INGLEWOOD, Calif. — The Clippers comeback comes up short as the Denver Nuggets win at the buzzer 101-99. Los Angeles loss their first playoff game in the Intuit Dome with the defeat. The series is now tied 2-2 with Game 5 coming on Tuesday night in Denver.
Here are some takeaways from the Clippers loss to the Nuggets:
Rough third quarter sets the Clips back
In a game I felt coming in was a must win for the Clippers as not approached like it was early on.
With the Clippers leading the series 2-1 before last night’s matchup. You would’ve thought that the Clippers would realize that a 3-1 series lead would mean the end for Denver.
The Intuit Dome crowd may have been even better than in Game 3 but the team wasn’t.
The offense looked lackadaisical but the defense kept them in the game.
Things all went downhill in the third quarter. Los Angeles was outscored 35-17 in the period.
Offensively, Los Angeles was just 5 for 18 in the third including 1 for 8 from three. The team wasn’t getting some solid looks but could knock them down. It was the only quarter in the game that Los Angeles scored under 20 points.
Defensively, this was a quarter that they could not contain Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic, he scored 16 points and added eight rebounds and four assists in the quarter. The Nuggets got whatever they wanted and made the Intuit Dome crowd quiet for the time being.
It was a very frustrating quarter of basketball for the Clippers and ultimately cost them the game.
Los Angeles trailed 85-65 at the end of three but they eventually fought back to nearly steal a win from Denver.
Clips never quit
Many teams would’ve folded after getting dow 20 points before the start of the fourth quarter but not this Clippers.
Though they ultimately fell at the buzzer to the Nuggets. Los Angeles fought back nearly making an all-time great comeback.
Shots started to fall, the Intuit Dome found its spark and the Clippers effort led to the best game of the playoffs so far.
Norman Powell caught fire making all three of his three-point attempts in the quarter. Kawhi Leonard scored 10 of his 24 points in the quarter.
The final period was a total flip from what occurred in the third quarter.
Los Angeles even held a one-point lead after a Bogdan Bogdanovic layup.
Though they walked away with a loss the Clippers fought to the very end nearly stealing the win.
Every possession matters
It is playoff basketball which today is much different than the regular season.
Basketball during the regular season doesn’t seem that every possession matters like in postseason games. I say that because the pace is much different, there are more bad shots taken and turnovers don’t hold as much weight with the games pretty much being a three-point shooting contest.
We all know that the postseason is a whole different game. One little mistake in any quarter can cost you and we may have seen that on Saturday night.
At the end of the first quarter the Clippers trailed 24-22 with the ball in their possession with 1.2 seconds remaining. It looked like they would just inbound the ball and go to the second quarter with a two-point deficit but not so fast.
James Harden inbounding the ball on the Nuggets end of the floor threw an errant pass intended for Ivica Zubac and it went out of bounds without anyone touching the ball.
It gave the Nuggets another opportunity to score and they did just that when Jokic made a buzzer beating three to end the quarter with Denver leading 27-22.
It may not seem like much but a possession like this can be the difference between winning and losing. That one turnover didn’t lose the game but it added to it.
From here on out, every possession matters and the Clippers must fully grasp that to win.
