DNVR Player Grades: Clippers run Nuggets off the floor in Game 1

There are levels to this game. Just two days after the Denver Nuggets completed a 3-1 series comeback and Game 7 victory over the Utah Jazz, they were confronted with a sobering wake-up call. The San Antonio Spurs were a weak playoff team last season. The Portland Trail Blazers represented the Western Conference Finals by default. The Jazz played a hell of a series, but they’re not on the Clippers level, and neither, apparently, are the Denver Nuggets. Not yet, anyway.

Kawhi Leonard and company outclassed Denver and buried them in the second quarter with a back-breaking run. The Nuggets are tired, banged up, and for the first time, attempting to steal a playoff series from a team that’s clearly a cut above. They looked in over their heads in the 120-97 loss. Seven games make for a long series, and the Nuggets make for a tough out. They have more to offer their opponents than they showed Thursday night, but their work is cut out for them all the same as they prepare for Game 2.

Head Coach Michael Malone started Gary Harris alongside Jamal Murray, Jerami Grant, Paul Millsap, and Nikola Jokić. The starters held their ground in the first quarter, and Jokić looked ready to pull something special out of his hat. The big man scored eight early points and recorded this ludicrous assist to Murray.

This might be the best pass I’ve ever seen, no joke. pic.twitter.com/5KyBP5Yolt

— Chris De Silva (@cdesilva23) September 4, 2020

It’s hard to remember now, but the first quarter went quite well. Jokić was rolling, Grant couldn’t miss, and the Nuggets looked far more ready for battle than they did to open the Utah series. But the Clippers bludgeoned Denver’s second unit relentlessly, one crushing blow after the next until the Nuggets let go of the rope. The bench scored just five combined points in the first half.

The Clippers hit the locker room for halftime with three scorers in double-digits. Paul George played well, Marcus Morris killed Millsap and Michael Porter Jr., and Kawhi Leonard was ruthless. The cold-blooded assassin scored 19 points in less than 20 minutes on 8/11 from the field. He barely broke a sweat.

The rout was on, and Malone left his starters in for some time in the second half, hoping they could show some fight and build momentum for Game 2. It never happened.

For a tired Nuggets squad, the excuses are there, but they’re not necessary. The Clippers are in another class, and if there were any lingering questions about how much they fear the Nuggets, those questions received an emphatic answer. The Nuggets can push this team further. The Nuggets can still win this series. But they’ve got a long way to go to earn the respect of their opponents.

Let’s go to the grades:

The Class

Nikola Jokić – C+

Jokić followed up an “A” first quarter with some uninspiring basketball. In his defense, the bench fumbled the game by the time it was handed back over to him, but if Malone hoped his best player would will his team back into the game, then he was in for a disappointment. Jokić finished the game with 15 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists on 43% from the floor. He led all Nuggets in scoring.

Jokić can do more. Outclassed the Nuggets may be, but not him personally. He possesses the talent and is faced with a favorable matchup to be the second-best player in the series. Team defense is a far more complicated concept than just assigning the right individual matchups, but the Clippers don’t have the horses to keep him in check. He must make his presence felt going forward.

Jerami Grant – C+ 

Grant opened the game with 11 first-quarter points on 3/3 from deep and finished the game with only 12. He played great defense on Leonard, but it simply didn’t phase him. Grant sat on the pump fakes, waited for Leonard to rise, and stuck a long arm in his grill to contest the mid-range jumpers, but the man is just a machine. He saw and shot right through the contests.

Paul Millsap – C+

I’ve good news and bad news for those hoping to see less Millsap going forward — and it’s the same news. For however flawed he looked, he was the team’s leading rebounder and second-leading scorer Thursday night. He was actually one of their better players. But the once-great defender is hemorrhaging points, and he struggled to contain Morris.

Jamal Murray – C

This is a brutal matchup for Murray, who must keep rolling as a high-volume three-point shooter to break through this defense. The Clippers have a trio of elite perimeter defenders in George, Kawhi, and Patrick Beverley. Murray, clearly spent after his herculean efforts in round one, had little to offer in his team-high 33 minutes. The good news: he got a surprising number of clean looks from deep (2/8), now he needs to knock them down.

Gary Harris – C

Harris didn’t lock anyone up Tuesday night, and he wasn’t alone either. But that’s what he’s out there to do. His 5 points in 24 minutes didn’t do much to make up for it.

Principal’s Office

Everyone else – F

Monte Morris, Mason Plumlee, Torrey Craig, and MPJ have to find a way to win these bench minutes. Hopefully, Game 1 is the nadir, as it can’t get much worse than that.