Attention in the West! The fifth and sixth players of the Nuggets have been found!

tiebreak battle, the Nuggets defeated the Clippers 120-101 and advanced to the second round.

I thought that the Nuggets would win, but I didn't expect that they would win so simply. When they were 5 points behind in the first quarter, they scored 37-21 in the second quarter and overtook them 35-19 in the third quarter, directly making the fourth quarter a garbage time.

This victory can be said to be very anti-Nuggets.

The boss Jokic made 0 of 5 in the first quarter, and only 5 of 13 shots at the end of the three quarters, scoring 14 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists. He even made 5 turnovers and 5 fouls. His performance was absolutely not at a normal level.

The second leader Murray was not much better. He only had 6 points in the half, but he didn't make 7 of 15 shots, 0 of 3 three-pointers, scored 16 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 4 mistakes after the game.

In the past, the Nuggets could play a key game, and Yo Mu had to score one of them. In this game, both of them performed averagely and even a bit abnormal. Fortunately, other Nuggets players stood up:

—Godden, 9 of 16 shots, scored 22 points, the team's highest

—Braun, 8 of 15 shots, 3 of 5 three-pointers, scored 21 points

—Potter Jr., 6 of 11 shots, scored 15 points, plus and minus +31

—Westbrook, 5 of 9 shots, scored 15 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 steals, even Watson could score 4 of 4 shots, scoring 9 points. As a comparison, Harden on the opposite side scored 7 points in the game and Powell scored 9 points in the game.

Among them, Westbrook and Braun are particularly different.

Unlike Gordon and Porter Jr. who held a big contract, Westbrook and Braun were not optimistic before the start of this round of series, but both of them performed very well in this life-and-death battle.

Westbrook shone in the second quarter, playing for 12 minutes in a single quarter, scoring 10 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals, helping the Nuggets to lead from behind to double digits.

Before the fourth quarter was completely in garbage time, Westbrook scored another 4 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist and 3 steals, directly shattering the Clippers' fantasy of reversal.

The fourth quarter scene was impressive. With 7 minutes left, Dunn passed the ball to Zubac, and Westbrook broke out from behind, stealing, fast break, and dunk.

Because the score difference was too big at that time, to be honest, these two points did not have much impact on the final result. Westbrook even ate a T because of the frame, but this dunk that made the Nuggets boil at home was Westbrook's most wonderful vent. In this round of series, Westbrook averaged 13.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.3 steals per game, shooting percentage of 43.3% and three-point shooting percentage of 41.9%. It can be said that the Clippers' shorting cost.

Although there are some low-light moments, such as G6 failing to make empty baskets in the fourth quarter, and can fly even with dunks, G1's last key steal + three-pointer, G5 Tianwangshan's 16 points in the halftime, G7's 15+5+5+5...

No exaggeration, Westbrook is the best substitute for the two teams in this round, and his performance is even better than Powell on the opposite side. At this point, I remind you again that Westbrook's annual salary is only 3.3 million per year, and last season he joined the Nuggets because he was abandoned by the Clippers. This background has added some different colors to Westbrook's revenge.

The next is Braun, a young man who is also seriously underestimated.

In this game, Braun was also strategically shorted by the Clippers, but Braun also made the Clippers pay the price, making 3 of 5 three-pointers in the game, scoring 21 points higher than Jokic, Murray and Porter Jr.

In addition to performing efficiently on the offensive end and defensive end, Braun also locked Harden and kept his guard all the game, allowing the Clippers' second scorer, Harden, who scored 28 points in the last game, scored 2 of 8 points, and only scored 7 points.

The entire round of the series, Braun's data: averaged 12.6 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.1 steals per game, shooting percentage of 49.3%, and three-point shooting percentage of 32.0%.

The offensive output was higher than Porter Jr. (10.9 points), while the defensive end locked Harden as much as he could: Braun defended Harden in a total of 282 rounds in the series, and the latter made 16 of 40 shots and 7 of 18 three-pointers, scoring only 47 points.

data can actually prove the importance of Braun to the Nuggets:

- 276 minutes of Braun's presence, the Nuggets scored 118.9 points in 100 rounds, and the net beat the opponent by 5.3 points

- 65 minutes of Braun's absence, the Nuggets scored 92.3 points in 100 rounds, and the net loss to the opponent by 30.3 points

In this round of series, Braun's on/off value reached +35.6, which is even more exaggerated than Jokic (+32.1).

Of course, the on/off value does not mean everything, but this third-year shooting guard is really underestimated. You should know that Braun averages 15.4 points per game in the regular season, and his three-in-one shooting percentage is as high as 58.0%/39.7%/82.7%, and his real shooting percentage is 66.5%.

Even with Jokic, Braun's data is definitely excellent, and it is even more rapid than the average of 7.3 points in the previous year. Braun, the fastest-progress player announced not long ago, also ranked fourth, second only to Daniels, Zubac and Cunningham.

Objectively speaking, the Nuggets are definitely not as strong as two years ago. Malone's sudden dismissal before the playoffs made them look down upon by many fans.

But in terms of lineup, the Nuggets seem to have a bit of the flavor of two years ago - all four cores are in the base, Braun, who has worse three-pointers and stronger fast break, replaced Pope, and Westbrook acted as Bruce Brown, supporting the Nuggets' weak bench last season.

Of course, it is not easy to win the championship like two years ago. After all, there are more Western Conference strong teams now. For example, in the next round, the Nuggets will encounter 72 wins and 14 losses and have a week of rest. In less than 48 hours, the first game between the two sides will start, which will be a huge test for the Nuggets' physical fitness.

Only talk about Westbrook, the significance of this round of game is destined to be different, not only because the opponent is the Thunder who has played for 11 years, but also because this is Westbrook's second round since 2016 (the last time in 2020 park) - other core members of the Nuggets have won the championship, only Westbrook. Whether he can make it a championship is a good opportunity this year, and you must seize it.