A mid-game adjustment on Thursday night might have led to the Los Angeles Clippers beating the Denver Nuggets.
When head coach Tyronn Lue chose to put Nicolas Batum on the court instead of Kris Dunn, he gave the Clippers a big boost.
Following the game, Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic was honest about his opinion of Batum.
“Batum is a much better shooter than Kris Dunn,” Jokic said plainly. “Batum is a great defensive player. He can guard 1 through 5. I don’t think they lack [anything] defensively with Batum. They’re probably going to start him next game.”
Batum ended the night with zero points, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t help.
His six rebounds and two assists were valuable, as were his two blocks.
Batum wasn’t put into the game to make buckets, but his focus was instead on facilitating plays and allowing others, notably Kawhi Leonard and James Harden, to score.
He was also tasked with blocking and shutting down the Nuggets, which he did repeatedly throughout the second half of the game.
The Nuggets admitted that they felt unorganized when Batum was on the court, and both Harden and Leonard took advantage of him being in the game with them.
Jokic predicted that Lue would start Game 7 with Batum, but it’s not clear if that will be the direction he takes.
He used Batum in the second half of the game when it was clear that his lineup could match Denver’s.
He will likely make his decision based on what the Nuggets do at the start of Game 7.
Batum has been a great bench player for the Clippers since joining them at the start of the season, and now he is attempting to prolong their playoff run.
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