Clippers coach Tyronn Lue hasn’t given much thought to the urgency or intensity that comes with playing a Game 5.
The Clippers head into Tuesday’s game tied in their best-of-seven series with the Denver Nuggets at two games each, with the winner getting the chance to close it out when the teams return to Los Angeles on Thursday for Game 6.
Lue’s what-me-worry attitude might come from the fact that, according to the NBA, the team that wins Game 5 of a 2-2 best-of-7 series has gone on to win the series 81.3% of the time (191-44).
Lue said he isn’t looking at Tuesday’s crucial game any differently than the previous four.
“All these games are the same,” he said, adding that there has been a sense of urgency from the start of the playoffs, “and I mean from Game 1. It’s not just because it’s 2-2,” Lue said. “We understand when the playoffs start, you got to have urgency from the beginning. As soon as the jump ball goes up, you got to be ready to go and you got to be impactful in any ways you can.”
Center Ivica Zubac said that while the challenge of beating the Nuggets hasn’t changed, this game holds extra importance.
“Every one of them are important, but going into a mini-series of a best-of-three, you for sure want to get the next one. You want to get Game 5 for sure,” Zubac said. “It’s a very important game.”
In the 2020-21 playoffs, the Clippers were tied, 2-2, with the Dallas Mavericks and lost Game 5 but won the next two games to move on.
“So just got to win,” Zubac said.
Lue said getting off to a strong start will be key to beating the Nuggets at Denver’s Ball Arena. The Nuggets scored 16 points in the first five minutes in Game 2 and had 20 points in the first 4½ minutes of Game 3, leaving the Clippers scrambling to play catch-up.
Lue said the Nuggets came out attacking in Game 3, which put “us on our heels to start the game.”
The Clippers also started slow in Game 4 and never took a lead in the first quarter. The Nuggets didn’t let up and had a 20-point lead to start the fourth quarter. The Clippers, however, erased all the deficit and took their first lead with 1:11 left in the game only to watch Nuggets guard Aaron Gordon slam home a game-winning dunk at the buzzer.
“We got to start games better, especially with a defensive identity,” Lue said. “You got to have an attack mentality on both sides of the basketball, and you just have to go from there.”
Defensively, the challenge remains the same. How to limit three-time MVP Nikola Jokic. He has posted three triple-doubles so far, coming two assists short in Game 4 of a fourth.
Zubac is the first line in stopping Jokic, who is averaging 28.5 points, 13.5 rebounds, 10.8 assists, 2.3 steals and shooting 47.6% on 3-pointers this postseason. He acknowledged that it’s not as simple as standing in the 6-foot-11 center’s way.
“He’s a player that ever since I remember playing against him from the first time, he always played super hard. He never took possession off. He always looks for ways to impact the game.
“It’s what he does. It is what he has been doing for years now and has been averaging a triple-double for the regular season,” Zubac added. “It’s what they do, what he does, that’s how they play and that’s it.”
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