INGLEWOOD – The Los Angeles Clippers spent most of the first quarter of their preseason finale on Wednesday night chasing a sharper Denver Nuggets team, falling behind by 15 points before the Intuit Dome crowd had much reason to stand up.
What followed was a steady climb into a 122-110 win, with the Clippers outscoring Denver 116-89 after that early hole and leading by as many as 16 points in the third quarter.
The Second Unit Flipped the Game
Isaiah Jackson and Darius Garland hit threes to get things moving before Brook Lopez, Jalen Pickett, Gradey Dick and Baba Miller finished off an 18-3 run that tied the game at 24 after one quarter.
Lopez scored nine points in only eight minutes after a quiet start to his preseason, while Pickett ran the second unit and added 10 points and five assists.
Rui Hachimura led the way with 16 points and hit three of his five attempts from deep, and he has been one of the steadier pieces of this preseason after scoring 35 points in 34 minutes across the first two exhibitions.
Garland added 14 points and seven assists as the Clippers piled up 35 assists on 45 made baskets and went 15-of-33 from three.
The Rookies Step Forward
The more interesting part of the night belonged to the two rookies, starting with No. 5 pick Keaton Wagler, who played a team-high 28 minutes as a starter and looked more settled than he did in his first two games.
Wagler had made only three of his first 17 three-point attempts this preseason before going 3-of-7 on Wednesday, finishing with 12 points and four assists and a plus-11 in his minutes.
Baba's Breakout
Baba Miller, the 36th pick out of Cincinnati, might have been even better, scoring 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting with five rebounds in 21 minutes off the bench even while picking up six fouls.
The Clippers were plus-14 with Miller on the floor, which gives Tyronn Lue another frontcourt option to think about with Yanic Konan Niederhauser still recovering from foot surgery.
Plenty of Context on Both Sides
Denver did not lean on its stars for long, with Nikola Jokic posting five points and seven assists in 17 minutes while Jamal Murray scored 14 on 6-of-8 shooting in the same stretch of playing time.
Trevon Brazile gave the Nuggets 22 points off the bench, but their night took a bad turn in the third quarter when Julian Strawther hurt his left knee and had to be helped to the locker room.
The Clippers have been very short-handed too, playing without Bradley Beal because of knee inflammation, Max Strus because of a right foot injury, and Brandon Ingram, who Lue said earlier this week is still ramping up.
Lue told me after the game, "Yeah, just the energy, like you said, the pace. And they came in with a purpose. I thought they did a really good job."
This team needs to keep that mindset if they want to compete.
Los Angeles finishes the preseason 2-1 and gets a full week off before opening the regular season against the Sacramento Kings at Intuit Dome on Oct. 21.