![]() ![]() As rough as LouWill’s been, though, his pick-and-roll partner has struggled even more. He hasn’t been able to make the Nuggets pay on the other end, averaging just 10.5 points per game in Round 2 and making only three of his 23 3-point tries (13 percent) to continue a brutal run of bricklaying that has persisted ever since he got back into the bubble. While Williams has worked hard defensively, the Nuggets have found success targeting him in the pick-and-roll it was one of the foundational elements in the fourth-quarter run that blew L.A.’s doors off in Game 6. Clippers not named Leonard or George scored just 22 points in the third and fourth quarters of games 5 and 6, shooting 10-for-37 as a group and 2-for-16 from long distance-a jaw-dropping disappearance at the absolute worst possible time. ![]() That supposed strength has become a vulnerability in this series, though, and especially lately. The Nuggets Need More Than a Moral Victory in Game 7 Marcus Smart’s Controlled Chaos Is Powering the Celticsįor all we didn’t know about the Clippers heading into the postseason-reminder: Leonard and Paul George appeared together in only 37 of L.A.’s 72 games, and the Clips’ current starting five logged just 147 regular-season minutes-one thing we did know is that they were deep, with Sixth Man of the Year winners Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell anchoring a second unit that could run opponents’ reserves off the floor. Now, Denver’s the swaggering offensive monster, impervious to the pressures of the moment and simply having too much fun to lie down now, the Clippers are the team with too much history and too little continuity, too few bankable rotation options and too many question marks to inspire the sort of confidence that’s bursting forth from every Nugget. But after a pair of nearly unbelievable performances in which Denver blitzed Doc Rivers’s club to outscore the Clippers a combined 131-84 after halftime in games 5 and 6, the definitions seem different. The Nuggets, meanwhile, with high-scoring guard Jamal Murray unable to shake L.A.’s excellent perimeter defenders, seemed to lack sufficient firepower against such a formidable opponent. After finishing off a 96-85 win in Game 4 to take a 3-1 lead, the Clippers seemed inevitable-a team capable of authoring stretches of smothering defense and overwhelming offense, with Kawhi Leonard making a convincing case as the best player in the bubble. Through four games, it looked like the series had revealed its participants’ identities. ![]() and we're going to GAME 7 /VIFy7XxlvU- The Ringer September 13, 2020 ![]()
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