver forced 20 turnovers to LA’s 11, and had 12 offensive rebounds to LA’s 11. That’s essentially 10 extra possessions in a game that was single digits before the last free throws Denver had to ice the game.
The possession battle is about focus. Lock in on protecting the ball, lock in on securing rebounds. LA didn’t do that despite holding the Nuggets to 43.6 percent from the field. As a result, the Nuggets lead 1-0. — Law Murray
Pacers 117, Bucks 98
Pacers make Giannis work for every point
Antetokounmpo exploded toward the rim in the third quarter of Saturday’s playoff opener, as he had several times while racking up points in the paint. This time, though, Pacers center Myles Turner wasn’t having it. When Antetokounmpo attempted to shoot, Turner got two hands on the ball for the block and forced a jump ball. The home crowd erupted as Turner temporarily preserved his team’s 25-point lead en route to the convincing victory. Antetokounmpo still finished with a game-high 36 points, but Indiana made it tough on him by throwing several bodies at the two-time league MVP, who finished 8-for-15 at the free-throw line.
The Pacers also contained Antetokounmpo’s playmaking by double-teaming him and desperately closing out on shooters whenever he swung the ball. Antetokounmpo entered Game 1 averaging 10.4 assists over his last 10 regular-season games, but he was limited to just one assist and five turnovers Saturday. Milwaukee showed some life in the fourth quarter by knocking down four 3-pointers to cut Indiana’s lead to 12, but the Bucks shot just 9-for-37 on 3-point attempts (24.3%) overall, which was their third-lowest mark in any game this season.
If the Pacers hope to take a commanding 2-0 series lead Tuesday, this is the blueprint they’d like to follow when defending Antetokounmpo. However, Lillard’s potential return would certainly make the Pacers change their approach. — James Boyd
THIS PLAY FROM MYLES TURNER TO FORCE A JUMP💪🔐 pic.twitter.com/OtAkUkB9AW
— NBA (@NBA) April 19, 2025
Mathurin’s playoff debut
Bennedict Mathurin was sidelined last year during the playoffs due to a torn labrum and had to watch from the sideline as his team advanced to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in a decade.
“I was in a sling,” Mathurin said earlier this week. “I was bringing cookies to the plane.”
This time around, as Indiana tries to prove last year’s postseason run wasn’t a fluke, Mathurin is fully healthy, and he shone off the bench in his playoff debut. The 2022 No. 6 pick scored nine of his 13 points in the second quarter, highlighted by a transition 3 that gave the Pacers a 56-41 lead. Mathurin’s role has fluctuated this season as he’s transitioned from being a starter to a key reserve. But the scoring punch he provided Saturday, while making all eight of his free-throw attempts, helped the Pacers roll past the Bucks.
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Indiana, appearing in its first playoff series with home-court advantage in 11 years, had six players score in double figures. In addition to Mathurin, Siakam paced the team with 25 points, Turner added 19 points and four blocks, and Tyrese Haliburton finished with 10 points and a game-high 12 assists for his fifth career playoff double-double. — Boyd
Giannis can’t do it all by himself
The Bucks did nearly everything wrong defensively in the first half. The Pacers scored 26 points in the paint. They got out on the run and put up 15 points on fast breaks. Indiana made 61 percent of its shots in the first half. One of the league’s most efficient offenses got everything it wanted for the first 24 minutes.
On the other end, Antetokounmpo was forced to do everything by himself. And he tried to do it, but he couldn’t pull off the impossible. Giannis drew nine fouls on Pacers defenders and scored 19 points, but it wasn’t enough as the Bucks went 2-for-16 from behind the 3-point line. Things got better for the Bucks in the second half, but not by much, as Game 1 of this series was essentially over by halftime.
The Bucks made a push in the fourth quarter with a unit featuring Antetokounmpo and four 3-point threats — Kevin Porter Jr., Gary Trent Jr., AJ Green and Bobby Portis — off the bench, but it wasn’t enough. That lineup has been one of the Bucks’ best in the final few weeks of the season, but the Bucks are going to have to find something else that works if they want to upset the Pacers in this series.
Milwaukee needs to find a way to make things tougher on the Pacers defensively for the entire game. And on the other end, they are going to need to find Antetokounmpo some help. The two-time MVP scored 36 of the Bucks’ 98 points, while the Bucks went 8-of-35 from the 3-point line and two starters (Taurean Prince and Kyle Kuzma) played 20-plus minutes without scoring. Maybe that extra help comes in the form of Lillard, but if he can’t play in Game 2 on Tuesday, the Bucks will need more from the rest of the roster. — Eric Nehm
(Photo: Matthew Stockman / Getty Images)
