And most of those slaps came courtesy of one man: the zany, mercurial, batshit-crazy Russell Westbrook.
Even those who admire Westbrook's incredible energy and drive realize that his style of play — every time he steps onto the hardwood, he's like a party animal with a snoot full of amyl nitrate — is as apt to generate heartbreak as joy. But his guilelessness is charming in its own peculiar way. Somewhere deep in his consciousness, he must know that he could be an even more effective player if he could exhibit at least a modicum of self-control every now and then. But he just can't help being a chaos machine. That's who he is — and all of the madness was on display yesterday afternoon.
The matchup versus the Clippers is more challenging than many members of the local sports-media intelligentsia acknowledged leading up to game one. True, the L.A. franchise has a history of falling short. But in the last month or two, the outfit's superstar, the oft-injured Kawhi Leonard, began to finally resemble the best version of himself, which is very good indeed: the Clip Show entered Ball Arena having won eighteen of their final 21 games.
Moreover, the Nuggets' vaunted home-court advantage has been fading. I got the opportunity to see five games in person since last October's tip-off, and their record in those matchups was 2-3, with wins coming against bottom-feeders (the Utah Jazz and the Philadelphia 76ers) and their defeats versus top-flight opponents: the Oklahoma City Thunder on opening night, the Los Angeles Lakers after the trade for Luka Dončić, and the Indiana Pacers.
The latter loss was so awful that it resulted in head coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth being fired. While the Nuggets had won all three of their efforts under interim leader David Adelman, no one could be certain if the seemingly enhanced chemistry would keep bubbling along or explode down the line.
Health was an issue, too. No one admitted that Jamal Murray was hurt early in the season, but he kept drifting in and out of the lineup like a desert scirocco. Indeed, rumors that he might be unavailable for the entire playoffs were rife as recently as two weeks ago. Aaron Gordon, too, has been nicked up plenty, and Nikola Jokić, who's finally receiving the flowers he deserves for being the best basketballer drawing breath, seemed exhausted from having to carry the whole damn lot. Yes, Jokić had been able to will his comrades to a championship in 2023, but redemption for last year's disastrous choke job to the Minnesota Timberwolves was hardly guaranteed.
Clippers head coach and master strategist Ty Lue had a great plan on Saturday for making this mission even more difficult. The Clippers collapsed inside, practically begging Denver, a subpar three-point team, to launch from distance. The Nuggets happily fell into the trap in the first half; after draining the first three attempts, Denver missed nine of the next ten. At the same time, the Clips kept feeding center Ivica Zubac or racing to the rim as a way of potentially getting Jokić into foul trouble. Nikola avoided this fate initially by playing no defense whatsoever, thereby allowing L.A. to build a lead that reached fifteen points during that dreaded stretch known in these parts as the "non-Jokić minutes," when bench players predominate.
After a Christian Braun steal and dunk, things began to turn around — and the intensity demonstrated by Westbrook, a former Clipper, was definitely a catalyst. With the D cranked up in ways that were rare in 2025, the Nuggets narrowed the gap to four points at half and three by the end of the third quarter.
In the fourth, it was Westbrook time, for better and worse. He eventually went 5-17 from the field, with many of the errant shots being misbegotten layups. He also took six three-pointers when the wiser course of action would have been to toss up zero. Granted, one of his makes came with 24 seconds to go and put the Nuggets up 98-96 — but on the final possession, after James Harden, who delivered an unexpectedly great performance, had knotted the score, Russ barely got the ball airborne before regulation ended.
The adventure continued in overtime. Westbrook missed a three-pointer, snared an offensive rebound, clanked one of two free throws, missed another three-pointer, nabbed another offensive rebound, missed a layup, and got blocked by Harden. But he also forced a turnover by Leonard on an inbound play (one of seven by Kawhi) that basically put the triumph on ice and jolted the Ball Arena faithful into the sweatiest of paroxysms.
Nuggets Nation sounded off on social media afterward, and many of the most memorable posts tried against all odds to make sense of Westbrook's afternoon. Count down the following twenty items on X to see what we mean.
Number 20:
Trust is the last word I think of when I think "Westbrook"....
— Stokes1244 (@Stokes1244) April 20, 2025
Number 19:
Nuggets fans got the full Westbrook experience today.
— Johnny Thunderman (@jlaw091) April 20, 2025
Number 18:
Clippers fans watching Westbrook seal the W for the Nuggets pic.twitter.com/UEDQP7zh78
— Onye ✯🇳🇬 (@KobeBryant_jr) April 20, 2025
Number 17:
realizing the next few weeks of watching the Nuggets is going to be the Westbrook Roller Coaster pic.twitter.com/3bheS4Hq8a
— David Sirota (@davidsirota) April 20, 2025
Number 16:
Wait….. My whole TL was shitting on the Nuggets and Westbrook and they won @westendwess
— FreeSLY (@_iPreferTheHate) April 20, 2025
Number 15:
Russell Westbrook after the Nuggets Game 1 win over the Clippers:
— Hater Report (@HaterReport_) April 20, 2025
“My job is to find a way to f*ck sh*t up."
pic.twitter.com/ZxDzbuj6I3
Number 14:
The Nuggets are now 1-0 with Westbrook in the Playoffs pic.twitter.com/aRKrsGnNJk https://t.co/A7wbihG5mJ
— Beastbrook (@Beastbr00k0) April 20, 2025
Number 13:
I go from "gosh we suck" to "we are championship contenders!!" To "we can't shoot to save our lives" to "amazing clutch shots by our boys!!" To "Westbrook sucks & he's going to cost us the game" to "Westbrook is awesome & he's going to win his first championship" all in less than…
— Joseph Cardile (@jdc122167) April 20, 2025
Number 12:
Tough for the Nuggets to close w Westbrook in the playoffs when you know he will have to make that wide open 3 in the crunch.
— Puck Ferguson (@FergusonPuck) April 20, 2025
Number 11:
Westbrook, Westbrick, west side, nuggets in 5
— THUNDER SPORTS (@Stache_TSP) April 20, 2025
Number 10:
Westbrook won da game for nuggets today and look how quiet yall are about him when he literally wins da game .. YALL HATE WESTBROOK
— 🇪🇷East African Assassin (@thereal_Dash_O) April 19, 2025
Number 9:
You guys need to play Westbrook more and let him shoot
— Ian Li (@ianbaron) April 19, 2025
Number 8:
Westbrook won the game!
— HOTS ! (@NBAJazzChat1) April 19, 2025
Then lost it.
Then won it again !
What a ride!
Congrats @nuggets !
Number 7:
Westbrook nearly drank Nuggets in the last seconds but he made up for it
— Request (@Sir_Ceelo) April 19, 2025
Number 6:
Whether it is a really bad thing or a really good thing, Westbrook sure makes the end of games exciting…#nuggets #nba #NBAPlayoffs
— Mark Filler (@Mark_Filler) April 19, 2025
Number 5:
Exactly! Jokic scored like 2 points from middle of the 4th and overtime. Westbrook and Gordon saved the Nuggets.
— Jaybets (@Javonfo08) April 19, 2025
Number 4:
Russ can piss me off like that missed layup against the wolves, i had given up on him but regardless the shots he came up huge for us when we needed him to today Jamal was 7/20 .. honestly tell me , do the nuggets win that game without Russell Westbrook?
— George (@MugiwaraGeorge3) April 19, 2025
Number 3:
Im in a great mood!
— Tatiana (@Tatianaclinares) April 19, 2025
Nuggets win game 1
The guys started talking to each other once it game to clutch time!!!!!
Russell freaking Westbrook man
Aaron Gordon played hard af
CB/Mal hit some clutch shots!
Jok had a double double
I can enjoy Easter tomorrow… pic.twitter.com/QBflf4dYIz
Number 2:
If the rest of the Nuggets team plays with even 1/4 of the effort and heart Westbrook plays with they would never lose
— Roy (@rtreywrld) April 19, 2025
Number 1:
Westbrook being on the nuggets is like being locked in a room with a dude and he has a gun
— jay (@hologramgrady) April 20, 2025