LA Clippers vs Denver Nuggets Player Stats and Box Scores for April 19 | 2025 NBA Playoffs Game 1

On Saturday, Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets faced off with Kawhi Leonard and the LA Clippers in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.

After a second-round exit in the playoffs last year, Jokic and the Nuggets entered into this year's postseason eager to make a deep playoff run under newly appointed interim coach David Adelman.

On the flip side, after several seasons of waiting for a healthy Kawhi Leonard, the Clippers are eager to capitalize on the recent success of the James Harden-Kawhi Leonard duo and ride a wave of momentum to an NBA Finals appearance.

Denver finished the regular season with a 50-32 record, winning five of their last ten while closing out their regular season schedule on a three-game win streak.

On the flip side, LA ended the regular season with a 50-32 record themselves, however, the team closed out the regular season on an eight-game win streak that saw them win either in a row thanks to some stellar play from the Leonard-Harden duo.

According to VegasInsider, LA entered into the first-round series as a -125 favorite, while on the flip side Denver entered the postseason as a +105 underdog in the series despite being the higher seed between the two teams.

LA Clippers vs. Denver Nuggets player stats and box score

LA Clippers player stats and box score

Name	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	Pts
Kawhi Leonard	6	2	3	0	7	3	22
Ivica Zubac	13	2	1	0	2	2	21
James Harden	6	11	0	1	2	5	32
Norman Powell	3	4	1	1	4	2	9
Kris Dunn	3	1	1	1	0	4	10
Nicolas Batum	2	1	0	0	2	2	9
Derrick Jones Jr.	4	0	1	2	0	0	4
Ben Simmons	2	2	0	1	0	3	0
Bogdan Bogdanovic	5	2	0	0	3	4	0

Denver Nuggets player stats and box score

Name	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	Pts
Aaron Gordon	8	1	2	0	3	2	25
Michael Porter Jr.	4	0	0	0	1	1	3
Nikola Jokic	9	12	3	1	2	4	29
Jamal Murray	9	7	1	0	3	1	21
Christian Braun	3	1	2	0	0	4	11
Peyton Watson	2	0	1	0	1	2	6
Russell Westbrook	8	3	2	0	1	3	15
Jalen Pickett	2	0	0	0	0	1	2

LA Clippers vs Denver Nuggets Game 1 summary

Although Denver has home court advantage in this series, LA came out strong in the first quarter, seizing an early lead that saw them outscore the Nuggets 35-27 thanks to a big first quarter from James Harden, who scored 15 points on 54% from the field to give LA an eight-point lead.

The Clippers were able to keep the momentum rolling early in the second quarter, however, as we closed in on halftime, the Nuggets began to rally, cutting the deficit to 10 with just under three minutes to go as James Harden entered into foul trouble with his third personal.

After cutting the lead to ten, the Denver Nuggets went on a 13-2 run that saw the team close the gap to just four heading into the half.

In the third, Nikola Jokic was able to help rally the Nuggets on both ends of the floor, with the Nuggets narrowly outscoring the Clippers by one point and building momentum for what seems poised to be an exciting finish.

In the fourth quarter, the two teams battled back and forth, jockeying for position while fighting for momentum.

Thanks to some impressive play from Jamal Murray and Russell Westbrook on the offensive end, and a collective effort on the glass, and on defense, Denver actually retook the lead for the first time since the first quarter.

After a hard-fought four quarters, the two sides were tied, and headed into overtime, where Denver was able to secure a big Game 1 win.