As the Nuggets prepare to host Game 7 of a first-round playoff series against the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday, here are three keys to the winner-take-all elimination game.
Ty Lue’s lineup change: Pardon the Clippers’ Frenchman. Nicolas Batum replaced Kris Dunn in the starting lineup for the second half of Game 6, playing 34 minutes after averaging just 22 in the first five games. Lue used a nine-man rotation for most of the series, but he whittled it down to seven in that second half. Dunn, surprisingly, didn’t play at all. “Batum is much better shooter than Kris Dunn,” Nikola Jokic said bluntly, adding that “I don’t think they lack in the defensive end if they start Batum. They’re probably gonna start Batum next game.” Dunn is an imposing point-of-attack perimeter defender, but Denver has been completely ignoring him as a spot-up threat to double-team James Harden and Kawhi Leonard. Batum is 40% from 3-point range in this series with a quick release that keeps defenses honest. Can the Nuggets still find ways to shrink their defense and send help to the Clippers’ stars if Batum’s spacing rearranges the geometry of the floor? Oh, and he can also switch one through five.
Can Michael Porter Jr. close?: This series is a deck stacked with wild-card players. Porter has fluctuated even more dramatically than Harden in the last two contests. On Tuesday, he finished plus-34 in a Game 5 when the next-best Nugget was plus-18. On Thursday, he was a minus-24 in a Game 6 when nobody else on his team was worse than minus-six. Nuggets interim coach David Adelman has shown he will ride the hot hand to finish games, even if that means sacrificing Porter’s shooting for Russell Westbrook’s activity. Westbrook has been phenomenal in this series, but closing with him remains an inherently risky gambit, if only because his mistakes tend to ring louder than everybody else’s. (Case in point: Another short-armed transition layup at a pivotal moment in Game 6.) If the Nuggets want to avoid the erratic range of Russ outcomes that can plausibly occur at the end of a game, the burden is on Porter to stay on the court. That means knocking down a few 3s or finding other ways to contribute with an injured left shoulder.
Game 7 redemption: It hasn’t yet been a full year since the Nuggets choked away a 20-point lead to Minnesota in a home Game 7. Indisputably the most devastating loss of the Jokic era because of what might’ve been in store next for a 57-win team, it can only serve as fuel for tired legs now. Players seemed reluctant to acknowledge the very existence of that horrifying memory in the locker room after Game 6 this week. But the roster is similar. The environment will be the same. Adelman suggested that fans “go to brunch” then meander to Ball Arena for the 5:30 p.m. tip. And even Jokic was hyped up enough to give the NBA some free advertising. “If you like basketball, like a real true fan of basketball — not like ‘fame’ basketball, like real detail stuff — this is the game you should watch,” he said. Jokic and Jamal Murray are 3-2 in Game 7s. Consider this an updated referendum on their sturdy playoff reputations. The Nuggets will lean heavily on their core players and hope not to run out of gas.
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