Clippers pushed to brink after Game 5 whooping in Denver

Game 6 is on Thursday in Los Angeles.

(Photo credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images)

DENVER -- If Game 5 was any indication, it appears the LA Clippers have reached the end of their proverbial rope.

You can thank a 131-115 shellacking at the hands of the Denver Nuggets for that one, pushing the Clippers to the brink of elimination as they now trail their best-of-seven first-round series 3-2 with a “must-win” game set to take place on Thursday at Intuit Dome.

The story of this one was the same as several in this series: The Clippers, for some reason, just cannot stop getting off to hideous starts.

“Defensively, as far as us, just having that presence to start the game, I think the last three games or so, they’ve been really attacking us to start the game early,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said after Tuesday’s Game 5 loss. “We gotta be better with that, especially on the road.”

Through the first five minutes of games in this series, the Nuggets have outscored the Clippers 76-53. The Clippers have outscored Denver 493-453 over the remaining 220 minutes of the first five games. But none of that matters if you’re getting off to slow starts consistently.

“Wish I knew,” forward Kawhi Leonard said when asked postgame what he thinks is contributing to the team’s poor starts.

Leonard finished one rebound shy of a triple-double as he tallied 20 points, 11 assists, and 9 rebounds in 37 minutes, going 8 of 15 from the field in the process.

“They’re getting out, getting easy layups early, got some open 3s on one of them. Jamal Murray got them going,” Leonard said. “But we’ve just got to stay there, know what they’re doing and contest, and make sure we’re there on every cut, closeout, rebound. Just the same way you win a basketball game.”