Overview

The LA Clippers will look to clinch the West’s No. 2 seed and bounce back from Sunday’s — well, the less said about Sunday the better. The Denver Nuggets need to win to sustain any hope of passing the Clippers. Although it could really be the Houston Rockets nipping viciously at their heels that provides the motivation. Either way, this game should be important for both the Clippers and Nuggets, so here’s the preview!

Game Information

Where: The ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, Orlando, FL

When: 6:00 PM PT

How to Watch: Fox Sports Prime Ticket, ESPN, AM 570 LA Sports

Projected Starting Lineups

Clippers: Reggie Jackson — Paul George — Kawhi Leonard — Marcus Morris Sr. — Ivica Zubac

Nuggets: Jamal Murray — Torrey Craig — Michael Porter Jr. — Paul Millsap — Nikola Jokic

Injuries

Clippers: OUT – Patrick Beverley (calf), OUT – Landry Shamet (foot), OUT – Montrezl Harrell (isolation)

Nuggets: OUT – Gary Harris (hip), OUT – Will Barton (knee), QUESTIONABLE – Jerami Grant (knee)

The Big Picture

Win and take the second seed. It’s that simple for the Clippers.

Is the second seed important? Less so than in a non-pandemic year. Would you like to face the Mavericks, who locked themselves into the seventh seed with another close loss? Dallas appears to be revving Luka Doncic so hard to run up its sterling point differential that the young engine runs out of gas before crossing the finish line. Do you want Denver to win to keep the Houston Rockets on the Lakers’ side of the bracket? I’ll let you do your own calculus.

Whatever your preferred result(s), I think we can all agree on one thing: let’s get out of this one healthy, guys.

The Antagonist

The Nuggets have their own set of decisions in balancing their fitness against their playoff position. On one hand, without the advantage of more games at their oxygen-starved home to strive for, Denver has appeared content to rest its core players late in recent still-close contests. On the other hand, dropping to the fourth seed is a punishment the Nuggets face that the Clippers no longer do. What do they want? How badly do they want it? Will they push the recently returned Jamal Murray? Does Paul Millsap want you to vote or vote for him? Will Michael Porter Jr. accept a vaccination? All these answers and more are forthcoming.

Game Notes

  • Many Happy Returns: Both the Clippers and Nuggets hope to be whole, or something close to it, for their final respective seeding games. Montrezl Harrell, who announced his own return to the bubble after his grandmother’s passing, is in isolation and could play against the Thunder on Friday. The Nuggets may get starters Gary Harris and Will Barton back before their own Friday game. Collectively, these returns may be even more meaningful than tonight’s result.
  • Clippings: If you missed it, or bookmarked it and haven’t gotten around to it, please make a point to read Cole Huff’s column on the Clippers’ big-man rotation . . . ESPN relays a message from Lou Williams: Beware of Montrezl Harrell . . . The Los Angeles Times had this in-depth interview with Jerry West . . . Tomer Azarly at ClutchPoints gathered some of the Clippers’ thoughts on the (un)importance of playoff seeding.

That’s it for this Clippers-Nuggets game preview. Give your comments on the game below! Also, we are experimenting with game threads in the forum for this one, so during the game, direct your comments to this thread. Let us know how the forum works for the game thread!

Thomas Wood

Thomas Wood

Writing about the Clippers since 2014 and also since 2019.

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