In 2021, the Clippers lost Game 5 in the first round of the playoffs to the Dallas Mavericks to go down 3-2 in the best-of-seven series but won the next two games and eventually advanced to the franchise’s first conference finals.
Here the Clippers stand again, having lost Game 5 of the playoffs to the Denver Nuggets to fall behind 3-2 in the best-of-seven series and face a must-win Game 6 on Thursday night at Intuit Dome to stave off elimination.
Clippers center Ivica Zubac was a part of that group in 2021 and he’s a major part of this squad now. He recalled the mental fortitude it took for the Clippers to fight back.
After the Clippers were blown out in Game 5 in Denver on Tuesday night, Zubac said it will probably take even more from them this time because the Nuggets are far more formidable with transcendent superstar Nikola Jokic, with All-Star guard Jamal Murray and home-court advantage.
“We got to win,” Zubac said late Tuesday night in Denver. “We got to win both. Take it one game at a time. It’s an elimination game for us. So, we can’t start out like this. We got to leave everything out there, play hard, whatever it takes, whatever we have to do. We got to be better. We got to be ready to do whatever it takes. Treat it one game at a time. Win a Game 6, give yourself a chance to come back here [to Denver] and try to force a Game 7.”
The Clippers have lost the last two games to the Nuggets and in both defeats James Harden hasn’t been a factor.
He has averaged 13 points per game in the two losses, shot 40% from the field and 25% from three-point range.
It’s become clear that the Nuggets have focused their defense on Harden, making sure that Christian Braun is with Harden every step he takes on the court. Harden hasn’t talked to the media after the last two games so it was left up to Clippers coach Tyronn Lue to explain what’s happening with his All-Star guard.
“I think Denver made their mind up, they are going to try to take him out of the series after the first two or three games,” Lue said late Tuesday night in Denver. “They are doing a good job. I got to do a better job of just finding ways to get him open, to get him space and provide more [isolations], just because they are blitzing him so much and trying to beat him to his spots.”
With their season on the line, Lue also talked about the three-point shooting and the effects that has had on the series.
When the Clippers blew out the Nuggets in Game 3 by 34 points, they shot 18 for 39 (46.2%) from three-point range. When the Nuggets blew out the Clippers in Game 5 by 16 points, they made 17 of 33 (51.5%) from three-point range, and that effort was led by Murray, who shot eight for 14 from three.
“I mean, we got to respond,” Lue said. “We blew them out in Game 3 and they came back and responded in Game 4. So, we got to do the same thing. I mean, I don’t know what changes you can make. They made shots. Like I said, making 17 threes and they blew us out. We made 18 threes and we blew them out. So, the three-point line is going to be the most important thing. We got to make sure we are taking care of that, which we didn’t do a good job of tonight. But going back home, Intuit will be rocking. We’ll be fine.”
Starting slowly is another problem the Clippers have dealt with.
In Game 4, they got down by 20 points in the fourth, took a one-point lead and then lost on a buzzer-beating dunk by Aaron Gordon. In Game 5, the Clippers got down by 22 in the fourth, cut the deficit to eight points and then faded.
“Just try to get out to a better start early,” Kawhi Leonard said Tuesday night. “I think pretty much the whole series they probably got out to a great start on us. Just trying to stay in the game early instead of trying to make the heroic comebacks. That’s all we can do. We got to fight, man.”
In the end, the Clippers win or go home for the summer.
“We got to figure it out,” Zubac said. “We got to be better in Game 6.”