The Clippers' depth is overwhelming the paper-thin Nuggets
When Kawhi Leonard and Ivica Zubac checked out with a little over four minutes remaining in the first quarter of Thursday's Game 3, their Los Angeles Clippers trailed the Denver Nuggets 24-19. By the time they checked back in to start the second, the Clippers turned that deficit into a seven-point lead.
L.A. finished the opening frame on a 16-4 run despite Nikola Jokic playing the whole quarter for Denver. The Clippers never looked back, running away with a 117-83 win to take a 2-1 lead in the blockbuster first-round series.
Leonard was merely very good in the game, as opposed to being a transcendental specter floating above the court and tossing in line-drive middies from the astral plane, like he was in Game 2. He scored 21 points on 20 shooting possessions and dished six assists as the Nuggets shaded aggressive help in his direction. The Clippers still made their opponents look totally overmatched, because everyone around Leonard picked up the slack and because their defense held the league's fourth-ranked offense to 92.2 points per 100 possessions - its second-lowest mark of the season.
The initial run that gave the Clippers control was led primarily by James Harden. During that Leonard-less stretch at the end of the first quarter, he went 4-for-4 on scoring attempts against Jokic in the pick-and-roll, splashing three pull-up threes and finishing a snaking drive with a layup. But that run was also enabled by Nic Batum and Ben Simmons, the bench guys who subbed in for Leonard and Zubac.
Simmons gamely took on the Jokic assignment, drawing a charge in one instance and in others simply standing up Jokic long enough for late help to arrive. As usual, Simmons didn't even try to score himself, but he set great screens for Harden, came up with a steal and a block, and generally looked the part of a competent backup center. The Clippers won his nine minutes by nine points.
The 36-year-old Batum somehow looked fresh as a daisy, and he was everywhere on defense, cooling off Aaron Gordon after a hot start while also making massive help plays around the rim. Batum sprung timely double-teams on Jokic, was in the lane to force kickouts on drives, blocked a pair of layups while zoning up the weak side, and even blew up a Jokic lob attempt while sprinting back in transition. At the other end, Batum shot 4-of-6 from deep, eluding closeouts with his patented no-dip threes. He wound up playing 27 minutes and finished plus-23, second only to Harden for the game.
What was particularly notable about that pair's contributions was the fact they ranked ninth and 10th in minutes per game among Clippers players who finished the season with the team. L.A.'s ability to get productive minutes out of guys that deep in the rotation stood in stark contrast to Denver, which got a total of six points on 2-for-14 shooting from its bench in Game 3.
Jokic is the best player in the series, Jamal Murray has played about as well as you could've hoped coming off a late-season hamstring injury, and Gordon has played his role to near perfection at both ends. But the Nuggets are going to be hard-pressed to win this series - especially with Michael Porter Jr. nursing a sprained shoulder - against a team that can almost match them for top-end talent while sending different varieties of role players at them in waves.
This was the Clippers' vision when they opted to let Paul George walk in the offseason and build out their rotation around Leonard and Harden, adding defensive-minded role players like Batum, Kris Dunn, and Derrick Jones Jr.
Dunn's been a monster on defense all season, and especially in this series. He's not only hounding Murray up and down the court while dodging screens left and right, he's also giving Jokic trouble with instinctual digs and proactive weak-side rotations. He's done just enough on offense (by shooting 5-of-13 from deep) to stay on the court for extended minutes. When he comes out, Jones Jr. fills the same role. And when the Clippers need an offensive spark off the bench, they can turn to Bogdan Bogdanovic.
Bogdanovic hasn't gotten anything going in this series, yet he still commands enough respect as a shooter to draw two to the ball and create buckets for others. No one on Denver's bench can bend the defense that way. At all.
All told, the Clippers won the 3-point battle by a score of 54-21, which has been a common problem for the Nuggets this season. L.A. almost never has more than one shaky-shooting perimeter player on the floor at a time, whereas Denver often has three. Even with Gordon stepping up early in Game 3 as the movement 3-point shooter in one of their pet plays, it didn't really change how the Clippers guarded him.
They're still comfortable leaving him open to shrink the middle of the floor for Jokic and Murray, just as they're comfortable doing with Christian Braun and - to a much greater extent - Peyton Watson and Russell Westbrook. The Nuggets rely on Watson for his defense and athleticism, but they have a 75.8 offensive rating with him on the court in the series.
Denver's been able to overcome these limitations throughout the season thanks to Jokic's singular genius, but against a team as deep, talented, and well-prepared as L.A., those limitations are starting to feel too significant to conquer.
Joe Wolfond covers the NBA for theScore.