The LA Clippers get a bit of revenge on the Denver Nuggets
Paul George and the LA Clippers were able to exact a little revenge on Christmas day, defeating the Denver Nuggets 121-108. George came out on fire scoring 10 of his team-high 23 points in the first quarter. George also added nine assists and five rebounds in the game.
It is early in the season, but thus far it looks like Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue is making it a point to get George involved in the offense early and often. Not only to keep his confidence up but to keep him engaged moving forward as well.
George received the lion’s share of the blame for that Game 7 debacle in the playoffs against the Nuggets just a few months ago. PG-13 was focused on Christmas and determined to put this team away as was the entire Clippers team.
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Through the first two games of the season, George is averaging 28 points per game in victories over the Nuggets and the Los Angeles Lakers. Not a bad way to start the season. For these Clippers to make a deep playoff run, they will need George to be one of their best players. Mainly, one of their two best players alongside Kawhi Leonard
Leonard had a decent game himself scoring 21 points to go with seven assists and five rebounds. There was a scary moment for Leonard late in the fourth quarter when the Nuggets were making their run. While going up for a rebound in the lane, as Leonard went to jump, teammate Serge Ibaka beat him to it, and as Ibaka jumped his arm came up directly bashing into the side of Leonard’s mouth.
The aftermath was quite gruesome as Leonard stayed down on the hardwood for a couple of minutes, bleeding from his mouth.
After the game, ESPN reported that Leonard required eight stitches for his mouth laceration after colliding with Ibaka.
Leonard left the game with 6:07 remaining in the fourth quarter, but not even this would be enough to propel the Nuggets back into this game. Though they did make a run, the Clippers were able to put them away this time.
The Nuggets did not help their cause much, shooting 45.7 percent from the field as a team and just 30.6 percent from behind the arc.
Nikola Jokic did his usual thing on the court and came up one rebound shy of a triple-double, putting up 24 points, 10 assists, and nine rebounds. Jamal Murray scored 23 points but got off to a bit of a slow start in this game. Michael Porter Jr. started hot scoring early and often with seven points in the first quarter but ended the game with just 10 points.
The Nuggets fell behind and just could never seem to get in a rhythm as the Clippers did not fold with a big lead this time around.
While it is just the second game of a long 72-game season, Clippers fans have to feel good about defeating two of the top three teams in the western conference from a year ago to start the season.