The Clippers lost the battle of Tianwang Mountain, Harden was completely lost, the Nuggets proved themselves

The importance of the NBA playoffs in the Battle of Tianwangshan is self-evident. The teams that won the Battle of Tianwang Mountain in NBA history have a probability of 82% advancing to the next round. Therefore, both the Clippers and the Nuggets want to win in this game in one go, setting the tone for the final trend of this round of series. After four quarters of fierce battle, the Nuggets, who was at the home court of the Colorado Plateau Devils, was still better at it, rewrite the big score to 3-2 and get the match point in one fell swoop; while the Clippers were already hanging one foot in the air.

In this game where both sides almost had a full match, there was one person so out of place. He is James Harden, who was highly anticipated before the game. After his first game, Brother Deng's condition continued to decline. Everyone hoped that he would be tough in the key battle, but unfortunately, the lost bearded man was waiting for him again. In this game, Harden played for 35 minutes, made 3 of 9 sports games, contributed only 11 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists, and made 4 mistakes.

To be honest, Harden's performance is really sorry for the brother Kazi, who is still struggling to hand over 20 points, 9 rebounds, 11 assists, and also for Zubac, who turned into "Zunil" and scored 27 points, Dunn and Bogdan, who scored three-pointers. When the Nuggets poured all the defensive focus on Leonard, the role players of the Clippers were eager to share the pressure for the main players, but Harden, who had great potential, was completely lost again.

As a comparison, two people in the Nuggets seized the opportunity and proved themselves. First of all, Jamal Murray, who has never stopped criticizing the Canadian national player since the regular season of the 2024-25 season and even traced back to the Olympics, but they are doing their best and can give an echo on the big stage. In this game, Murray made 17 of 26 sports games, scoring 43 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists. With his strong output, he was happy to be idle and got an economic triple-double with 13 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists.

As we all know, Teacher Ai is the strongest, who is not obsessed with personal scores, provided that someone can stand up and share the pressure, Murray is naturally the only choice. It is said that half of Murray's maximum salary is earned by playing against the Lakers' super-god performance. Now it seems that Murray not only plays against the Purple and Gold Legion, but also faces the Luocheng team.

Of course, it was not only Murray who was excited to play against the Los Angeles team, but also a local in Los Angeles who also gave him a precise finishing shot, which was Russell Westbrook. Westbrook took a break due to injury and solved the problem of the Nuggets' inability to substitute as soon as he came back. Westbrook's passion was undoubtedly revealed in this game. He scored 21 points in 25 minutes of playing time and even scored 3 three-pointers. This is also the 750th time Westbrook has scored 20 points in a single game, second only to Big O and Curry in the historical list of point guards.

So, the playoffs are the stage for meeting brave people on a narrow road. Many times, the book strength and technical and tactical level are only part of it, and the courage and confidence on the spot also account for a lot of the proportion. Harden is indeed inferior to Murray and Westbrook in this regard. Of course, the series is not over yet, and everything is possible. Can the Clippers turn the tide in the play-by-play format? Let's wait and see.