Nuggets crush Clippers, will face Oklahoma City Thunder in conference semifinals

The Denver Nuggets won and advanced to the conference semifinals. In a relatively evenly matched series, Serbian center Nikola Jokic led his team over the Los Angeles Clippers, 120-101, to win the series 4-3.

Winners of the NBA championship in 2023, Denver will face the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Semifinals. The series will feature an exciting clash between the two leading MVP candidates: Jokic and Canadian Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

The Serbian center had 16 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists on Saturday, giving the lead on offense to experienced power forward Aaron Gordon (22 points) and young guard Christian Braun (21), according to AFP.

As many as six players for the hosts reached double digits in scoring.

"Everybody came to play," said Nuggets point guard Jamal Murray, scorer of 16 points. "Everybody was ready, the home crowd was into it and we were able to get the job done."

Veteran Russell Westbrook, 36, showed his best side this time with a valuable line of 16 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 steals against one of his former teams.

The point guard, one of the players who was most criticized during Denver's mediocre regular season, will now face the franchise where he played his first 11 NBA campaigns and won MVP in 2017.

Harden disappears again

The Clippers were coming into the final showdown in Denver with momentum from their win on Thursday, but were dragged down by another dreadful performance from James Harden in a crucial Playoff moment.

The 35-year-old point guard was held to 7 points on just 8 shots, the sixth-fewest on the team.

Kawhi Leonard, with 22 points, was the leading scorer for Ty Lue's team, who until now had an unblemished 4-0 record in Game 7s.

Los Angeles derailed for the third straight season in the first round, another disappointment for a franchise that, under the economic umbrella of billionaire Steve Ballmer, inaugurated a futuristic new court with a budget of about $2 billion this season.

Before Denver took control, the start of the game seemed to be another fierce battle between two teams that concluded the regular season with the same record, 50-32.

Troubled season

Ty Lue's defense was having an effect in limiting Jokic, who did not score a basket in the entire first quarter.

The Nuggets got off to a fast start in the second half to go into the break with an 11-point cushion (58-47) and took off at the start of the third with a 17-0 run.

Unfocused in outside shooting (8-27 on 3-pointers) and overwhelmed in rebounding (54-45), the Clippers were down by 35 points and their final reaction only served to avoid a historic humiliation.

The Nuggets gave their fans the greatest joy of a season plagued by internal conflicts, which led to the simultaneous dismissal of Calvin Booth, general manager, and Michael Malone, the coach who led them to the 2023 title, with only three games left in the regular season.

Upcoming games

Also in the West, the last remaining first-round series between Stephen Curry's Golden State Warriors and the Houston Rockets, whose winner will face the Minnesota Timberwolves, will be resolved on Sunday.

In the East, the Boston Celtics, defending champions, will play the conference semifinals against the New York Knicks, and the Cleveland Cavaliers will face the Indiana Pacers.