NBA champion explains why Clippers are the only team that could beat Denver in the West

After the Nuggets conquered their first-ever NBA championship last year, they are still going strong this season with a 30-14 mark, standing 3rd in the Western Conference. Even though the Timberwolves and Thunder are above them in the standings, former basketball star Kendrick Perkins believes only the Clippers will be able to take Denver’s crown.

The ESPN analyst thoroughly explained this weekend why the Los Angeles club are now the biggest threat in the West, as they’ve recorded an 8-2 display in the past 10 matches and are stepping on the Nuggets’ heels in fourth place.

“They are the deepest team in the NBA,” Perkins claimed. “They have three bigs, Zubac, Plumlee, and Daniel Theis – they need that. Lord knows, please don’t get me started on Kawhi Leonard, Jordan, when the playoffs started. First Finals MVP on the floor with Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker, he was the Finals MVP.”

“When you go back to the Raptors series against Golden State, why I bring that up is because, in any given series when Kawhi is healthy, he has the capability of being the best player in that series,” he kept at it.

After a four-day break, the LA squad trailed this Sunday’s match against Brooklyn by as many as 18 points. However, the Clippers proved their elite mentality and stayed strong until the end of the game.

The Los Angeles club entered the fourth quarter trailing 99-84, but somehow produced an insane comeback after outscoring the Nets 41-15. This included a mindblowing 22-0 run in the final 5:18 of the contest to come out with a victory.

“[I haven’t been a part of a game like that] in a while,” Russell Westbrook confessed. “But definitely super gracious and blessed to be able to be a part of such a great group and having the opportunity to be able to make runs. It shows diversity, the resiliency of our team. And tonight was one of those. Well, this afternoon was one of those games where it showed, especially after a long break and against a team that’s been playing well. So I’m happy, the way our guys came out and competed.”

James Harden insists that these performances come naturally to him, as this is why they brought him to LA

Former Sixers star James Harden dropped a game-high 24 points to go along with 5 rebounds, 10 assists, and 2 steals this Sunday night. After achieving his 11th double-double and fourth 20-point, 10-assist match of the campaign, he said this is the reason he came to Los Angeles.

“That’s what I’m here for,” The Beard said. “Finding ways to impact the game and when we’re kind of down and don’t got things going or things seem like they’re not in our favor just finding the ways to put it in our favor. Scoring the basketball gave us a little bit of momentum and just kept telling ourselves, ‘get it under 10, get it under 10,’ and our defense hit that switch. After that we all got it going.”

Clippers down 106-114.

Kawhi in the next 5 minutes: FOURTEEN POINTS

Clippers up 125/114

CLUTCH PLAYER OF THE YEAR

pic.twitter.com/ahhgY94GOp

— KlawWrld (@kawhi_ring) January 21, 2024

Kawhi Leonard was also at the top of his game, as he scored 14 points in the fourth quarter alone, while Westbrook contributed with 5 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists in the same period.

“Just staying with it,” coach Tyronn Lue said about the game that ended in their favor. “We didn’t play our best game. PG and Kawhi struggled tonight from the field. James carried the load, I thought, early in that third quarter. I thought Russ was really good off the bench. When your big dogs are struggling a little bit, it’s good to see other guys step up and play well. But in that fourth quarter, defensively we were just on a whole ‘nother level.”