Friday night, the Clippers came painfully close to pulling off a massive upset. They walked into the Nuggets’ arena for their playoff opener, aiming to steal Game 1 and take an early lead in the series. Led by James Harden, the Clippers started strong—closing the first quarter with an eight-point lead and catching the former champs off guard. But as the night wore on, the momentum slowly slipped away. Denver mounted a gritty comeback and eventually sealed the win in overtime.

And according to Harden, the heartbreaking loss came down to one glaring issue: turnovers. The Clippers coughed up the ball 20 times, with seven of those turnovers coming from none other than Kawhi Leonard. One of the most painful came in the fourth quarter when the Clippers were up by a point and had a chance to extend their lead. Kawhi, under heavy pressure from Jamal Murray, lost the ball—a pivotal moment that helped shift the tide in Denver’s favor.

Frustrated with the team’s performance, Harden didn’t hold back in his postgame comments: “That’s the game. That’s the game right there. Nothing else. Turnovers—that was just unforced. That’s the simplest game right there. It’s nothing they did, it’s us. All of us.”

He added, “It’s a little frustrating, you know, just because it’s self-inflicted—and it’s something we’ve been really good at these last few weeks.” Harden’s frustration is more than justified. He did everything in his power to keep the Clippers in the fight. That included dropping a 32-point double-double and nailing a tough, game-tying floater in the final seconds of regulation to force OT. But in the end, even his heroics weren’t enough to overcome the team’s costly mistakes.

So, to see his heroic effort go to waste because of the squad’s careless mistakes was a dagger to Harden’s heart. However, the former MVP has not lost his confidence and remains hopeful for the next game. He remarked, “Confidence is always gonna be there… You know, I mean, come back in Game 2 and ready to be even better.” Meanwhile, Ty Lue is laying out the blueprint for his players to get the job done on Monday.

Ty Lue highlights Nuggets’ weakness as James Harden reveals strategy for Game 2

While Harden pointed out that the Clippers lost because of their mistakes, their head coach revealed how they can tackle this situation going forward. “I mean, they’re not gonna foul. We talked about it before. Just drive to the basket and lay the ball up like they’re not gonna contest.” Yes, it’s that simple. Lue believes his players need to be more aggressive inside the paint because that might be the Nuggets’ weakest spot. “They don’t have shot blocking. And we did it in the first half. I thought the second half we got away from that.” While Nikola Jokic is arguably the best offensive player today, his defense is far from elite.

It’s clear the Nuggets lack rim protection, and Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue wants his team to exploit that weakness. “Things we talked about before the game—offensive rebounds—we did a good job, except for the last four minutes. But 20 turnovers are too many to try to beat a good team, especially on the road,” he said.

James Harden echoed a similar sentiment, revealing part of the Clippers’ strategy for the series: “That’s part of the game plan—get to the paint. You know, get to the paint, good things happen for us. We talked about it the last couple of days. And even tonight: get to the paint and good things will happen. We generate layups and open shots for our team. So we’ll try to do better in Game 2.”

While execution fell short in Game 1, the Clippers will look to regroup and come more prepared on Monday, hoping to head back to L.A. with the series tied. The question now is: can they clean up the turnovers and stick to the game plan?