The Nuggets have their blueprint to beating the Clippers

Gary Harris is only 25-years-old but has already been through the NBA ringer.

He was a rookie when then-Nuggets coach Brian Shaw rapped a pregame scouting report in an effort to better connect with his players ahead of a game that Denver lost by 30. A year later under Michael Malone, Harris started 76 games alongside Emmanuel Mudiay, the Nuggets’ presumptive franchise point guard.

The longest-tenured Denver Nugget was nearly traded to the Indiana Pacers in 2017, but then watched Nikola Jokic grow into the face of the franchise, Jamal Murray sign a max contract and the organization that he saw first-hand at one its lowest points ever, blossom.

So you know it had to be killing Harris to have to sit and watch from the sidelines as the most talented Nuggets team he’s been apart of opened the playoffs inside the Disney World bubble without him. Harris injured his right hip during one of his first practices after joining the team in Orlando and didn’t make his playoff debut until Game 6 of the Nuggets’ first-round series against the Jazz.

Harris has been a major factor since. His defense in Game 6 helped flip the momentum of Denver’s first-round matchup, and his clutch poke-away from Donovan Mitchell in the waning moments of Game 7 helped seal the series win.

Harris knocked in five three-pointers over his first two games against the Clippers, and in Game 2 his defense on Paul George went a long way towards the Nuggets evening the series 1-1. Combined with Jerami Grant’s defensive efforts on Kawhi Leonard, who Denver held to 4 of 17 (23.5%) shooting from the field in Leonard’s worst shooting performance in the playoffs since 2015, the Nuggets have found their blueprint to getting past the Clippers.

That blueprint also involved playing with more physicality in Game 2, a lesson veteran Paul Millsap said Denver learned from its Game 1 defeat. You saw it Saturday night. Nikola Jokic may have intentionally or unintentionally set the tone for a more physical approach in Game 2 when he clocked Patrick Beverley in face while going for an offensive rebound early in the first quarter. The Nuggets didn’t relinquish any airspace to the Clippers’ top scorers over the rest of regulation.

“This is playoff basketball,” Michael Malone said after the Nuggets’ 110-101 Game 2 win. “If you don’t have a physical mindset, you’re going to be going home early.”

Grant was Denver’s primary assignment on Leonard and frustrated the 2019 Finals MVP all night. He was relentless chasing Leonard around screens in Game 2.

Harris matched up against George, and despite giving up around six inches to the Clippers forward held him to 22 points on just 7 of 19 shooting. When the timing was right, Harris also flashed his elite feel and timing as an off-ball defender.

The Nuggets have a 105 Defensive Rating when Harris has been on the floor over the last four games. For the playoffs, Denver’s defensive rating sits at 119.

Grant and Harris combined with Torrey Craig to lead Denver’s defensive surge in Game 2. The Nuggets held the playoff’s second-best offense to a playoff-low in points (101), field goal percentage (41%) and three-point percentage (28%).

“Three different defensive traits,” Monte Morris said speaking about Grant, Harris and Craig’s defense on Leonard and George. “You’re not going to get the same dose with a guy defending you. Torrey plays with his long length and can meet you at the rim and get into you. Gary’s quick with his hands and his feet. And Jerami’s just long. He can contest. He don’t give up on plays. It’s three different categories of defenders there.”

“Just making it physical and trying to give them different looks. I think we did a great job behind them as far as making them see bodies so they wasn’t playing them 1-on-1. Because asking anybody to do that with those two guys, even including Lou Will, them not seeing a crowd is tough. I think they did a great job overall.”

As Morris eluded to, the second ingredient to the Nuggets limiting the Clippers’ All-Star wings is Denver’s second-line defense. For as good as Grant and Harris were on the ball in Game 2, no defender can keep Leonard in George in front of them for four quarters. The Nuggets’ team defense behind their two defensive stoppers was elite Saturday.

Even when the Clippers were able to get Leonard mismatched on a smaller Nuggets defender, Denver’s help-side defense came up big.

If the Nuggets hadn’t already committed to doing whatever’s necessary to keep Grant in Denver past this year, it’s hard to imagine that Tim Connelly will let Grant walk in free agency this offseason even if a rival team comes in with a competitive offer after a performance like this. Grant does have a $9.3 million player option for next season which he could still exercise before hitting free agency in the summer of 2021 when more teams could have a surplus of cap room, but it looks like he’ll be in a Nuggets jersey well beyond this year.

Another aspect of Grant’s play in Game 2 that has to have the Nuggets excited: his rebounding. Malone and the Nuggets implored Grant to hit the glass harder throughout the season and Grant corralled a playoff-high seven rebounds in Game 2, two of which came on the offensive glass. Across 71 regular season games, Grant grabbed two or more offensive rebounds just 11 times. Despite scoring just five points on 1-9 shooting in Game 2, Grant was a plus-15 in 40 minutes.

The Nuggets were paced in Game 2 by 44 combined first-half points from Jokic and Jamal Murray which got Denver out to a 16-point halftime lead. But when the Clippers’ began to make a third-quarter run and trimmed Denver’s lead to five points early in the fourth, it was the Nuggets’ defense that rose to the occasion. The Clippers shot just 34% from the floor and 21% from three across quarters three and four. Harris also came up big on the offensive end late in Game 2, going 3-3 from three-point range over the final seven-and-a-half minutes of regulation.

While the Nuggets limited Leonard and George, Denver held LA’s role players in check too. Millsap has been much-maligned for his play in these playoffs so far, but he was able to hold Marcus Morris to only 11 points after he scored 18 on 7-10 shooting in Game 1.

Harris seems like he’s trying to make up for lost time after starting the playoffs in street clothes. This latest hip ailment wasn’t the first injury he’s dealt with this season, and Malone made it clear in the lead-up to Harris’ return that he wan’t going to pressure Denver’s shooting guard to get back on the floor. Harris would play again when he was comfortable, confident and most importantly when he knew he could play a significant role and be relied upon.

His patience has paid off.

“He wouldn’t be playing if he wasn’t going to be a difference-maker,” a source close to Harris told DNVR.

The Nuggets seem like they got an emotional boost from Harris’ return too. Harris isn’t the most outgoing locker room presence, but he’s a highly-respected veteran who’s been a model citizen throughout his time in Denver. He’s showed younger players the ropes and how to be a professional. He commands loads of respect within the Nuggets’ organization.

“G is a really, really good player, and he’s really underappreciated at times,” rookie Michael Porter Jr. said.

At 1-1, the Nuggets-Clippers second-round series has taken on a new life. Whatever mental edge LA may have held over Denver following a February regular-season blasting of the Nuggets on national television and a Game 1 beat down is gone.

The Nuggets know they can play with the Clippers.

After a Game 2 win, the Nuggets also know that Harris, Grant and their defense are central to any hope that Denver has of advancing past the Clippers and to the Western Conference Finals.