Denver Nuggets have already been here and want to avoid the same result. The same goes for the Clippers of Los Angeles.
A battle that started two weeks ago ends on Saturday evening when Denver welcomes Los Angeles for match 7 of his quarter -final of the Western Conference. The winner advances to face the seeded n ° 1 Oklahoma City.
The Nuggets have been playing in their fourth match 7 since the 2019 qualifiers, but they have not all been pleasant memories. They are 2-1 in match 7 in this section, and the most recent experience was last season when they exploded a 20-point lead in the second half and suffered a heartbreaking home defeat against Minnesota in the second round.
“We are going to think about it, using it as a learned lesson,” Denver’s acting coach said on Thursday. “But it’s now. It’s a different team against which we are in competition.”
This different team has the future temple of the fame of James Harden and Kawhi Leonard, who were both big for the Clippers in the victory of match 6 of 111-105 on Thursday. Harden rocked mediocre performances in the two previous games with 28 points, and Leonard had 27.
Before Thursday, Harden had not won an elimination match from the NBA bubble in Orlando in 2020 when he was with Houston, and he was criticized for his game in the elimination matches since. It did not disturb his teammates.
“It has already been here,” said Leonard about Harden. “The guys have matches where they don’t play well during the season. It’s just another match, so I knew he was going to be able to come back, or he was going to be aggressive and try to go to his place.”
Harden, 35, sat for a minute in Thursday’s victory and is ready to start again.
“Anyway, 47, 48, overtime, whatever-I will be ready to do so,” he said.
The Clippers are 4-1 in match 7 in the first round, but the franchise has won only one of those on the road since 1978. Los Angeles played for the last time in a match 7 in 2021 when he beat Dallas in the first round on the path of his first appearance in the conference final.
Clippers coach Tyronn Lue, made a key adjustment in the second period Thursday which will probably continue on Saturday. Lue started the largest and more versatile Nicolas Batum in the third trimester. The 6 -foot veteran 8 inch had only six points, but he was able to defend the stars of Nuggets Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray while presenting himself as a perimeter threat which allowed Harden and Leonard to attack the painting.
“Batum is a much better shooter than Kris Dunn,” said Jokic, referring to goalkeeper 6-3. “Batum is a great defensive player. He can keep one to five.
This is the second time that the teams have been playing a match 7. Denver has won the first, which has occurred in the NBA 2020 bubble, to finish a return from Down 3-1 in the series. Leonard and Ivica Zubac were in this Los Angeles team; Jokic, Murray and Michael Porter Jr. are the only nuggets still on the list.
– field level media