Clippers Open Season In Competitive Loss To Nuggets

By Connor Aylward
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Updated: October 17, 2018

After the long wait of a playoff-less offseason, the Los Angeles Clippers took the court Wednesday night to kick off their 2018-19 regular season against the Denver Nuggets.

Opening up the season to a sellout Staples Center crowd, the Clippers took the floor with a starting lineup many expected. Patrick Beverly and Avery Bradley got the starting guard spots with Tobias Harris and Danilo Gallinari starting at the forwards and Marcin Gortat slotted in as the starting center.

Affectionately known as “Clamp City” the Clippers want to hang their respective hats this season on their lockdown defense. But it wasn’t their defense that caught attention early. It was the energy that came from the Clippers bench that kept them hanging around with the potential playoff contending Nuggets. A lineup of veterans Lou Williams, Montrezl Harrell and Luc Mbah a Moute mixed with rookie Shai Gilgeous-Alexander proved to be a pesky lineup for the Nuggets throughout the contest.

Gilgeous-Alexander was impressive in his first outing for Los Angeles and certainly seems to be blending smoothly with his Clippers teammates. He finished the contest with 11 points to go along with 4 assists in 28 minutes of play off the bench. Williams continued his award-winning ways contributing 14 points and 5 assists in what was a great start towards his campaign to a third-sixth man award.

Go ahead, rook! pic.twitter.com/rQo0ebSp26

— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) October 18, 2018

While Williams and Gilgeous-Alexander turned in solid performances for the squad in limited minutes neither of them led the bench in scoring, that was Boban Marjanovic. Marjanovic has quickly become a fan favorite and it was obvious as soon as chants of “MVP” rang throughout the arena while the big man shot free throws in the fourth quarter. Marjanovic caught fire in the final quarter putting home 10 points and bringing the team back into a game they once trailed by double-digits in. Marjanovic closed this one out with 18 points and 8 rebounds in just 18 minutes of play in what was another stellar performance against Denver for the Serbian.

While the bench stood out the Clipper starters got most of their production from two players, Harris and Gallinari. Harris led the team in scoring with 19 points while completing the double-double and getting 10 rebounds as well. He was consistently aggressive getting to the basket and getting to the free throw line putting in 5 of his points from the line. Gallinari got his stroke going from long distance, punching in 4 three-pointers on the night and finishing with 16 points and 8 rebounds.

Los Angeles got great production from many players in this one but they just couldn’t outshine the Nuggets starters who managed to get 78 points from just those five players. Led by Jokics’ 21 points the Nuggets pulled out the competitive 107-98 victory in the inaugural game of the season for both clubs.

The Clippers will stay in LA for their next matchup as they take on the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday. It’s going to be a tough stretch to start the season for the growing Clippers side as the Russell Westbrook led Thunder are followed by the James Harden and Chris Paul led Houston Rockets. If the team can get one win in these next two games that would be a good way to get the season heading in the right direction.

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