Denver played another in a series of derby matches this season in which David Adelman’s team played well, led, and then incomprehensibly fell in the finish and eventually left the court with heads bowed. Against Oklahoma, even a brilliant performance by Nikola Jokic did not help, as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander hit a three-pointer for 129:126 a second before the end!
And it did not look like it would end that way because the Nuggets were mostly in the lead until the last quarter, fighting well against the best team in the league…
Gordon returned in full strength and led the team in the first quarter, scoring from all positions.
Then the baton was taken over by Nikola, who scored, rebounded, distributed balls accurately, and did everything he usually does, but tonight he was in a particularly good mood.
In the end, he recorded one of the best stats of the season, with 32 points (12-19, 3-6 for three), 14 rebounds, and 13 assists, but what does it matter when Denver recorded another painful defeat.
After all, Jokic would, I am sure, gladly trade those numbers for an important scalp like this one against the current champion, and on the away court.
Frequent drops in play suggest that the team, which strengthened significantly this year, is clearly not well-led from the bench, so it seems that a coaching change would be the only solution that can shake up the team and return it to the title fight. The club owner is on the move…
Besides Jokic, good performances were provided by Hardaway with 28 points, Gordon with 23 (10reb), and Murray with 21 (8reb, 6ast).
In the winning team, the guy Jokic got in the face of and vented his anger on in the last game, Jalen Williams, shined with 29 points (12reb), along with the standard brilliant Shai Gilgeous who had a performance of 35 points (15ast, 9reb) and decided the game at the end, and Mitchell with 23 points.
After this game, the Nuggets fell to 6th place in the West with a 39-26 record and have moved quite close to the play-in zone, while the Thunder holds the top spot undisputed with 51-15.
Jokic and the crew play the next game on Wednesday against Houston at home, and just a day later follows a visit to San Antonio. Victories in these two games would put them back in the fight for third place in the Conference.
But they need to win first…
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Author: Antonije Kovačević Photo: Sporting News