The Denver Nuggets fell behind the Los Angeles Clippers after a hot start and then couldn’t complete their comeback in game six of their playoff series. James Harden had a big first half, Kawhi Leonard had a big second half and the Nuggets will have to win game seven if they are going to advance to the next round of the playoffs. Nikola Jokic had twenty-five points, Jamal Murray had twenty-one but it wasn’t enough. Denver loses 111-105

The Clippers came out of the gate with energy and got a lead by getting to the basket. The Nuggets responded first through Jokic and then through Murray who had his mid-range game going. Leonard and Harden took their turns getting points for L.A. and the teams traded baskets as the minutes ticked away in the first. Jamal stretched his game out to deep three point range as he continued his run of good play going back to last game. He tallied a total of twelve points in the first quarter and got Denver up by as much as seven but a poor close to the quarter let L.A. get it back in it. After one the score was 28-25 Denver.

Los Angeles scored the first four points of the quarter while they swarmed Jamal on defense with Jokic on the bench. The Nuggets were sloppy and Harden was attacking the basket to extend their quarter opening run to 8-2. That got Nikola up off the bench and back in the game with nine minutes to go. Even with him back on the floor, Denver was playing poor basketball. Too many turnovers, too many fouls and too much settling for threes on offense put the Nuggets behind. Harden kept having a huge quarter but Jokic kept Denver in the game. He led a 10-3 run to pull them back within one. Los Angeles regained their composure after that and kept the Nuggets from retaking the lead. Joker kept abusing the Clippers in the paint and kept Denver within a point as it went to half with L.A. leading 58-57.

Kawhi and Norman Powell opened the second half punishing the Nuggets for a sluggish approach coming out of the locker room. Eventually Denver got going using a team effort but stayed a couple buckets behind. They got it down to two but then went cold. The Clippers went on a 12-0 run that was littered with big dunks and the Nuggets looked like they didn’t have their heads in it. After they took a timeout things got a little better but it just seemed like all the lucky breaks were going the Clippers way. Christian Braun hit a couple threes to keep the game from turning into an absolute laugher. The Nuggets were a little better offensively at the end of the quarter and gave themselves a chance going into the fourth trailing 90-79.

Denver didn’t have much trouble scoring to open the final quarter but they also couldn’t get a stop to save their life. They’d give you hope for a moment before having a painful mental lapse on defense that let L.A. push the lead back up around fourteen. Peyton Watson gave Denver some solid minutes midway through the quarter but the Nuggets were starting to run out of time. They got it as close as nine while the refs refused to call a foul. The Clippers offense slowed down and Denver kept pushing. Suddenly after a Murray breakaway the lead was down to six. They got a fast break but Russ blew the layup and Powell hit a three on the other end for a crushing five point swing. The Nuggets gave it one last push in the final two minutes but couldn’t get enough buckets in the clutch. L.A. closes it out at the free throw line and we head to game seven after the Clippers win 111-105.