NBA Playoff Schedule 2020: Odds, TV Info, Predictions for Clippers vs. Nuggets

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

There are multiple ways to describe this season’s Denver Nuggets.

You could spotlight something with the ignitable offensive attack that Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray lead. Maybe something about the defense spearheaded by Gary Harris and how head coach Michael Malone catches your attention.

At this point, though, we should all be marvelling at Denver’s most powerful label: resurrection specialist. The Nuggets’ 2019-20 obituary has been written several times over in these playoffs, but apparently nothing can stop them. In the first round, they won three do-or-die games to rally back from a 3-1 deficit against the Utah Jazz. Now, Denver is looking to recapture that magic against the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Nuggets’ come-from-behind 111-98 victory in Sunday’s Game 6 saw them recover from a 19-point deficit to force a win-or-get-booted-out-of-the-bubble Game 7 on Tuesday night.

We’ll break down all there is to know about that game below.

Tuesday, Sept. 15 NBA Playoff Schedule

Eastern Conference Finals

Miami Heat vs. Boston Celtics | Game 1

Time: 6:30 p.m. ET

TV: ESPN

Live Stream: Watch ESPN

Odds: Celtics -1.5 (via FanDuel)

Western Conference Semifinals

Denver Nuggets vs. Los Angeles Clippers | Game 7

Time: 9 p.m. ET

TV: ESPN

Live Stream: Watch ESPN

Odds: Clippers -7 (via FanDuel)

Nuggets vs. Clippers: Game 7 Breakdown and Prediction

The road to get to a Game 7 was perhaps as intriguing as the contest itself looks, so let’s start there.

This always appeared like the Clippers’ series to lose. They were arguably as popular of a championship pick as anyone this season, thanks to both the Kawhi Leonard-Paul George superstar connection and the deep supporting cast around it. Add a championship-level experienced skipper like Doc Rivers to the equation, and L.A. seems to check every box of the title pursuit.

The Nuggets are different.

They only have one star (Nikola Jokic), and he can be reluctant to soak up the spotlight. They have another player who can produce like a star (Jamal Murray), but he might go silent the next night. Together, they led this season’s fifth-ranked offense, but they also contributed to the team landing outside the top 10 in defensive efficiency (12th).

Denver has depth but not marquee reserves like L.A. Malone’s name also doesn’t carry the same weight as Rivers’, especially among casual fans.

If anyone predicted a championship for this team, they probably lived in Denver—and most likely worked at the Pepsi Center.

This series received undercard status in the West, with the marquee reserved for LeBron James and Anthony Davis’ Los Angeles Lakers facing James Harden and Russell Westbrook’s Houston Rockets. When the Clippers opened with a 23-point triumph, and the Rockets claimed a 15-point win in Game 1 the following night, everyone became convinced that if the West saw an upset this round, Houston would be the team to engineer it.

But the Rockets wilted almost immediately after, and the Nuggets recovered to win Game 2 and kept things respectable while dropping the next two games by a total of 17 points. Denver was backed against the ropes in Games 5 and 6, but each time it found an escape route and a chance to fight another day.

“We’ve always felt we were good enough,” Malone told reporters Sunday. “No one else does, but we don’t care about that. We don’t listen to the noise. We’ve always had this internal belief in ourselves and in our collective group that we’re good enough to win a championship.”

When Jokic is on a roll like this, maybe the Nuggets really can shock the world.

No one can find an answer for the skilled 7-footer. When Denver faced elimination in the last round, he paired per-game averages of 27.7 points, 8.0 rebounds and 5.7 assists with a brilliant 54.4/57.1/100 shooting slash in his club’s three consecutive victories. In this series, he followed a 22-point, 14-rebound performance in Game 5 with 34 points, 14 boards and seven assists in Game 6.

“He’s hitting step backs, fading away, off one leg, with a hand in his face, consecutive times,” Murray said. “I’d say he’s the best player in the world.”

Could Jokic engineer a Dirk Nowitzki-esque run all the way to a title? At this point, nothing should be ruled out with these Nuggets.

Saying that, the Clippers still look like the better team on paper. They still boast the best two-star combo in this series. Their bench still has the firepower to cause all kinds of problems. And they still have a coach who’s been through this long enough to know that none of these wobbles matter if L.A. can just right the ship when it matters most.

Look at that point spread again. It’s not just a nod to the Clippers, it’s a full seven-point advantage on their side. Oddsmakers aren’t always right, of course, but they’re seeing what I’m seeing.

Denver has all the momentum in the world, but that doesn’t matter when this game tips off. Each team has 48 minutes to punch its ticket to the next round. The Clippers still seem the likeliest to get it done.

Prediction: Clippers 109, Nuggets 103