One of the more intriguing matchups to watch when the Clippers meet the Nuggets on Saturday afternoon in Denver is between centers Ivica Zubac and Nikola Jokic.
Jokic is a three-time most valuable player and like he has against the entire league, he has given the Clippers fits. In three games last season he averaged nearly a triple-double with 30 points, 16 rebounds and 9.7 assists.
The Clippers, who lost their season opener Wednesday night to the Phoenix Suns, will have their hands full. But they have a plan to some degree, like last season when they split the season series with the Nuggets 2-2.
“One, just making sure he’s making his passes,” coach Tyronn Lue said after practice Friday. “Make sure we’re flooding the paint, not letting him get cuts to the basket and getting layups and dunks. Make them skip the basketball outside. So, we can do a better job of just taking away his assists in the paint.”
The 7-foot-1 Zubac will get first crack at the 6-11 Jokic. Zubac has talked in the past about how much he admires and respects Jokic. Lue said Zubac won’t have to defend his counterpart one on one all game.
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“I like Zu’s physicality and his size,” Lue said. “Just play against him. Just compete. When you are going against the MVP, it’s not going to be one on one. It’s going to be collectively. But we need Zu to be physical, we need him to be big and battle him. We know it’s going to be tough because a lot of things are ran through him — for passing, post-ups, pick-and-pops. So, Zu just got to stay with it because he’s going to score some points, he’s going to get some assists, but we got to make him work.”
Westbrook expected to attack
During his less than two seasons with the Clippers, Russell Westbrook developed a lot of friendships that are as strong as ever.
Westbrook is now with the Nuggets, having joined them after the Clippers sent him to Utah in a sign-and-trade for guard Kris Dunn. The Jazz then bought out Westbrook, which allowed him to sign with the Nuggets over the summer.
“He is one of the best teammates I ever had,” Terance Mann said. “He brought intensity on and off the court, so it’s great to be around him. But just looking forward to that competitive nature tomorrow that he’s going to bring to the game. I know he’s going to be super excited so it’s going to be a fun one.”
The Clippers know Westbrook will go at them, because that’s how he competes.
“Like T-Mann said, he’s going to be hyped up, wanting to get a little bit of revenge,” Norman Powell said. “He always has that chip on his shoulder, so it’s definitely going to be a little back and forth in the game. It’s always been, but it’s all love. So excited to see him again.”
Taking care of the ball
The Clippers turned the ball over 22 times against the Suns, meaning L.A. had that many fewer offensive possessions.
James Harden, the point guard, had eight turnovers, his last one coming in the final seconds of overtime when the Clippers were down by three points. Harden saw the inbounds pass slip through his hands and roll away as time expired.
“You know, offensively what hurt us is, you know, 22 turnovers,” Lue said. “And it’s the careless turnovers. Like the, you know, lob passes, the long full-court passes.
“Like, when you’re being aggressive, you’re driving to the basket, you drop the ball off and they steal it. Like, I can take those turnovers because you’re being aggressive. But the ones when you’re just, you know, casually throwing long passes or, you know, bad passes, you can’t live with those. So, we just got to clean those things up. [There were] about nine of those passes that we could have eliminated. So, that takes you from 22 turnovers to 13. Now we’re getting nine more shots at the basket. So, we’ve got to be better.”
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.