Late in Game 1 of the postseason opener Saturday at Ball Arena, Russell Westbrook made his former team rue the decision to trade him.

The Clippers last summer sent Westbrook to Utah in a deal that brought Kris Dunn to Los Angeles. The Jazz waived Westbrook, freeing him up to sign with the Nuggets as a free agent.

For the early part of the game between Westbrook’s last two teams, it looked like the Clippers made a good decision. Dunn hounded Jamal Murray, limiting Denver’s starting point guard to six points on eight shots in the first half. Westbrook made just one of his first six shots through three quarters, but the Nuggets’ 36-year-old guard laughed last in Denver’s 112-110 overtime victory.

Los Angeles had the ball down three with 10 seconds to go, but Westbrook used his experience to protect Denver’s home-court advantage.

“I knew that play,” Westbrook told reporters in the postgame locker room.

Westbrook started the sequence defending Norman Powell, but switched onto James Harden, who led the Clippers with 32 points, at the top of the key. When Harden popped out toward midcourt in an attempt to create separation, Westbrook was right there to deflect the pass off Harden to give the ball back to the Nuggets.

“Whenever he talks, especially about this Clippers team, he knows exactly what he’s talking about. He knows what they’re looking for in certain moments, where the play is kind of going,” Christian Braun said.

“He made the biggest defensive play, I think, of the night. … He was great for us.”

Nikola Jokic hit two free throws to cap his 29-point, 12-assist and nine-rebound performance before Norman Powell’s cosmetic 3-pointer capped the scoring just before the buzzer.

“In that game, that physical of a game, it’s just incredible,” Nuggets interim coach David Adelman said of Jokic’s contributions.

There’s a good chance the Nuggets don’t make it to overtime without Westbrook’s offensive contributions in the fourth quarter. After Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon hit 3-pointers to make it a one-point game in the final 5 minutes, Westbrook grabbed an offensive rebound and gave the Nuggets the lead with a layup with 3:37 to go. Harden put the Clippers back in front with a couple of free throws before Westbrook cut for a layup off Jokic’s 10th assist.

A couple of fruitless possessions put Denver behind in the final 30 seconds. The Clippers dared Westbrook to shoot a 3, and he stepped up to the challenge and connected off another Jokic assist.

“For us, the open man wins,” Jokic said.

“He made a big 3. He was really good in transition for us. He was aggressive. He had a couple of offensive rebounds, too.”

Harden again answered to tie the game with 18 seconds left. Westbrook had a chance to win the game in regulation, as well, but got caught in the air without a plan and Denver didn’t get a shot off before the buzzer. If capped a full four quarters of the Westbrook experience.

“Russ is Russ. Defensively, he was absolutely incredible. He was playing free safety out there. I thought a lot of the reason why the turnovers happened, even if it wasn’t him forcing it, just the way he was roaming around and impacting the game was great for us,” Adelman said.

“Offensively, a couple of times I thought he attacked, (and) maybe we could’ve pulled it out and executed, but that’s what Russ does. He’s got to play in attack mode, so I don’t think he’s going to change after 17 years. If he sees somebody in front of him one-on-one, he’s going to attack.”

Westbrook used some expletives to describe his defensive role as the low man against his former team, which features willing cutters and a couple of lob threats.

“Find ways to, excuse my language, but (mess stuff) up,” Westbrook said.

As long as Westbrook, who finished with 15 points, four offensive rebounds, four defensive rebounds, three assists, two steals and one turnover in more than 34 minutes in Game 1, defends and plays with effort like he did Saturday, the Nuggets can live with the ups and downs offensively.

“I’m going to compete at the highest level,” Westbrook said.

NUGGETS 112, CLIPPERS 110, OT

What happened: Los Angeles led by eight after the first quarter and took a 53-49 lead to halftime. Denver closed within three points by the start of the fourth quarter. The Nuggets had a chance to win it at the buzzer but failed to get a shot off. Nikola Jokic hit a couple of late free throws to give the Nuggets a 1-0 series lead.

What went right: Denver dominated the turnover and points off turnover battle. The Nuggets committed just 11 turnovers, which lead to nine points. The Clippers committed 20 turnovers, and Denver turned those giveaways into 29 points.

What went wrong: After falling behind by 15 points, the Nuggets finished the final five minutes of the second quarter on a 13-2 run. After giving up 35 points in the first quarter, Denver allowed just 18 in the second quarter.

Highlight of the day: Aaron Gordon slipped a screen and threw down a slam that made it a three-point game in the final 5 minutes of the third quarter. With Nikola Jokic operating on the left elbow, Gordon acted like he was going to set an off-ball screen for Jamal Murray, but he got a head start rolling to the rim. Jokic snuck a pass to Gordon for an emphatic two-handed slam.

Up next: Game 2 starts at 8 p.m. Monday at Ball Arena.