The Denver Nuggets came out flat on Thursday as they opened their second-round series with the Los Angeles Clippers. The Clippers blew out the Nuggets 120-97 to claim an early advantage in the Western Conference Semi-Finals. Starting forward Paul Millsap knows what he's got to do though to help them bounce back from the ugly Game 1 loss.

“I'm gonna go to my room and do 100 pushups to just get my mentality in check. We just learn from this. Coach is right, we've got to take a lesson out of this and the lesson is be more physical.” Millsap said post-game (per Harrison Wind of DNVR Sports).

The four-time All-Star played 24 minutes and logged in just 13 points and nine rebounds. Obviously, Paul Millsap and the rest of the Nuggets are still reeling from a tough first-round match-up against the Utah Jazz where they needed all seven games of that series to advance. That first-round series ended just last Tuesday giving the Nuggets just around 48 hours to recover and lace-up against the Clippers. On the other hand, the Clippers were rather well-rested as they've had a good four days off after taking care of the Dallas Mavericks in Game 6 on Sunday.

The Nuggets were competitive and were able to match the Clippers' intensity and physicality early on as the first quarter ended 31-31 but when Los Angeles went into second gear in the next quarter, the Nuggets had no answers. The game seemed out of reach by halftime as the Clippers were already up by 18 and took control from then on.

Millsap and the rest of the squad will look to bounce back on Game 2 on Saturday.