Instant reaction from the Denver Nuggets’ 101-99 win over the Los Angeles Clippers in Game 4 of their first-round NBA Playoffs series on Saturday at Intuit Dome:
1. ‘All hands on deck’: Interim Nuggets head coach David Adelman vowed it would be “all hands on deck” for Game 4. What did that look like, exactly? Not all that different from the first three games, save for one change: With Russell Westbrook out with a foot injury, the first two players off the bench in the first quarter were second-year guard Jalen Pickett and … Vlatko Cancar?!?! Cancar hadn’t played a single minute of meaningful playoff basketball in this series prior to Saturday, then came in the first quarter and promptly turned the ball over on his first touch for an easy bucket the other way. The Slovenian lasted all of two minutes — illustrating just how few options Adelman truly has at his disposal.
2. MPJ’s true grit: Aside from Westbrook, the other big question coming into Game 4 was whether or not Michael Porter Jr. could grit his teeth through another game with his sprained left shoulder. MPJ admitted that he played at “20 or 30%” after Thursday night’s blowout loss. Then he came out Saturday with a bandaged shoulder and promptly made just about every tough shot he took, including a stepback 3 over Kawhi Leonard in the second quarter that was part of a 4-of-7 night from deep. That’s not to say there weren’t times when his injury reared its ugly head. Ball-handling, in particular, appeared to be a challenge. But anyone questioning MPJ’s toughness after Thursday’s minus-25, could only sit and watch Saturday as the veteran forward made his first big imprint on the series. If Denver gets more of the same from Porter in Tuesday night’s Game 5, the Clippers are in trouble.
3. Showing fight: You didn’t have to look hard to find takes declaring this series over after L.A. took a 2-1 lead late Thursday night. But after getting pushed around for much of this series, Denver took the fight to the Clippers on Saturday. The moment everyone will remember, of course, is Aaron Gordon taking exception with James Harden mean-mugging Christian Braun after a take foul — igniting a kerfuffle that resulted in six (!) offsetting technical fouls. But it was so much more than that. It was MPJ grinding out tough buckets. Braun crashing the boards and scoring around the tin. Gordon making Kawhi work. And Nikola Jokic playing the role of puppet master — as he always does. Even with Jamal Murray submitting a 5-for-17 dud, the Nuggets found a way to escape L.A. with the series knotted at 2-all. And now we’ve got ourselves a best-of-three with Denver reclaiming home court advantage — after Gordon’s dunk for the ages.
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