The Los Angeles Clippers started their training camp focusing on the things that hampered them the most in their first round playoff series loss against the Denver Nuggets.
Two areas the Clippers felt were the most significant reasons they fell in the 2025 postseason were opponent's offensive rebounds and transition points given up.
In Games 1-3 in which the Clippers took a 2-1 series lead, Denver recorded…
— 9 second-chance points, 29 points off turnovers in Game 1
— 18 second-chance points, 12 points off turnovers in Game 2
— 7 second-chance points, 9 points off turnovers in Game 3
In the rest of the series that saw the Nuggets win three out of four, Denver recorded…
— 22 second-chance points, 7 points off turnovers in Game 4
— 15 second-chance points, 11 points off turnovers in Game 5
— 17 second-chance points, 10 points off turnovers in Game 6
— 22 second-chance points, 15 points off turnovers in Game 7
That inspired assistant coach Jeff Van Gundy to create shirts for his coaching staff emphasizing their priorities in camp.
The shirt, which reads, “Get The F**k Back,” highlights the words, ‘floor balance,' ‘urgency,' ‘consistent communication and concentration,' and ‘know we lost to Denver because of transition.'
Jeff Van Gundy inspired these shirts that all Clippers coaches were wearing today at practice.
“Get The F.U.C.K. Back” pic.twitter.com/OtX1l1Y63a
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) September 30, 2025
The Denver Nuggets traveled to Los Angeles to play a preseason game this past weekend. It was the first basketball game back at Intuit Dome since the Clippers won Game 6 and forced a decisive Game 7 in Denver.
Nuggets head coach David Adelman was asked about the shirts, which were a form of respect for the team that won the series.
“I mean, they're cool t-shirts,” Adelman said before Sunday night's game. “When I saw it, I kind of immediately thought of what we felt after the OKC series. That's the last thing you see or you thought of of your season. So I'm sure that should be impactful for them. We didn't make shirts, but I definitely understand that feeling of defining, ‘this is why we weren't playing in round two.' That's just what I imagine was going on. Obviously, I'm not there, so I don't know, but it's their thing so that's all I have to do.”
The Clippers had their chances to win the series. They led by one point with 30 seconds remaining in Game 1 with possession of the ball. They also had all the momentum and nearly came back from down 20 to force overtime in Game 4 before Aaron Gordon's put-back dunk to win it.
Like the Clippers in the first round, Denver took a 2-1 series lead before losing three of the last four games. And like the Clippers, Denver was eviscerated in a road Game 7.
The Nuggets defeated the Clippers in Game 7 of their first round series, 120-101. The Oklahoma City Thunder defeated Denver in Game 7 of their second round series, 125-93.
“I think we looked at the fact that we didn't close Games 4 and 5 of that series,” Adelman added. “We had a chance to win both games. OKC made big shots, they executed late in those games, and then in Game 7. Sort of the late game execution. And then in Game 7, I think you saw a very tired group. And that led to leadership saying we've got to get deeper, we've got to get more veteran players.”
The Nuggets responded in the offseason by trading for Cam Johnson, trading for Jonas Valanciunas, and signing Bruce Brown while really only losing Michael Porter Jr. as a key rotational piece from last season.
“I keep saying this: I'm not hating on the group we had, we just had to play our guys a lot of minutes. And then it was on us too, we had to play a lot of minutes at the end of the season to put our selves in a situation where we had to win games to get in the top 6. I think depth really helps that way. It doesn't mean it's going to work out. It looks good on paper right now, but to have that depth to hopefully have more juice. And we all know it from experience of winning the championship. That year, I felt like we went into the playoffs totally fresh. And that is such a big deal if you can get there. Or at least have a better freshness about you than we did last year. Those are the things we really looked at and I think we did a good job of hopefully solving that.”
The Clippers are hopeful the additions of John Collins, Brook Lopez, Bradley Beal, and Chris Paul will help them in areas they struggled in last season.
