If history tells us anything, it’s that James Harden is due for at least one bad game in every playoff series.

It had yet to come in this first-round matchup between the Nuggets and Clippers, but it finally arrived at the best possible time for Denver — and the worst possible time for Los Angeles.

In the Nuggets’ 131-115 win in Game 5, Harden had just 11 points on 3-for-9 shooting from the field to go with five assists and four turnovers. He was a team-worst minus-16 in a defeat that has Denver within one game of advancing to the second round.

“They’ve made their mind up they’re gonna try to take him out of the series after the first wo or three games,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. “They’re doing a good job. I gotta do a better job of just finding ways to get him open to get him space. Probably more (isolation) because they’re blitzing so much to try to get him to his spots.”

If anyone deserves the credit for limiting Harden — aside from Harden himself — it’s Christian Braun, who has had the primary defensive assignment on the former MVP all series and has been up to the task in every game so far.

“James is such a hard cover. You’re asking a guy to pick him up full (court), don’t foul him but also don’t give him too much space (because) he might step back and shoot a three, but also don’t let him go straight to the basket with his left hand and shoot a floater,” Nuggets coach David Adelman said. “There’s a lot of asks going on with Christian for (guarding) James Harden and that was a team defensive game tonight with James, but CB’s the guy at the point. He’s giving great energy. I’ve always said this, CB’s never scared of the moment.”

But it wasn’t just keeping Harden below his series average that was important in the Nuggets’ win. They also severely limited the impact of Kawhi Leonard, who has been arguably the best player in the series.

Aaron Gordon was up to the task for nearly 40 minutes once again as Leonard was kept in check and only took 15 shots, the fewest he’s taken since his quiet Game 1. Leonard nearly had a triple-double with 20 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds, but it was far from his monster Game 2 the previous time these teams played in Denver.

“We gotta play the game,” Leonard said. “My teammates knocked down shots tonight, we just wasn’t able to defend. We gotta keep playing the same game. If we want to keep going, everybody has to contribute, which they are doing.”

DeAndre Jordan’s big minutes

It was only 9 minutes, 30 seconds, but it was the biggest 9 minutes, 30 seconds, of DeAndre Jordan’s Nuggets tenure. The veteran big man continued to be David Adelman’s choice for backup center and he gave Nikola Jokic not one, but two stints on the bench in Game 5.

The most critical was the start of the fourth quarter when Denver had a 16-point lead. Sticking Jordan back out there was a risk, and not one Adelman has made so far in this series. But it couldn’t have worked out better. When Jordan left and Jokic came back in with 7:09 to go, the Nuggets were up 19.

The highlight? A vintage block from Jordan that spurred a transition slam for Jamal Murray.

U.S. Open champ in the house

It’s usually a current or former Broncos player — oftentimes Peyton Manning — who draws the biggest applause on the jumbotron.

But on Tuesday night, it was Denver’s own Wyndham Clark, the 2023 U.S. Open champion golfer who sat courtside right by the Nuggets bench and was cheering on his hometown squad all game long.