NBA Playoffs 2020: Previewing Top Storylines for Clippers vs. Nuggets

The Los Angeles Clippers and Denver Nuggets will meet for the final time Tuesday night inside the NBA bubble.

One will punch the final ticket to the 2020 Western Conference Finals. The other will receive a ticket out of Orlando.

It's win-or-go-fishing time for the West's second and third seeds. The Clippers are hoping to close out a series they once led 3-1. The Nuggets are looking to climb out of a 3-1 hole for the second consecutive series.

Who will get the last laugh and the opportunity to face the Los Angeles Lakers with a championship-round invitation on the line? We'll make our prediction after examining the contest's top storylines below.

No. 2 Los Angeles Clippers vs. No. 3 Denver Nuggets | Game 7

Time: 9 p.m. ET

TV: ESPN

Live Stream: Watch ESPN

Latest Line: Clippers -7.5 (via FanDuel)

Top Storylines

Paul George Feels Clippers 'Still in the Driver Seat'

Oddsmakers haven't backed off the Clippers, and neither has their six-time All-Star, Paul George. The 6'8" swingman, who has struggled finding a rhythm at times this postseason, said his squad's recent collapses have done nothing to shake its confidence.

"This group's staying together," George told reporters. "We still in the driver seat. It's not a panic mode. We have a Game 7. I like our odds with our group. We put ourselves in this position and it's on us to get ourselves out of it."

L.A. can easily convince itself it's the better team in this series. It won more games (49 to 46) and had a better net rating (plus-6.3 to plus-2.2) in the regular season. It has also performed like the superior squad for long stretches of this series. The Clippers have the biggest win of this series (a 23-point triumph in Game 1), and they built 19-point leads before blowing them in Games 5 and 6.

Their failure to close the door is troubling, and it can't feel great to let opportunity slip through your grasp like that two times in a row. Frustration could be mounting, but between George's words and Kawhi Leonard's ultracool demeanor, that may not happen with this group.

If the Clippers truly are the better team and they've maintained every ounce of their self-belief, then they can still feel good about where things stand.

Nuggets Have 'Seen Everything'

Denver didn't make the 2018 playoffs or the four before that. In the grand scheme, Michael Malone's group is new to the postseason stage and on the younger side for a hoops heavyweight.

But don't be fooled by the ages. This core has already been through so many nail-biting playoff battles—Tuesday will be its fourth Game 7 in the past two years—that it has the on-court experience of a veteran-laden team.

"We've kind of seen everything," Nikola Jokic told reporters. "The main thing is that we have fun; we're having fun. The pressure...there is no pressure on any of us."

The Nuggets have the freedom of a club that has mastered the us-against-the-world mentality. Few outside of the Pepsi Center gave them any chance in this series. Many still don't, even after watching them escape playoff death twice this round alone.

That freedom is empowering. It lets Jokic be himself: a highly skilled 7-footer and the best passing big man the game has ever seen. It leaves Jamal Murray with a neon-green light and the thumbs-up to launch from anywhere. It has helped Michael Porter Jr. come into his own and potentially become the third scorer this roster has so desperately needed.

It may not be enough for Denver to escape this series, but the Nuggets are showing the kind of fight few teams outside of the elite ranks can summon.

Game 7 Prediction

There are ways in which the Nuggets can win this game, and we've already seen the most important ones play out. Jokic being the best player on the court. Murray emerging as a star in his own right. Porter using his size and athleticism to become a borderline unguardable wild card.

The problem is the Clippers' paths to victory are more plentiful and easier to trust.

Kawhi Leonard can dominate these moments. You surely remember his four-bounce miracle make from Game 7 last year's Eastern Conference Semifinals, but you may not remember that shot was part of a 41-point, eight-board, three-steal performance. George, who can control both ends of the court, was once a top-two scorer on an Indiana Pacers team that pushed LeBron James' Miami Heat to seven games in the 2013 Eastern Conference Finals.

Montrezl Harrell is the current Sixth Man of the Year. Lou Williams might be the Sixth Man for the ages. Marcus Morris Sr. ranked among the trade deadline's biggest prizes. Doc Rivers has already coached a champion. Patrick Beverley is a defensive whiz. Landry Shamet is a pure sharpshooter.

L.A. has more talent, better depth and a brighter collection of stars. At some point, that should all matter to the point that it pushes the Clippers past this round and into their first-ever conference finals.

Prediction: Clippers 109, Nuggets 103