Nuggets 110, Clippers 101
Q. They really hit you guys in the mouth that first quarter. Why was it so hard to counter that?
DOC RIVERS: We did kind of counter it. Honestly just thought they played nor aggressive. They got into us the entire game. I thought offensively we just refused to move the ball and make simple plays. As beautiful as we moved the ball in Game 1, we were the exact opposite in Game 2. First quarter was bad defense. The next three quarters was bad offense.
Q. Jokic from three made four and you guys were slow to contest on the first one.
DOC RIVERS: On the first three.
Q. How critical is that? Seemed like the rim is looking bigger and big to them.
DOC RIVERS: It should have, when Jokic had like 30 seconds to shoot those first three threes. He's a good player to begin with and when we gift him nine points he's just going to get more confident.
I thought Murray was dominant and I thought Jokic was just as dominant in the first quarter.
Q. What was the biggest adjustment Denver did to keep Kawhi from getting to his spots and showing him resistance when he was inside?
DOC RIVERS: I thought she just switched a lot and that's it. They stayed in front the ball. I thought our spacing could have been better, and we didn't have many down-angle attacks, which I thought hurt us as well.
Q. The telecast showed you talking about the ball popping at halftime. Is that a symbolism for teamwork or being crisp with the plays that are called?
DOC RIVERS: Teamwork for sure. You know what happens, though. Each guy comes in and thinks he's going to win the game for you and what happens is it becomes an individual game.
We had 17 turnovers and 20 assists. The 17 turnovers are a reflection of forcing too many plays instead of just letting the offense happen.
Q. Wanted to get your thoughts on a night tonight where the bench didn't get going as much as they do. How much does that affect the starters?
DOC RIVERS: I thought the starters put themselves in trouble first. The starters are the ones that got us down, you look at the plus minus. Our starters are minus 16, 19, 18. The bench came in in a tough game when they walked in. Sometimes the starters have to set the table and that didn't happen tonight.
Q. JaMychal had a pretty impactful 26 minutes tonight. There were some times when you put him with the starting four and they limited what they could do defensively. Was that just a reaction bringing pressured on Jokic or what as the usage there?
DOC RIVERS: We just put him at the 5 actually and I thought he was very good at the 5. I thought he was really the only one that showed Jokic any physicality. Everybody else showed Jokic whatever he wanted. I thought JaMychal got into him and played him physical but the other end he stretches the floor for us, which is good, as well.
Q. Defending Jokic, obviously it's not a one-person job --
DOC RIVERS: No.
Q. -- is that going to be something you're going to have to do a bunch of different ways?
DOC RIVERS: He's a great player and great players are great because they are very difficult to defend and so he's definitely too smart to give one look, that's for sure.
Q. Denver's talked about needing to be physical against you guys and they came out with more physicality today. Is that something you guys can prepare for?
DOC RIVERS: We just need to play hard ourselves. I thought they deserved to play in so many ways. They played with so much more force than us. They moved the ball. They trusted their offense and we didn't do any of those things. It's amazing we had a chance in the fourth to cut it to seven. I thought that was a huge missed call on JaMychal's layup. I thought Jokic should have picked up his fifth foul. Wasn't called.
But other than that, I thought it was all Denver.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports