Kawhi-less Clippers are routed by the Jokic-less Nuggets

DENVER —  Jamal Murray had 21 points and nine assists, Russell Westbrook added 19 points and eight assists and the Denver Nuggets beat the Clippers 126-103 on Wednesday night in a matchup of short-handed teams.

Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard was not available after he flew back to Los Angeles before the game to help his family deal with the wildfires.

Nuggets center Nikola Jokic was out for the second straight game due to an illness. Denver is 2-3 without him this season.

Norman Powell scored 30 points to finish with a 27.6 average in the Clippers’ four games against the Nuggets. James Harden had 16 points and Ivica Zubac added 10.

Denver took control with a 20-3 run in the first quarter and led 55-30 late in the second before Los Angeles cut it to 16 at halftime.

The Nuggets used another spurt midway through the third quarter to put it away.

Takeaways

Clippers: Powell came into the night hitting 85.2% of his free throws but missed three of six in the third quarter. The team missed five of 15 in the period.

Nuggets: Coach Michael Malone made a change from Tuesday night by starting former Clipper DeAndre Jordan in Jokic’s place and bringing Dario Saric off the bench. Jordan finished with a season-high 12 points and tied his season high with nine rebounds.

Key moment

Jordan had a big third quarter. He made two free throws, threw down two alley-oops and tipped in a feed from Westbrook, another former Clipper, that helped the lead grow from 16 to 27.

Key stat

The Nuggets improved to 8-0 on the second leg of back-to-backs. They are 2-6 in the first game of a set.

Up next

The Clippers return home to play Charlotte on Saturday night. The Nuggets host Brooklyn on Friday night.