The Western Conference has been a gauntlet all season long, and that means NBA fans will be treated to great matches between evenly-matched teams right from the start in the NBA playoffs, which get going on Saturday. One of the best series on paper is the Los Angeles Clippers against the Denver Nuggets in the first round.

The Clippers are the lower seed coming into this one and will have to win at least one game away from home in Denver in order to advance. However, they should feel like the better of the two teams coming in with the way each team's season has gone.

The Clippers have been playing their best basketball of late. James Harden and Kawhi Leonard look healthy, Norman Powell and Ivica Zubac are having incredible seasons and the Clippers got a big win on the road against the Golden State Warriors to avoid the play-in tournament.

On the other hand, the Nuggets' defense has been a mess lately and they are still reeling after firing head coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth with three games to go in the regular season.

Harden and the Clippers are understandably feeling good heading into the postseason. Before the series, the future Hall-of-Famer talked about why the Clippers have the tools to take down the Nuggets and make a deep run in the postseason.

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“It's needed. Needed. We went over Denver,” Harden said. “Denver knows us, we know them. After Game 2 or 3, you make adjustments. Alright, the plays don't matter no more. It's about 1-on-1, go get a bucket, who is guarding who. For us, we've got a handful of guys who can do that.”

The Nuggets will have the best player in the series in Nikola Jokic, but the Clippers undoubtedly have the deeper team and more momentum coming in. Tyronn Lue is one of the most highly-regarded playoff head coaches in basketball, while David Adelman is still getting used to his position as interim head coach in Denver.

Still, the Nuggets' talent should make this a riveting contest between two very good teams out West. After a regular season full of great games between stellar teams in the conference, this series should be a doozy.