Clippers look to regroup after heartbreaking Game 4 loss to Nuggets

INGLEWOOD — It will be the one soul-crushing dunk that the Clippers will remember. One basket at the buzzer that left them tied in their first-round playoff series with the Denver Nuggets that will cause angst as they head into Tuesday’s Game 5.

But the Clippers can’t be short-sighted; they need to look beyond Saturday’s fourth-quarter rally that ended when Nuggets guard Aaron Gordon slammed home a game-winning dunk as time expired to give Denver a 101-99 victory at the Intuit Dome.

“Sometimes basketball can be amazing, can be cool as hell, so that was amazing for them,” Clippers reserve forward Nicolas Batum said.

The Clippers, though, need to remember what got them down 20 points to begin the fourth quarter in the first place.

Leading 2-1 in the best-of-seven series, the Clippers came out a bit flat in the first half of Game 4 and then flatlined in the third quarter. The Nuggets took advantage of the lull, upped their intensity and outscored the Clippers 35-17 in the third to carry an 85-65 lead into the final period.

“I mean, you stress it a lot, about taking care of the basketball. We only had 10 turnovers, and we just didn’t get the shots that we’ve been getting throughout the course of the series, and we took some shots that we don’t normally take as well. Some questionable shots,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said.

Lue said he reminded his team at halftime to stay poised, find their spots and not let the Nuggets run them off the floor.

When Lue’s plans didn’t pan out, the coaching staff decided to go to a zone defense in the fourth quarter, bringing an element of surprise to the hotly contested series. According to Synergy Sports, the Clippers played a zone on just 22 possessions in the entire regular season and the Nuggets clearly weren’t ready for the switch.

“We were able to get stops, play faster, play in transition, and then were able to execute offensively,” Lue said. “We’ve been doing that the last three games, so the fourth quarter is when we really executed and did what we’re supposed to do.”

The Clippers can’t afford lapses of any kind in Game 5 in Denver if they hope to regain home-court advantage and set up a potential clincher in Game 6 on their home court.

“You got to be better, just stay with it,” Lue said. “They’re going to give you the answers to the test. If you play the right way and do what we’re supposed to do, we’re going to get great shots.

“We’ll be ready for the next game, but our mentality is like, listen, we understand how we got to play, we know the blueprints, but now we just gotta go do it.”

Batum said the series is far from over.

“It’s 2-2. We’re not down 3-0 or something like that, it’s 2-2,” Batum said. “So, we’re right where we’re supposed to be. Both teams.

“We’re gonna go out there (Denver), we’ve done it once, almost did it twice at their place. We have to go out there, regroup, move on.”

Game 6 will be played Thursday night in Inglewood, with Game 7, if necessary, on Saturday back in Denver.

“It’s a tough one right now. It sucks to lose that way. So, we’ve gotta regroup, watch the film, figure it out, work on ourselves and move on,” Batum said.