Adelman lauds Westbrook's 'attack mode' in Nuggets OT win

The Nuggets had a sluggish first half, but recovered to seize a 112-110 win over the Clippers in overtime of the first game in the NBA playoff best-of-seven series.

Nikola Jokic scored 29 points and was only a rebound short of a triple-double, while Aaron Gordon added 25, but it was Westbrook who made key plays at the end of regulation and overtime to earn the win.

He finished with 15 points on 5-for-17 shooting, but 10 of those points came in the fourth quarter and overtime. Westbrook also made the defensive play of the game by deflecting an inbound pass to James Harden to force a turnover with 10 seconds remaining.

"Russ is Russ," David Adelman said with a smile after the game. "Defensively, he was absolutely incredible.

"He was playing free safety out there. I thought a lot of the reasons why the [Clippers' 20] turnovers happened, even if it wasn't him forcing it, just the way he was roaming around and impacting the game, it was great for us.

"Then offensively, a couple of times, I thought he attacked, maybe we could have pulled it out and executed, but that's what Russ does.

"He's going to play in attack mode. I don't think he's going to change after 17 years. If he sees somebody in front of him one-on-one, he's going to attack, and he made an enormous 3 in the fourth."

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It was a fourth consecutive win for the Nuggets since they fired Michael Malone and named Adelman as their interim coach.

Westbrook was with the Clippers over the last two seasons, but Los Angeles opted to give him space in order to focus on Jokic's threat.

Westbrook played down his impact, noting that Denver still have work to do to get through this round of the playoffs, but noted how his time with the Clippers helped him force the turnover in the closing stages.

"We can talk about that [the Clippers' choice to give him space] more when we take care of business," Westbrook said.

"I know that play [the pass from Nicolas Batum to Harden]," Westbrook said. "They have a dynamic roller with [Ivica Zubac], great cutters and guys that catch lobs.

"My job is to be able to be the low man and find ways to, excuse my language, f*** s*** up."