The Nuggets Survived The Russell Westbrook Rollercoaster And Take Down The Clippers In An OT Thriller To Win Game 1

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Now THAT is what the NBA Playoffs are all about. You want to talk about a high quality NBA basketball game, look no further than that Game 1 OT thriller. Everything about that game is why we watch playoff basketball. Huge stakes, high pressure shot making, insane mistakes, late game execution, and a whole hell of a lot of drama. Not only did we have all of that in Game 1, but this is only the beginning. There's a whole lot more where this came from as this series continues to play out given how even these two teams are. This series is the very definition of a heavy weight fight, and Game 1 pretty much confirmed it.

Heading into the series, the Clippers were a trendy pick to make it out alive. They're a bit of a dark horse candidate, and with a healthy Kawhi Leonard and the fact they've been playing great basketball as of late, it's not a crazy take. Today showed that they can absolutely come away with a split, which as the road team in this spot, is really the main goal. That's also what makes blowing this game sting a little bit, because everything was technically right there for the taking. In the playoffs, when you have the opportunity to win on the road, you have to cash in. Letting those slip is a dangerous game, but their overall goal of a split is still on the table.

If you're the Nuggets, this is a big time exhale win. Coming all the way back from down 15, finding a way to make enough plays down the stretch to pull out this win is a big moment. With everything going on with the Nuggets at the moment, they could certainly use a moment like this. The fact that it came via the rollercoaster that is Russell Westbrook is what made it all so thrilling

Sure Jokic was great with another 29/9/12

Sure, Jamal Murray made some huge threes in the 4th quarter to keep the Nuggets attached. Yes, Aaron Gordon had his moments too with some massive OREBs, dunks, 3s and FTs down the stretch. But the story of the Nuggets for me in this game has to be the Russell Westbrook Experience. Every other possession we alternated between heroic game-saving plays to an immediate disastrous mistake that suddenly put the game in jeopardy. It was incredible theatre. For a Nuggets fan, I'm sure it was hell, but for the rest of us? You couldn't look away

Let's start with this make. What a massive amount of trust Nikola Jokic has to have in Westbrook to give him the ball in that moment. You know he's shooting it. The Clippers want him to shoot it. And you know what? The Basketball Gods rewarded them for that trust as they should. That's how basketball should be played, and it's cool that trust wasn't wasted.

Unfortunately, the bill immediately came due on that 3PM, only this time we got bad Westbrook

In all honesty, Jokic probably should have kept that one for himself. That's where trusting Westbrook a little too much can go wrong. To not even get a shot off in that spot was tough, especially when both Murray and Jokic had previously had the ball. 

Things weren't all that much better in OT for Westbrook, he still took the same open 3s as the 4th quarter, but bricked them. He tried to get to the rim, but couldn't finish. Thankfully, Aaron Gordon was there to dominate the offensive glass which was another massive reason the Nuggets pulled out this win. Their late game rebounding was tremendous. 

But when it came time to make a play, wouldn't you know it, there was Russell Westbrook making his presence felt

In the playoffs, it doesn't matter what it may look like, all that matters is stacking wins. This is a race to 16 wins, and sometimes you're going to need to pull games directly out of your asshole on your journey up the mountain. Today, the Nuggets pulled this win out of their ass. They locked in and made enough plays down the stretch, so you take it and move on. 

The Nuggets may have avoided disaster today, but Game 2 will be a whole different ballgame. I imagine now the Clippers are playing with a certain level of confidence, knowing that they were right there to steal a game and they did it without really getting a dominant Playoff Kawhi performance. In fact, he had one of the more bizarre turnovers you'll ever see

An efficient 22 for Kawhi, but not the type of Playoff Kawhi dominance we're used to. Harden was awesome, Zubac continues his strong play, and the Clippers starters gave the Nuggets everything they could handle, all while not playing to their ceiling. On some level, that makes you feel confident heading into Game 2. 

Now we get to see everyone's adjustments. Is MPJ just not a factor anymore in this series? If the Clippers simply don't turn the ball over 20 times in Game 2, is that enough? What is Ty Lue going to cook up to adjust to the Nuggets doubling Kawhi and making him more of a passer? There's a whole lot of basketball to come in this series, but given what we saw in Game 1 I think we're all hoping there's at least 6 more of these things. 

For all the hype surrounding the Western Conference playoff race, I'd say our first look at it certainly lived up to the hype. All I'm hoping for from here on out is good health and a long series.