The Los Angeles Clippers’ prolific offense was muted by a staunch Denver Nuggets defense, capped by a 92-78 win.
This was largely an ugly game, with both squads turning the ball over carelessly and missing manageable shots.
To Denver’s credit, their defensive effort reduced the Clippers, if for just one contest, to a somewhat bumbling bunch. Perhaps the biggest takeaway was the pressure placed on Blake Griffin. Nuggets forward Keneth Faried frustrated the Clippers’ all star big man.
Throughout their 17 game win streak, the Clippers saw Blake Griffin shoot a minimum of 50% from the field. By night’s end, he had made 4 of his 11 attempts. Griffin also finished with 5 fouls, indicative of his frustration.
The Nuggets gave their opponents considerable opportunities to step back into this game. Though leading for the majority of the night, Denver had more turnovers (15 to LAC’s 13) and converted just 52% of their free throws. The Nuggets even missed some wide open shots, become instead defensive rebounds the Clippers could have used to shift momentum a bit.
Though the absence of point guard Ty Lawson did have them stumble a bit, the Nuggets put on an impressive collective effort on offense. Danillo Galinari led all scorers with 17 points, while reining in 6 boards. Denver finished the game with 6 players in double digits, including a 14 pts, 11 rebs performance from Faried.
The Nuggets move up to 18-15 on the season.
Mohamed Abdihakim is a journalism student at Florida Atlantic University. He is a Phoenix Suns fan, who is not prepared for the possibility of Nash winning a title in a Lakers jersey. Mohamed is also an editor at Hoops Nation and contributes to Les Snobs. Interests include International basketball, Mad Men, and blues music. Nearly all stats are credited to Hoopdata or Basketball-Reference.
Twitter handle: @Abdi_hakim
