DENVER (AP) — Many in the NBA world wrote off Denver as a championship contender after Nuggets boss Josh Kroenke fired his head coach and general manager with just three games remaining in the regular season.
No team ever had such little time to adjust to a new voice heading into the playoffs, Yet, the Nuggets, facing the possibility of falling into a play-in position, responded by going 3-0 under interim coach David Adelman.
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That run secured the fourth seed in the top-heavy Western Conference playoffs and the home-court advantage for their first-round series against the fifth-seeded Los Angeles Clippers, with Game 1 Saturday at Ball Arena.
Following their first game under Adelman, a 124-116 win at Sacramento that came the night after Michael Malone and Calvin Booth were dismissed amid a festering feud, superstar Nikola Jokic delivered a curt message to friend and foe alike.
“People say that we were vulnerable, but the beast is always the most dangerous when they’re vulnerable,” Jokic said, suggesting that perhaps Kroenke “woke up the beast.”
Kroenke said he made the moves in an effort to salvage the season and praised his coaching staff and roster for rising to the moment.
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The Nuggets earned a week’s rest but they certainly didn’t draw a cupcake in the opening round.
The Clippers enter the postseason as the NBA’s hottest team, having won their final eight games and going 18-3 down the stretch. Their only losses over the last month were to the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder (103-101 on March 23) and the Cleveland Cavaliers (127-122 on March 30).
“They’re a great team,” Jokic said. “They are playing really well lately. They have dangerous players and they have players who are really probably the best at their roles coming off the bench. They’re really dangerous. We know it’s going to be a really big task for us, but I think we are ready for it.”
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Jokic is a three-time MVP but none of those awards followed a season like the one he just had. He’s just the third player to average a triple-double over a season and he set career highs in points (29.6) and assists (10.2) to go with his 12.7 rebounds per game.
Jokic is the first player in NBA history to finish in the top-3 in all three categories in the same season.
“Preparing for him is not an easy task,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. “It’s not going to be something where we got to expect Zu (Ivica Zubac) every night to be able to guard him 1-on-1. We got to give him different looks to try to keep him off-balance. If you double-team him, he’s going to have 15 assists, if you stay at home he might have 50 (points).”
Untethered Leonard
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While the Nuggets went 14-13 after the All-Star break, the Clippers have been ascending ever since Kawhi Leonard returned after missing the season’s first 34 games while taking it easy on his surgically repaired knees.
Leonard won two NBA championships — one with San Antonio and another with Toronto — but his health has been a major issue during his five years in Los Angeles.
Leonard, who appeared in just two playoff games the last two years because of injuries, is looking like his old — or shall we say, young — self.
“It feels good for us and him playing at a high level helps our team out tremendously,” Lue said. “I’m happy for him for, all the hard work he’s put in to get to this point and to be healthy at the end of the season.”
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Overlooked underdogs?
A lot of teams have better betting odds of winning the Larry O’Brien Trophy two years after Denver won its first NBA championship, but Aaron Gordon said the Nuggets are accustomed to disrespect.
“I mean, that’s how it was our championship run, too,” Gordon said.
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With contributions from AP Sports Writer Beth Harris in Los Angeles. Follow Arnie Melendrez Stapleton at https://apnews.com/author/arnie-melendrez-stapleton
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
