Why the New and Rebuilt Los Angeles Clippers Were Able to Easily Beat the Denver Nuggets
The Nuggets were led by Carmelo Anthony who seemed to get better as the season progressed. He was averaging over 20 points per game in the second half of the season. The coach of the Nuggets George Karl is one of the best in the league but even he could not stop the attack of the Clippers.
One of the biggest reasons this year for the success of the Clippers is because of their point guard play from verteran Sam Cassel. In Addition, underrated power forward Elton Brand completey elevated his game this year and almost averaged a double double in rebounds and points over the season. He was a monster on the defensive end and had multi-block games most of the season. Elton Brand’s defense against the Nuggets was superb and him and Cassel led them to easily disbatch of the Nuggets.
In the series Carmelo Anthony struggled and often took bad shots in the series. Kenyon Martin was plagued by injuries as was Marcus Camby. For the start of the season Camby looked like an All Star averaging a double double in points and rebounds and having close to 3 or 4 blocks a game. However Camby, much like his whole career suffered injuries over the season and they hurt him in the playoffs.
The Clippers were also helped by the play of Suan Livingston who is first emerging as a star in the league after being drafted by the Clippers. The Clippers also got good production out of Shooting Guard Corey Maggette. The head coach of the Clippers Mike Dunleavy had a great game plan throughout the series of getting the ball to Elton Brand and that is why the Clippers easily beat the Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs.
