NBA In-Season Tournament scores, takeaways: Lakers, Nuggets among teams separating themselves

The group favorites are starting to present themselves after Night No. 3

The third night of the NBA's first-ever In-Season Tournament is officially in the books, and despite some blowouts in the middle slots, it was generally another night of exciting basketball. All three early games came down to the final minutes, and then the nightcaps provided some of the most fun games of the tournament so far.

The Warriors and Timberwolves got into a brawl before a single basket was scored, and that forced Golden State to play without the three pillars of its dynasty: Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. Yet they still made it a three-point game, ultimately losing 104-101 despite the heroics of Brandin Podziemski. That wasn't even the night's most exciting game. The Clippers, who entered Tuesday 0-4 with James Harden, mounted a thrilling comeback after trailing by 13 to take the lead early in the fourth quarter. Ultimately, though, Nikola Jokic was too much for them and Denver pulled out the 111-108 win.

In-Season Tournament scores

• Hawks 126, Pistons 120
• Pacers 132, 76ers 126
• Heat 111, Hornets 105
• Nets 124, Magic 104
• Thunder 123, Spurs 87
• Pelicans 131, Mavericks 110
• Jazz 115, Blazers 99
• Nuggets 111, Clippers 108
• Timberwolves 104, Warriors 101
• Lakers 134, Grizzlies 107

With three nights of tournament play now behind us, we're starting to get a clearer picture of of what to expect the rest of the way (you can check out the standings here). So here are the biggest takeaways from tonight's action:

The group favorites are starting to present themselves

We have six groups making up the first stage of the In-Season Tournament, and with several teams having played multiple games, we now know who the favorites are in most of them.

• In East Group A, the Indiana Pacers have already slain the two giants of the field: the Philadelphia 76ers and Cleveland Cavaliers. They are now heavy favorites to advance to the knockout stage.
• East Group B is probably the most muddled. The Miami Heat are 2-0, but they've only played the two lightweights in the group (Charlotte and Washington). Their showdown with 1-0 Milwaukee will likely determine who wins this group.
• East Group C will still likely belong to Boston. The Celtics are 1-0, but their lone victory is against the 2-1 Nets. That's a valuable tiebreaker in a weak group. Now, if Brooklyn finishes the job with a win over Toronto, Boston can clinch the group by going 2-1 against the Bulls, Magic and Raptors. That's an entirely attainable goal, but keep an eye on the Nets as a possible East wildcard team.
• Both the Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Lakers are 2-0 in West Group A. However, the Lakers have already beaten Phoenix, the toughest team in the group. That makes the Lakers heavy favorites, and they'll effectively clinch the group if they beat Utah next Tuesday.
• West Group B will almost certainly belong to Denver. The Nuggets have beaten the Mavericks and Clippers, the two hardest teams in the group. If they do stumble, though, it's likely because their games against the Pelicans and Rockets are both on the road.
• Minnesota controls West Group C with a 2-0 record. The Timberwolves have won both games on the road, so if they can protect home court against the Kings and Thunder, they will advance.

The wild card situation will still need time to shake out, but we're starting to get some idea of who will actually advance to the knockout stage here.

Two contenders likely bow out

We should note that two group-stage losses do not technically disqualify a team from the tournament. A five-way, 2-2 group tie can still lead to a .500 team advancing, but that is obviously unlikely. The only way a 2-2 team can earn a wild card slot is if no non-group winners go 3-1. Effectively, that means that once a team has lost its second group stage game, it is unlikely to make it out of the group stage.

We entered Tuesday with the Thunder, Grizzlies and Wizards likely knocked out in this fashion. Two teams joined them tonight: the Clippers and Mavericks. Both would have been dangerous in a single-elimination setting, but with two losses, their road to advancement is now almost certainly gone. That's part of the fun of the In-Season tournament as teams don't have giant sample sizes to work with. It's win right away or fall out of the running.

Championship hopefuls figuring things out

The Warriors and Clippers both lost on Tuesday, but, in the process, they might have figured some things out about themselves. Let's start with the Warriors. Brandin Podziemski scored 23 points for Golden State in defeat. That is the highest point total a non-Curry Warrior has posted this season. Scoring has been a serious problem for Golden State when Curry isn't going nuclear. Should they invest more minutes in their rookie and see if he pops a bit? Tuesday suggested that they should.

The Clippers, meanwhile, finally took the first real step towards figuring out how to manage its ball-handler glut. They staggered James Harden and Russell Westbrook more aggressively than they ever have despite still starting them together, and it led to Harden's best game as a Clipper. He scored 21 points and spearheaded the third-quarter comeback that nearly led to the upset. If he is going to be comfortable running this offense, it has to come with shooters around him, not Westbrook.

These are the sort of things teams can learn in the right regular season games. We're still very early in the season, and identities haven't yet been formed. The Clippers and Warriors took steps in the right direction on Tuesday, even if they didn't pick up badly-needed victories.

[Nov 15, 2023 at 12:49 am ET · Sam Quinn]

So what can we take away from tonight?

The Lakers are nearing the conclusion of their blowout over the Grizzlies, and that will wrap up Night No. 3 of In-Season Tournament play. So what are our takeaways from the night?

• We have clear favorites in the three west groups now. The Nuggets, Lakers, Timberwolves and Jazz are all 2-0 in group play, and the Lakers and Jazz play each other next Tuesday. The Lakers should be heavily favored there, setting the Nuggets, Lakers and Wolves up as the early favorites to emerge as Western Conference group winners.
• The East is a bit more muddled. Indiana should escape East Group A having beaten its two biggest competitors (Philly and Cleveland). Boston is only 1-0, but in the tournament's weakest group, the Celtics will be heavy Group C favorites. That leaves us with East Group B. Miami is 2-0. ... but still has to play Milwaukee and New York. So there's a bit of uncertainty there, but the winner of Bucks-Heat likely escapes Group B.
• Memphis, Oklahoma City and Washington entered Tuesday with two losses, effectively knocking them out of the running. The Clippers and Mavericks joined them on Tuesday, knocking out two potentially dangerous teams. The Spurs earned loss No. 2 tonight as well, but were not a serious threat to win the tournament anyway.

[Nov 15, 2023 at 12:36 am ET · Sam Quinn]

Game over, Nuggets win

The Nuggets escape after Jokic wins the jump ball. It's a 111-108 final in Denver.

[Nov 15, 2023 at 12:36 am ET · Sam Quinn]

The worst time to get a wedgie!

Paul George just wedgied his 3-point attempt, and now we have a jump-ball presumably between Jokic and Zubac! We have 5.3 seconds left.

[Nov 15, 2023 at 12:34 am ET · Sam Quinn]

Here's where we sit:

Nuggets 111, Clippers 108. We have 13 seconds left in the game and no timeouts remaining on either side after the Clippers inbound this ball from half-court. With that in mind, the Clippers should probably avoid quick 2's. One rebound likely wins this game for Denver, while a 3-pointer ties it for the Clippers.

[Nov 15, 2023 at 12:32 am ET · Sam Quinn]

Oh boy...

Denver just committed an absolutely critical turnover trying to get the ball across halfcourt, and the Clippers capitalized with a quick deficit. Denver leads 109-108 with 15.3 seconds remaining. They'll have to make free throws and perhaps get a stop to seal this game.

[Nov 15, 2023 at 12:30 am ET · Sam Quinn]

Conley ices the Warriors

Props to the Warriors. They pushed the Timberwolves to the absolute brink down arguably their three best players. But Mike Conley's 3-pointer with 8.6 seconds remaining likely clinches the game for the Timberwolves. It's 102-98 Minnesota.

[Nov 15, 2023 at 12:24 am ET · Sam Quinn]

The game within the game

The Nuggets have been using those little rub screens to force bad switches on Nikola Jokic all night, but Denver is the best team in the league at playing with your expectations. Rather than run that play again, they let Reggie Jackson jet to the rim the moment the Clippers anticipated it. Two free points. It's 107-104 Nuggets.

[Nov 15, 2023 at 12:19 am ET · Sam Quinn]

Kawhi taking the Jokic assignment

Kawhi Leonard can defend up, but Nikola Jokic is another animal entirely here. If the Clippers are going to play small, he's the closest thing they have to an option for the two-time MVP, but he lost the first exchange with a foul. That's going to be the matchup to watch down the stretch.

[Nov 15, 2023 at 12:18 am ET · Sam Quinn]

Clippers going super small

Oh boy, it looks like the Clippers are closing without Zubac OR Tucker. They're playing micro ball with the three stars, Norman Powell and Terance Mann. The idea here is to spread Denver out and attack Jokic defensively, but that's going to create problems on the other end.

[Nov 15, 2023 at 12:14 am ET · Sam Quinn]

Denver using the same trick over and over again

Denver doesn't want PJ Tucker anywhere near Nikola Jokic, so they're running these pick-and-rolls wherever they can to force the Clippers to switch. That puts the Clippers in the position of either letting Jokic demolish a smaller defender or doubling him and letting him find the open man. There's no good answer.

[Nov 15, 2023 at 12:10 am ET · Sam Quinn]

Nothing Denver can do

Sometimes, Paul George and Kawhi Leonard just make all of their hard shots. That's basically what's happening here. Denver is defending them about as well as they could reasonably expect. It doesn't matter. These are still shot-makers, and they're making even tough shots tonight.

[Nov 15, 2023 at 12:05 am ET · Sam Quinn]

Warriors running out of gas?

It's been almost four minutes in the fourth quarter in San Francisco, and the Warriors still haven't scored. Of course, the Timberwolves aren't scoring either, so the Warriors still have a three-point lead. But the Warriors are so shorthanded that it's worth asking if they might be running out of gas here. Brandin Podziemski isn't exactly used to carrying late-game NBA offenses.