One of the more interesting matches to watch when the Scissors meeting the Nuggets on Saturday afternoon in Denver is between centers Ivica Zubac and Nikola Jokic.
Jokic is a three-time most valuable player and as he did against the entire league, he gave the Clippers fits. In three games last season he averaged nearly a triple-double with 30 points, 16 rebounds and 9.7 assists.
The Scissors, who lost their season opener Wednesday night to the Phoenix Suns, will have their hands full. But they have a plan to some extent, like last season when they split the season series with the Nuggets 2-2.
“One, just making sure he makes his passes,” coach Tyronn Lue said after practice Friday. “Make sure we flood the paint, not letting him cut to the basket and get layups and layups. 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 the first crack at the 6-11 Jokic. Zubac has spoken in the past about how much he admires and respects Jokic. Lue said Zubac won’t have to defend his counterpart one-on-one the entire game.
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“I like Zu’s physicality and his size,” Lue said. “Just play against him. Just compete. When you go up against the MVP, it’s not going to be one on one. It will be collectively. But we need Zu to be physical, we need him to be big and fight with him. We know it’s going to be tough because a lot of things go through him – to pass, post-ups, pick-and-pops. So, Zu just has to stick with it because he’s going to score some points, he’s going to get some assists, but we’ve got to make him work.”
Westbrook waited to attack
During his less than two seasons with the Clippers, Russell Westbrook has developed many 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 during the summer.
“He’s one of the best teammates I’ve ever had,” Terance Mann said. “He brought intensity on and off the court, so it’s great to be around him. But looking forward to that competitive nature tomorrow that he will bring to the game. I know he’s going to be really excited, so it’s going to be fun.”
The Clippers know Westbrook will go at them because that’s how he competes.
“Like T-Mann said, he’s going to be fired up, wanting to get some 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 always was, 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 LA had that many fewer offensive possessions.
James Harden, the point guard, had eight turnovers, his last coming in the final seconds of overtime when the Clippers were down by three points. Harden saw the passes slip through his hands and roll away as time expired.
“You know, offensively what hurt us is, you know, 22 turnovers,” Lue said. “And there are the careless turnovers. As the, you know, lobe passes, the long plenary passes.
“Like, when you’re aggressive, you drive to the basket, you put the ball down and they steal it. Like, I can take those turnovers because you’re aggressive. But the ones when you’re just, you know, randomly throwing long passes or , you know, bad passes, you can’t live with those So, we just have to clean those things up. [There were] about nine of those passes we could have eliminated. So, that takes you from 22 turnovers to 13. Now we get nine more shots at the basket. So, we have to be better.”
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
