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Clippers vs Nuggets, 2025 First Round Series Preview
The Clippers will square off against the Denver Nuggets in the 4-5 series of the first round of the 2025 Western Conference Playoffs. Here’s everything you need to know for a full series preview.
Game Schedule
Game 1: Saturday April 19, 12:30 PM PT in Denver on ESPN
Game 2: Monday April 21, 7:00 PM PT in Denver on TNT
Game 3: Thursday April 24, in Inglewood on NBA TV
Game 4: Saturday April 26, 3 PM PT in Inglewood on TNT
Game 5: Tuesday April 29, in Denver
Game 6: Thursday May 1, in Inglewood
Game 7: Saturday May 3, in Denver
Key Regular Season Stats
Record: Denver, 50-32; Clippers, 50-32
Net Rating: Denver, 3.8 (9th); Clippers, 4.9 (5th)
Offensive Rating: Denver, 118.9 (4th); Clippers, 114.3 (15th)
Defensive Rating: Denver, 115.1 (21st); Clippers, 109.4 (3rd)
Pace: Denver, 100.67 (8th); Clippers, 98.24 (22nd)
OREB%: Denver, 31.1 (5th); Clippers, 28.2 (19th)
DREB%: Denver, 70.9 (14th); Clippers, 73.4 (1st)
TOV%: Denver, 14.0 (13th); Clippers, 15.1 (23rd)
The Big Picture
The Clippers have had a surprising season in the best way. Left largely for dead after letting Paul George walk over the summer and dealing with Kawhi Leonard being out indefinitely to start the season, the Clippers held on to an above .500 record for the first half of the season without Kawhi before exploding down the stretch to somehow finish with 50 wins and full playoff berth. They were a top-five defense just about the entire season, playing with intensity and joy on that end of the court in a way that was truly fun to watch. Even with an offense that sputtered for much of the season, the Clippers rarely let their fans down – a very different experience to the “213” era that preceded this one.
Thus, even though the Clippers are the 5 seed and are favored by many pundits to win this series, the Clippers are playing with house money. Yes, the expectations of fans, media, observers, and internal stakeholders have been raised significantly. But at the end of the day, this team has already hit far, far above expectations, and barring a legitimate embarrassment in the postseason, this season will go down as a win. The players will, of course, feel differently about things, and there’s a hunger to this team that is unusual for Clippers’ fans, but it’s just a much different vibe (in a good way) compared to the 213 and Lob City teams, whose playoff runs always carried the massive burden of championship dreams.
The Antagonist
The Nuggets had a very different season. Two years after winning a championship in dominant fashion, and one year after losing in Game 7 in the second round of the playoffs, expectations for Denver were high, even with the steady drain of veteran talent over the years. After all, the Nuggets still had the core of the championship team intact, and most importantly still had the best basketball player in the world, Nikola Jokic, on their roster and in his prime. They were picked by some to come out of the West, and by nearly everyone as an “inner circle” or “second tier” contender.
The Nuggets did end up with 50 wins and the 4 seed, but their season did not look as smooth as predicted. A shaky end to the season cost head coach Michael Malone and GM Calvin Booth their jobs, with the Nuggets’ bottom-10 finish in defense dooming them on many nights. The Nuggets’ biggest offseason signing, Dario Saric, was a complete bust, and young players on the edges of the roster mostly did not take large steps forward. However, the Nuggets were still more successful than not, and their success largely came on the back of Jokic, who turned in the finest offensive campaign of his storied career and will finish either 1st or 2nd place in MVP for the fifth consecutive season. Supporting Jokic were the Jamal Murray-Michael Porter Jr.-Aaron Gordon stalwarts and Christian Braun, who stepped up in a big way as the fifth starter. Despite their defense, the Nuggets’ potent offense kept them in most games, and they are a team that nobody was looking forward to facing in the postseason.
Key Matchups
Kris Dunn on Jamal Murray : The Jamal Murray-Nikola Jokic two-man game has terrorized the NBA for a half-decade. And, while Jokic is the weightier part of that duo, Murray’s role is critical. The Clippers’ solution to Jokic might well be to cut off Murray’s game, and there seem like few better players in the entire NBA equipped to do so than Kris Dunn. Murray struggles a bit more with size and athleticism, so Dunn maybe isn’t the perfect Murray stopper, but he’s by any account of the best point of attack defenders in the NBA, and someone who has disrupted ball handlers of all stripes this season. Dunn won’t be able to shut Murray down, but if he can slow him significantly the Nuggets’ offense will lose a lot of its juice. Dunn’s role in this series will be critical, which means he can’t pick up silly fouls and has to be able to stick on the court on offense. I can’t wait to watch these two guys go at it.
Aaron Gordon on Kawhi Leonard: The Nuggets at least in part traded for Gordon all the way back in 2021 as a counter to Kawhi. He has defended Kawhi about as well as anyone in the NBA, and is someone the Nuggets will be comfortable leaving on an island against the Klaw. If Gordon is able to hold up one on one, even if Kawhi gets buckets at a decent clip, the Nuggets defense will not have to bend nearly as much. On the other hand, the Clippers will presumably try very hard to get anyone on the Nuggets but Gordon matched up onto Kawhi, with mismatch hunting and forcing switches probably being a large part of their game plan. This will the matchup that probably gets the most media coverage, and for good reason – it will be a true battle.
Jamal Murray on Norm Powell: This is at least how I think the Nuggets will match up early. Jokic will take Zu, Braun will guard Harden, and Michael Porter Jr. will try to hide on Dunn. That leaves Murray, who is not great on defense but not awful either, with the task of guarding Norm Powell. This is something the Clippers should be able to exploit. Norm has struggled down the stretch of the season, but his slashing as a secondary scorer should be unlocked with the Nuggets playing in drop coverage and a non-stopper on him. If Murray is able to limit Powell, the Nuggets will be in a much stronger position on the defensive end of the court. If Powell is able to recover his foul-drawing prowess and get Murray into trouble, the Clippers will have a huge edge. This won’t be the most covered matchup, but it might be the hinge of the series.
Other Notes
The Bench Battle: The bench is one area where the Clippers should have a major advantage. The Nuggets’ bench has been an issue all year, what with Russell Westbrook being up and down, young players like Peyton Watson and Julian Strawther being inconsistent, and veterans like Dario Saric looking unplayable. The Clippers, on the other hand, have three very reliable veteran bench players in Bogdan Bogdanovic, Derrick Jones Jr., and Nic Batum. Those players all have weaknesses, of course (Bogi’s defense, DJJ’s shooting, and Batum’s… well, sometimes he can look quiet out there), but are each much better in a vacuum than any player off of Denver’s bench. If those three players can just play to the level they were at in the regular season, the Clippers should do much better in the bench minutes. This will not only help on the court, but could cause the Nuggets to overplay their starters, resulting in fatigue if the series goes long. If the Nuggets do get strong production from their bench, the series could well swing their way.
Home Court Advantage: The Nuggets have homecourt advantage in this series – but have only been decent at home this year with a 26-15 record. This is unusual for Denver, who usually has an excellent home record due to the “Mile High” atmosphere that drains opposing teams. The Clippers, conversely, were quite strong at home, boasting a 30-11 record in Intuit Dome. The Clippers have historically not possessed a great homecourt edge, but Intuit Dome seems to have changed things, with the Wall potentially being a real factor in a raucous postseason environment. A big swing element in this series is how strong each team’s homefield advantage is, and at least going into the series, the edge is to the Clippers.
Clippers vs Nuggets, 2025 First Round Series Preview
Robert Flom