The level of expectation has risen when it comes to the Los Angeles Clippers (57-24) due to the fact that they are the only act in town. With the Lakers being cellar dwellers this season, all championship hopes in L.A. ride with "Lob City" and head coach Doc Rivers knows this. This is why he is making sure that his Clippers are playing strong basketball going into the playoffs as evidenced by the 117-105 beatdown they put on the Denver Nuggets.
This game did have coachable moments for Doc Rivers and the Clippers. Having a 20 point lead shrink down to eight before the fourth quarter would have any coach turn into a disciplinarian, but the Clippers never let it get any closer than that in cruising to the 12 point win. Rivers truly does not want to see that kind of complacency too often in his clubs' performance, he would rather see a solid 48 minutes played with no hiccups.
Rivers has seen solid play from Blake Griffin all season long. Griffin may have put together a First-Team All NBA performance this year, and this game was another example with Blake dropping 24 points on 9 of 17 shooting from the field. Chris Paul had a solid game going for 21 points and 10 assists with J.J. Reddick seemingly starting to get his stroke back, hitting 4 of 6 from downtown while logging 18 points. The Clippers shot a ridiculous 53% from the floor as a unit while holding the visiting Nuggets to 42.7% shooting in the game.
The Nuggets finished with five players in double figures led by Kenneth Faried who finished with 21 points. Timofey Mozgov, who has been playing solid ball as the Nuggets season has winded down added a double-double to the Denver stat sheet with 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Aaron Brooks hit for 19 points shooting 50% from the floor on the night.
The Nuggets last season had the third best record in the conference, and then lost to the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the playoffs which prompted them to go in another coaching direction. It is hard to tell if they regret letting go of last year's NBA Coach of the Year, George Karl, for the services of coaching upstart, Brian Shaw. In Shaw's defense the team was hit hard by the injury bug and he really did not have his full arsenal to work with. Next season is going to be an interesting year for Shaw in the Mile High City.
Denver and "Lob City' both have one more date on their schedules before they start their postseason plans. The Nuggets will play the Golden State Warriors before scheduling tee times at their local country club. "Lob City", on the other hand, will take on the Portland Trail Blazers before they start to make their postseason run.