INGLEWOOD, Calif. -- Denver Nuggets guard Russell Westbrook left Thursday night's 117-83 loss to the LA Clippers in Game 3 of the Western Conference playoff series with left foot inflammation midway through the second quarter, while forward Michael Porter Jr. played through a painful left shoulder injury and said he wasn't sure if he would be available for Saturday's Game 4.
Westbrook turned his left foot while warming up before the game and attempted to play through the injury before being taken out midway through the second quarter.
Porter Jr. injured his left, non-shooting shoulder while diving for a ball near the end of Denver's Game 2 loss on Monday. A source told ESPN that Porter suffered a Grade 2 sprain of a joint in his shoulder. Porter said he was unable to lift his arm above his shoulder on the two off days and that it was incredibly painful but said that he wanted to try to play Thursday to give his team a lift.
"They say it's normally a four-, five-week injury," Porter Jr. said. "I mean, you use your shoulder for everything. It was tough to rebound. Tough to bring it up to shoot. It was probably like 20-30 percent. I couldn't really use it."
Asked if he'd be able to play Saturday in Game 4, with the Nuggets now trailing in the series 2-1, Porter said that he will try.
"If I can, I will," he said. "If it's still in the place like it is today and I don't feel like I can even bring any help to the team at all, then there's no point in trying to go out there."
Nuggets coach David Adelman repeatedly praised Porter Jr.'s toughness in trying to play through the injury. Teammate Aaron Gordon called him a "warrior." But it was clear early Thursday that the Nuggets' best 3-point shooter was limited. Porter Jr. seemed to be dragging his left arm as he ran up and down the court all night. He finished 2-for-9 from the field, hitting just one 3-pointer and grabbing seven rebounds.
That contributed somewhat to the huge disparity in 3-point shooting between the teams. The Clippers hit 18 of their 39 3-point shots from behind the arc (46%), whereas Denver hit just 7-of-26 (28%).
L.A. built a 20-point lead early behind that hot shooting and never looked back as it won its first playoff game in the new Intuit Dome. It was the Clippers' third-largest playoff victory in franchise history.
Denver's Nikola Jokic became the first player in postseason history to record consecutive 20-point triple doubles and lose both games. Jokic had 23 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists in Game 3.
This is the 10th time the Clippers have held a 2-1 lead in a best-of-7 series. They are 4-5 in the previous nine series, the only team in NBA history with a losing series record in that scenario.
Game 4 is Saturday at 3 p.m. PT.
"I wish it was faster. I don't want to think about this one anymore," Nuggets forward Christian Braun said after the game. "We'll be ready. We just got punched in the mouth and you have to respond. You can't roll over. You can't complain. Like I said, I wish the game was earlier. I wish we could respond earlier."