Denver Nuggets won the final game of the Western Conference first-round series against the Los Angeles Clippers by 120-101 on Saturday night. The Nuggets’ talisman Nikola Jokic said the Denver Nuggets wanted change when they fired coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth with just three games to spare in the regular season.
“If we don’t make the changes, there’s no way we’re even in a Game 7,” a Nuggets executive told ESPN.
“I think the owner … wanted to change something, to change the energy, and probably he did,” Jokic said after the win. “He got the result he was looking for.”
The Clippers had won their last 18 out of 21 league stage matches in the regular season before the playoffs, as Kawhi Leonard and James Harden had consistently delivered for them.
Meanwhile, Christian Braun helped get Denver off to a strong start, scoring nine of the team’s 21 points in the first quarter.
“Last year, obviously the team had a missed opportunity, but I felt like we should have won,” Braun said, referring to the Nuggets’ Game 7 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second round. “Obviously, they were a better team that night. But I just felt like there was opportunity left on the table, and I felt like I wanted to be a part of it. [Saturday’s performance] was exactly what I wanted, and those guys trusted me — they have all year, but they trusted me in that moment.
“So, this is the exact moment I was looking for, and I’m just glad that it went our way.”
Denver’s Aaron Gordon top-scored with 22 points, whereas Nuggets sixth man Russell Westbrook scored 10 of his 16 points in the decisive second quarter.
“I think they believed that that was their best bet of stopping me or taking me out of this series,” Westbrook said. “But one thing that nobody knows is that I work my ass off. So regardless of what anybody does, I’m always prepared and I’ll be prepared for anything because I prepare myself for everything
“And like I said, after Game 1, if they continue doing it, I’m going to make ’em pay. I don’t know what I shot for the series.”
The Nuggets will face the Oklahoma City Thunder in the next round series with the first match on Monday.
