Nuggets are beaten hard by Clippers

First quarter

The Nuggets looked like they had forgotten how to play basketball early in this game. The Clippers played relatively normal for them – Norman Powell hit a three-pointer, Derrick Jones Jr. got a dunk, they had 7 points in the first 4 minutes. Either way, it’s not an unreasonable number. The Nuggets, on the other hand, had two early turnovers, a smorgasbord of missed layups and a total of two points in the first four minutes.

From then on, the only thing that could be resolved was Nikola Jokic. Peyton Watson started in place of Aaron Gordon, who was brought off the bench to get him back into the game after being out since November 4th. He looked like he did at the start of the season – out of shape. The Nuggets also looked confused on defense. There were several possessions where the Clippers created easy looks through backdoor cuts and the Nuggets’ late rotations. Nikola had 15 points in the first quarter and played all 12 minutes. He made 7 of 10 shots from the field and the rest of the team shot 3 of 13 from the floor. It was Jokic and no one else as the Nuggets lost 23-32 after the first frame.