By Daniel Paiz

Announcers routinely call the NBA a shooting league, focusing on scoring as the only deciding factor. In reality, the NBA is an effort league; whoever puts in more effort usually wins. Denver’s efforts weren’t enough, as the Nuggets’ missed opportunities leads to a 105-102 loss at home. The series is now tied 1-1 and Game 3 shifts to LA on Thursday of this week.

Nikola Jokic had a solid game, notching the 165th triple-double of his career with 27 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists. Jamal Murray had a bit of a bounce-back game with 23 points. Michael Porter Jr. also had a much-needed response with his 15 points and 15 rebounds. Kawhi Leonard scored 39 points for the visiting clippers.

There were things that went well, and some things that can’t happen anymore.

Game 2 recap

Turnovers

The little things give you away, and 20 turnovers for Denver were what kept the visitors in this game as a squad. Seven of those were unfortunately by Jokic. It appears that several of those were due to being double-teamed in the paint, which led to forcing things. Jokic knows that double teams are going to happen, and there has to be some fight to power through it.

Too often the offensive plan was to drive into the paint and take hard shots. Every team in the NBA will gladly permit you to offensively take off-balance, tough shots. Ball movement was abandoned after the first quarter. Transition is Denver’s secret weapon but in Game 2, the Nuggets hid this too well.

Free Throws

The numbers for this category says it all: Los Angeles hit 83.3% of their shots from the charity stripe, while Denver landed a paltry 65.2% from the same spot. There’s always the what if game, but tonight it hurt harder than others. If Jokic hits all his free throws, Denver wins by one. If the other guys who went one of two from the line hit their second shots, this team also wins by one. The playoffs are a game of inches, and Denver didn’t measure up to their potential.

Key Moments

Powell versus Murray

Towards the end of the third quarter, there’s a bit of some physicality going on between Denver’s Jamal Murray and LA’s Norman Powell. Powell shoves Murray in the chest to create space, goes to the other side of the court, and Murray closes out and picks him up before putting him down. Powell tries to start a scuffle. Christain Braun comes in to back up Murray and Kris Dunn shoves Braun. Powell and Dunn get technical fouls, Braun gets a tech, and Murray gets a common foul call.

The announcers do a TERRIBLE job of explaining why Murray responds the way he did, choosing to ignore the context of the situation. This could have been more of a catalyst for Denver than it was. The visitors seemed to take more away from the interaction than Denver. That might’ve been why they made better passes and scored more as the clock ticked away.

Michael Porter Jr. in the fourth quarter

MPJ had a bounce-back game, as he grabbed double digit rebounds and saw the ball go through the hoop numerous times. In the fourth he had a couple of putbacks off of missed shots and hit a big three as the fourth wound down. Ideally this version of MPJ shows up for the remainder of the series. If he can do what he did in Game 2 and also disrupt shots and get a few blocks, Denver should be in much better shape in LA.

Keys to Game 3

• Good passes and reduced turnovers

This team was moving along wonderfully in quarter one, and a big chunk of it was the transitional offense. Denver passed the ball, moved the defense and got buckets. Shots will go in and they will go out, but when you pass the ball enough, you’ll get good looks. As Game 2 went on, they did this less and less. Jokic uncharacteristically had seven turnovers; that likely doesn’t happen again. His teammates also added 13 of their own. That has to be lowered a bunch. Good passes, good reads, and patience can alleviate that issue.

• Shot selection

The Nuggets drove into the paint, got swamped by the defense, and then made awkward or bad passes. The fourth quarter was full of this, and it made things easy for LA. There has to be ball movement that makes the defense work harder. If the defense is forced to keep working, then Denver will get better shots off. Reading and accepting what’s in front of them will really help as well, because playing the same play over and over won’t work. Open looks are better than rushed looks. If this team communicates and adjusts as the game goes on, they can steal Game 3.

Bonus Content

Check below for episode 2 of Mile High Recap with Plumas Poetic!