Five times, the Nuggets started their crunch-time offense in the same exact set, and five times, the Clippers have lost since trading for James Harden.
The blockbuster deal with Philadelphia early this season added reinforcement — detractors would call it redundancy — to a Los Angeles lineup already stacked with big-name guards and wings. It’s more natural for coach Ty Lue to use a small lineup down the stretch in close games now due to his personnel, especially thanks to the isolation scoring potential of so many players.
Add in the fact that two-time MVP Nikola Jokic has occasionally struggled against smaller, stingier defenders, and it made sense that the Clippers were rolling the dice late in their in-season tournament game Tuesday at Denver, using a lineup without starting center Ivica Zubac.