The Los Angeles Clippers made easy work of the Denver Nuggets in Game 1 of their second-round matchup in the West, 120-97. After the lopsided defeat, Nuggets star Nikola Jokic provided some insight on the issues he believes Denver must work on entering Game 2.
According to Jokic, the Nuggets' defense made it way too easy for LA in their series opener:
“They’re a talented team, we need to fly around, we need to make them work for every basket,” said Jokic, via Antigoni Zachari of Eurohoops.net.
“I think we didn’t help our main defenders on Kawhi [Leonard] and Paul George. They had a lot of offensive rebounds, Marcus Morris had a lot of threes. I think in that second quarter, they built up a lead in like four possessions. In my mind, it’s like that, but probably it’s not like that. We need to be more focused and not rush shots.”
Jokic just raised four or five key points in a matter of a few sentences here, and he pretty much hit the nail on the head on each of them. This just goes to show how troublesome the Nuggets were in Game 1 on both ends of the floor.
Kawhi Leonard led the way for LA in Game 1 against the Nuggets, going for 29 points on a red-hot 12-of-16 shooting. Paul George added 19 points, and as Jokic described above, Marcus Morris also came up big for the Clippers with 18 points.
The Nuggets now have to regroup before taking the floor again for Game 2 on Saturday. Needless to say, Denver needs to be much better if this is going to be a competitive series.
Follow Us
Subscribe