Playoffs G8? The Clippers lost to the Nuggets 94-100, Paul scored 1 of 5, Harden scored 5+11, and two new players broke out

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On October 13, the NBA 2025-26 preseason ushered in the focus of the Western Conference. The Los Angeles Clippers sat at home and faced the Denver Nuggets. Interestingly, the two teams met in the first round of the playoffs last season, and the Nuggets eventually eliminated the Clippers through a tiebreaker. It was disappointing. The two teams also clashed many times in the series, which can be regarded as a grudge match. This summer, the Nuggets management continues to strengthen, and has successively welcomed high-quality championship puzzle pieces such as Johnson, Hardaway Jr., Bruce Brown and Davaran. Coupled with the rookie center who has recovered from injuries, Jokic has ample substitutes for the new season. In the latest championship prediction, the Nuggets top the list.

Similarly, the Clippers are no less generous. This offseason has successively strengthened Bill, Paul, Collins, Lopez and other powerful players, and the team's paper strength has also been significantly upgraded. The most important thing is that the team has a reasonable lineup and rich experience. After all, their average age (33.2 years old) has set the oldest record in NBA history. However, given that the big core Leonard has been involved in the "Yin Yang Contract" scandal, maybe they are still full of big variables in the new season.

In terms of the starting lineup for today's game, for the Clippers, Tyronn Lue's starting five is: James Harden, Derrick Jones Jr., Kawhi Leonard, John Collins, and Ivica Zubac; for the Nuggets, the starting lineup is: Jamal Murray, Christian Braun, Cameron Johnson, Aaron Gordon, and Nikola Jokic.

At the beginning of the first quarter, the Clippers made trouble in their first home show. The timer malfunctioned three times in a row. The referee and the technical desk began to discuss countermeasures. After more than half an hour of maintenance, the game finally resumed. Zubac challenged Jokic twice and scored 2+1. The Clippers led the Nuggets 11-4 at the beginning. Jokic continuously cut inside to catch the ball and succeeded in a layup, stopping the bleeding in time. Harden used the pick-and-roll to cover, stopped at the top of the arc and made a three-pointer, and Christian Brown responded immediately with a three-pointer from Jokic. Jokic had an eye in the back of his head and passed Gordon in the corner to hit a three-pointer. The Nuggets took a 13-5 lead. Harden continuously assisted Lopez to hit a three-pointer and has now sent 6 assists. After the first quarter, the Clippers led the Nuggets by 1 point 32-31.

In the first quarter of the game, Harden easily sent out 8 assists, contributed 3 points and 3 rebounds, and made 3 turnovers; Daluo played only 5 minutes, shooting 4 of 5 shots, 3 of 4 three-pointers, and scored 11 points and 1 assist.

Back in the second quarter, Varan caught the screen and then passed down the ball and completed a dunk directly on the basket. Jokic "pushed the ball" and quickly released. Braun quickly counterattacked to help Gordon complete an alley-oop dunk. The Nuggets went ahead by 4 points and stopped the Clippers. After the timeout, Leonard hit consecutive mid-range shots, then faked a fake shot and took off directly to complete a one-armed tomahawk dunk, leading the team to chase points. Jokic desperately came down to receive Gordon's pass without looking at anyone and succeeded in a layup. It was really a 'running pork belly'. Kaka defended Jokic alone, reappearing the death spiral. After the steal, he counterattacked and chased for a three-pointer. Harden almost made a three-pointer at the buzzer in the half. At the end of the half, the Clippers once again led the Nuggets by 2 points 61-59.

Halftime data, for the Clippers, Harden made 1 of 3, scored 3 points, 5 rebounds, 10 assists, made 3 turnovers, plus-minus +7; Leonard played 19 minutes, made 5 of 10 shots, scored 17 points, 2 rebounds and 2 steals; Zubac efficiently contributed 11 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals on 5 of 6 shots.

For the Nuggets, Jokic played 17 minutes, scored 10 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal and 1 block on 5-of-7 shooting; Varan played 9 minutes, scored 6 points and 5 rebounds on 3-of-4 three-pointers; Cameron Johnson only scored 5 points on 1-of-5 three-pointers.

It is worth mentioning that both teams were at full intensity in the first half. American journalist Marc J. Spears tweeted to comment: This is the most interesting first half of a preseason game I have ever seen. It is simply a continuation of G8 in the playoffs.

Change of sides and fight again. Jokic took Gordon's pass and missed the layup with his left hand. Harden squeezed through the pick-and-roll and then stopped and made a mid-range pull-up without touching anything. In the second half, they fed each other. Daluo turned over and hit a miraculous mid-range shot at the buzzer. He scored 15 points in less than 10 minutes after his debut. The scores of the two teams increased alternately. Paul took a sudden step inside the three-point line and made a sudden stop to make a signature fadeaway jumper to score the first point of the game. After three quarters, the Clippers trailed the Nuggets by 1 point, 75-76.

In the decisive battle in the fourth quarter, all the main players came off the field, and the substitutes also played enthusiastically. In the end, the Clippers lost to the Nuggets 94-100 and were defeated again in this 'Playoffs G8' battle.

In terms of statistics, for the Clippers, Harden made 1 of 6 shots, scored 5 points, 5 rebounds, 11 assists and 2 steals, and made 3 turnovers; Paul made 1 of 5 shots and scored 2 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists; Zubac made 5 of 6 shots and contributed 11 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals; Leonard made 5 of 10 shots and scored 17 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 steals.

For the Nuggets, Jokic made 6 of 9 shots and scored 12 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal and 1 block; Gordon made 6 of 11 shots and scored 18 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal.

Two major new players broke out. The Clippers' Luo made 6 of 10 shots and scored 15 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist and 3 blocks; the Nuggets Varan made 5 of 7, contributing 10 points, 9 rebounds (2 offensive rebounds) and 1 assist.