🚨Game 7 final: Nuggets 120, Clippers 101
And that does it, folks. Despite entering the series as underdogs, the Denver Nuggets have advanced to the second round of the 2025 postseason with a 120-101 Game 7 victory on their home floor over the Los Angeles Clippers. This is the second seven-game series the Nuggets have won against the Clippers this decade, and they will now advance to face the 68-win juggernaut Oklahoma City Thunder starting on Monday.
It was a balanced attack for the Nuggets in Game 7. Their core six players, Nikola Jokić, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter Jr., Christian Braun and Russell Westbrook, all scored between 16 and 22 points. Jokić couldn't figure out his own offense early in the game, so he leaned on teammates with six first-quarter assists before he found his own shot. From there, virtually everything started going in for the Nuggets. They scored 72 points in the second and third quarters combined to seal the game.
The Clippers, meanwhile, must live with the knowledge that they blew what was a very winnable series. If they'd boxed out Aaron Gordon in Game 4, it goes to overtime and they have the advantage at home. If they hadn't blown a 15-point lead in Game 1, this series might have ended quickly. Instead, following yet another elimination game dud by James Harden (seven points on eight shots), they go home wondering what might have been.