Kenyon Martin’s late heroics see Los Angeles Clippers down charging Denver Nuggets 104-98: NBA Recap
On Wednesday night, the Los Angeles Clippers overcame the resurgent Denver Nuggets here at the Pepsi Center in Denver.
Kenyon Martin had a valuable tip in off a missed jump shot by Chris Paul to seal the victory for the Clippers. It was a show down of two teams with similar playing styles as “Lob City” met the fast paced, fast break penetration
style basketball of the Nuggets.
The Clippers came out on top even though the Nuggets were leading at half time. Chris Paul had 21 points and 8 assists to lift his team to their 5th consecutive victory. Denver, on the other hand, dropped from 6th
to 7th place in the Western Conference with this loss. Ty Lawson had a team high 24 points for Denver in the game.
Denver scored the first points for the night to take a 2-0 lead in the opening minute of the game and led throughout the first quarter. After leading 15-11, the Nuggets opened an offensive assault on the Clippers, going on a 15-7
run to lead 30-18 with 1:30 left in the quarter. They went into the 2nd quarter with a 34-22 advantage.
The Los Angeles Clippers came back in the 2nd quarter, opening the period with a 12-3 run to chip off the Nuggets lead and trail by only 2. The Nuggets, though, held on to their lead throughout the quarter. A reverse
dunk by Blake Griffin at the 1:00 mark had the Clippers trailing 45-48. Aaron Afflalo scored a 3 pointer for the Nuggets, followed by two free throws by Al Harrington to extend the Nuggets lead back to 8. Chris Paul scored the last field goal of the half and
the Clippers trailed the Nuggets 47-53 at halftime.
Randy Foye erupted early in the third quarter and Clips took the lead for the first time in the game with a fade away from Chris Paul with 9:34 remaining. That jumper was part of a 16-2 burst that took LAC ahead at 61-55. The
Nuggets tried hard to catch the Clippers, but the visitors just kept on slipping through.
A reverse slam by JaVale McGee had Denver trailing by only 1 with 1:36 to go in the third period and Lawson followed with a layup to finally put Denver up by one. A Corey Brewer dunk followed but a three pointer by Nick Young in
the final seconds tied the game at 76 as both teams headed into the final period.
The Broncos made their move early in the fourth to take the lead. Trailing the Nuggets 82-87 with 7:08 remaining in the game, the Clippers however scored 10 straight points, helped by two three pointers by Mo Williams, to come
from behind and lead the Nuggets 92-87.
Denver tied the game at 96 with 2 free throws by Andre Miller. With 27 seconds left, Chris Paul missed a jump shot but Kenyon Martin grabbed his first and only rebound of the night to score a put back dunk and give the Clippers
a decisive 2 point lead. In Denver’s response, Lawson’s layup was rejected by Martin, the block sealing the deal for the Clippers. L.A went on to win 104-98.
Mo Williams had 19 points off the bench while Caron Butler scored 14 for the Clippers. Chris Paul had 8 assists and 3 steals to go with his 21 points and Nick Young scored 13 including 3 of 4 from downtown. Blake Griffin was somewhat
reduced by Kenneth Faried, managing only 12 points and 7 rebounds.
Arron Afflalo, Andre Miller and Kenneth Faried all had 12 points for the Nuggets. Miller added 8 assists as well. Al Harrington had 14 points and 8 rebounds. It was a good scoring night, with 12 players scoring double figure points.
At 49.3%, the Nuggets shot slightly better from the field than the Clippers, but were only 5 of 18 from the three point range as compared to 14 of 24 by L.A.
In a battle of fast break and transition style basketball, Denver scored 58 points from within the paint, while reducing the Clippers to only 28. With Blake Griffin somewhat tamed by the Nuggets, the Clippers had to rely on their
perimeter scoring, with Mo Williams, Nick Young and Caron Butler combining for an 11 of 16 shooting from beyond the arc, giving the Clippers a crucial edge over the Nuggets that eventually won the game for them.
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