Nikola Jokic scored 29 points and Aaron Gordon added 25, including a pair of free throws with remaining 12 seconds, and the denver Nuggets roared a 15 -point deficit in the first half to be able to overcome the Los Angeles clippers in extra time.
Jamal Murray added 21 points, nine boards and seven assists for the sown room nuggets, which improved 4-0 under the interim coach David Adelman, Michael Malone’s replacement.
The loss of clippers No. 5 was the first since March 30 in Cleveland. They arrived at the playoffs after winning 18 or 21, including their last eight, and jumped to an early advantage that remained until the last minutes of regulation.
Game 2 is Monday night at Ball Arena.
Russell Westbrook reached the end of both regulations, with a corner 3 not answered for a 98-96 lead in Denver, and again in extra time, when he knocked down the inputs of failures of James hardened with the leadership and denver clinging to a 3 bins.
Jokic received a foul in the set of later tickets and his two free throws did 112-107 before Norman Powell’s bell.
The game was tied at 98 at the end of the regulation.
After triple Westbrook from the left corner, Harden responded with a float to tie him and the Nuggets could not go down in the last 18 seconds.
In extra time, the nuggets never followed.
Jokic had 12 assists and finished a double double. Harden led the clippers with 32 points. Kawhi Leonard added 27 and Ivica Zubac had 21.
These teams suffer in the playoffs in 2020 in Walt Disney World in the pandemic bubble, when the Nuggets exceeded a 3-1 deficit to beat the clippers.
Associated Press reports.
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