Only about 13 hours earlier, their leads of 14 in the fourth quarter’s final minutes, six in overtime and six again in double overtime had all dissolved into a bitter loss to a Sacramento team it needed to keep pace with in the Western Conference standings.
Top-seeded Denver awaited. But within a minute of the team’s plane taking off, a bolt of lightning struck it, as staff members felt the engines momentarily quiet before revving up for a steep climb into the clouds. When everyone got off in Denver, a noticeable splotch along the tail, the site of the strike, had been stripped of its paint.
What followed Sunday night in Ball Arena was another jarring takeoff and bumpy ride, a 134-124 overtime loss to the Nuggets capping a bitter 48 hours whose events no one saw coming.
Trailing by 18 to the West’s top team within just the first quarter, the Clippers pulled within four in the third quarter, only for a flagrant foul begin a disastrous stretch. Two minutes later, their deficit was 14.
Using a patchwork of lineups — with starting center Ivica Zubac missing his second consecutive game — the Clippers claimed their first lead with only four minutes remaining in regulation on a winding drive by Paul George that resulted in a free throw, as well.
When the Clippers couldn’t corral the rebound from a deep heave by Jamal Murray to beat a nearly expired shot clock, the Nuggets whipped the pass to Michael Porter Jr. for a go-ahead three-pointer with 27 seconds to play and a 120-118 lead.
George, who had missed two critical free throws Friday again Sacramento, made two free throws to force a tie with 23 seconds left, then after a miss by Denver in the final seconds, threw a heave from past half-court that swished – but the ball had been in his hands as the final seconds ran off.
In overtime, the Clippers resilience fizzled, missing all five of their shots, their four points derived from free throws only.
Kawhi Leonard scored 33 points, Paul George had 23 and Russell Westbrook scored 17, with five rebounds, five steals and four assists. But unlike Friday, when coach Tyronn Lue kept Westbrook in during critical minutes of the fourth quarter and overtime, Westbrook didn’t play after checking out with 1 minute 21 seconds to play in the third quarter.
With a new rotation, the Clippers could not solve a years-long problem of stopping Denver superstar Nikola Jokic, who could be on his way to winning the league’s most valuable player honor for a third consecutive season. Without Zubac, the Clippers tried defending him with Mason Plumlee to start, then at halftime switched to forward Nicolas Batum, whose long arms and guile have successfully Jokic the ball and position he wants. But Jokic scored 40 points with 17 rebounds and 10 assists, and 15 of his points came in fourth quarter and overtime.
The loss left the Clippers 33-30 and swept in all four games against Denver, which is 9-2 against the Clippers since these teams’ meeting in the 2020 Western Conference semifinals.
The drama started long before overtime.
Traded to Charlotte before the NBA’s Feb. 9 trade deadline in exchange for Plumlee, before being subsequently bought out and signing with Denver as a free agent, former Clippers guard Reggie Jackson strode through Ball Arena security three hours before tipoff.
Wearing a down jacket and trucker hat, Jackson – who spent his high school years in Colorado Springs — started a conversation with nearly every staffer he passed, as was his custom with the Clippers.
(David Zalubowski / Associated Press)
Right behind him through the arena’s metal detector was Bones Hyland, who went from all-rookie last season with the Nuggets to dealt for second-round picks to the Clippers months later, a trade precipitated when the team and rookie didn’t see eye-to-eye on his role.
Denver did not appear disappointed about losing Hyland to a conference competitor. Nuggets coach Michael Malone heaped praise on Clippers backup center Mason Plumlee, himself a former Nugget, before tipoff, citing his professionalism, but asked about Hyland, Malone answered with a curt “I wish him all the best” before a team official ended Malone’s media availability.
In an era when NBA teams fete any returning players of note with tribute videos, Hyland stared at the arena’s suspended scoreboard during the first timeout break, but a digital welcome never arrived. Boos, however, did whenever Hyland touched the ball. In contrast Jackson’s first appearance in Denver as a Nugget was met with a rousing applause and the public-address announcer’s message of “welcome back, baby!”
Hyland had not played Friday, Westbrook’s debut pushing the 22-year-old farther down the depth chart, but with five minutes left in the first quarter Hyland was inserted to harness his microwave scoring to pull the Clippers back from what had already been an 18-point deficit. Gone was the heart gesture Hyland had flashed to fans during warmups, replaced by an icy stare toward one section of courtside fans after his first three-pointer, then another glare toward the Nuggets’ coaching staff and bench after a second. The energy was vital, the Clippers’ 11 fast-break points in the second quarter essential to not allowing a repeat of Jan. 13, when Denver jumped ahead by double digits quickly and had broken the Clippers by halftime.
Hyland scored 10 points, Jackson seven, but both were ultimately subplots to the larger story of what Malone also notably said before tipoff: That these teams, separated by three places in the standings, were nonetheless the same, needing to establish their identities with the season’s final quarter remaining.