Rebounded nuggets

DENVER – After another of his jump shots destroyed the iron, the latter a potential winner of the buzzer of the regulation, Nikola Jokic placed his 6 -foot 11 inch and 284 pound body in a seat on the Nuggets bench and unleashed a roar towards the Rafters of the Arena.

Jokic endured one of the worst offensive outings of his career in the Pivot match on Friday 3, which he ended with 20 points out of 8 shots, missing the 10 attempts of 3 points and equaling a career in a career in the playoff series by committing eight reversals.

In the end, the difficulties of the MVP three times did not matter. The Nuggets managed to withdraw a victory of 113-104 in overtime against the thunder of Oklahoma City anyway, which leaves Jokic lucky than frustrated.

“Basically, I was the worst player of the Court tonight,” said Jokic, the first player to do 0 out of 10 to 3 points and to commit at least eight reversals in any game, according to ESPN Research. “But we won the match, and that’s what is most important.”

Jokic’s driving lay-up on the possession of overtime has given Nuggets the advance for good. The Thunder has managed to score only two points in the additional frame when the Nuggets increased the defensive intensity.

The Oklahoma City superstar, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the favorite to win the MVP of this season on Jokic, also experienced an unusually horrible shooting performance. He scored 18 out of 7 out of 22 points, including 1 in 8 in the fourth quarter. Gilgeous-Alexander had no attempted prolongation.

“The game becomes slower, the execution is more important,” said Gilgeous-Alexander. “In the moments when the game slows down, it usually comes down to your best players to make shots and play games. I did not do a good enough job tonight, and I think that is the main reason for the result.”

Thunder Jalen Williams striker, Gilgeous-Alexander’s companion, scored half of his 32-point career game in the fourth quarter. This included a 3 -point pointer that put Oklahoma City in mind with 1:50 remaining in regulations and a pair of free throwing on the following three points.

But Denver closed the match with a sequence of 14-2, starting with the game of striker Aaron Gordon 3 with 28 seconds to play. It is his third bucket in match or green light in the last 30 seconds of the fourth quarter during these series players, including the 3 game game in match 1 of this series.

“AG is still ready for the moment,” said Nuggets Jamal Murray.

Murray, Gordon and the little striker Michael Porter Jr. – The remaining starters of the 2022-23 Nugget Championship team other than Jokic – all increased on the occasion to give Denver the chance to win despite the face of the franchise night.

“I was frustrated, but I tried to stay in the match and do the little things,” said Jokic, who contributed 16 rebounds, six assists, two interceptions and two blocks. “These nights occur. The guys raised me.”

Murray finished with 27 points, 8 assists and 4 interceptions, and several teammates cited his defensive effort as a critical component of Denver’s domination for this purpose. Gordon collected 22 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists. Porter, playing despite an injury to the left shoulder which makes it difficult to raise this arm above his head, had 21 points and 8 rebounds. The trio was combined to spend 11 out of 17 from the 3 -point beach, compensating for the long -range inaccuracy of Jokic.

“It is growth. This is a great growth in our team,” said Gordon. “Many guys intervened. We have played well. It shows us that we are a team, and that’s how we have always been. We need everyone in this team.”

Gilgeous-Alexander left the arena eager for the film session on Saturday, an opportunity to search for solutions against a defensive program that did not give it a lot of space to work.

According to ESPN Research, 18 of the 22 goal attempts on the field of Gilgeous-Alexander were disputed. He was 4 out of 18 from ground in half-terrain sets, 3 out of 10 of which Christian Braun was the main defender. It was 3 out of 5 of the free throw line, because the nuggets have always prevented Gilgeous-Alexander from slipping into the defense cracks.

Gilgeous-Alexander made an effort to serve as a distributor. He raised 24 assists – a career summit in the playoffs – but his teammates only made seven of these shots. He admitted that he could have forced a few shots in the fourth quarter, when Williams was in a groove.

“Honestly, the way I see it is that you live or die by your decisions, and tonight I died by my decisions,” said Gilgeous-Alexander. “He just comes with the game. I was in a position and I made difficult shots and I had a tape in the back after a match, and I’m ready to take it on the chest when I don’t make the right game or don’t miss the right blow or anything. It comes with the game. It comes with the territory.”

While Gilgeous-Alexander left the field after the defeat, he had a broad smile on his face, which, according to him, was a reaction to taunt her fans of Nuggets.

“I never want to show them that I am defeated or crazy or something like that,” said Gilgeous-Alexander. “Nothing is written. The series is not over, and we have a lot to be optimistic. I did not do the way I had to descend the section, but I have an opportunity the next game and the next game after that to compensate for it.”