The Denver Nuggets ended the season ingloriously, but to be honest, they did not deserve better with their play. A crippled Minnesota, without three players from the starting five, managed to outpower, outleap, and outrun Jokic and the team to reach their fourth victory in six matches against the favorites, winning this last one 110:98!
Jokic fought as much as he could, but it was clear that nervousness has been eating at him since that clash with McDaniels in the fourth game, so he was close to being ejected tonight as well after pushing and shoving with Minnesota players.
In the end, he received a technical foul, but for the last 5 minutes of the game he was out of sorts; his shot failed him exactly at the moments when the result was being decided. Without Jokic in his true element, Denver was doomed to defeat, as no one from the rest of the team was able to step up, hit a three-pointer, or play defense…
Better not to waste words on David Adelman’s leadership of the team. With him on the bench, Denver will hardly ever dream championship dreams again. Simply, he is not of that caliber.
On the other hand, the former towel-waver from Minnesota’s bench, young Shannon, became the hero of the Wolves. He entered duels without fear, dunked, hit three-pointers in the final seconds of the shot clock—doing all of this “like an old pro” even though he is only 25. Against the Nuggets, he scored one point less than the number in his birth certificate, adding 6 rebounds to that, which was quite enough for the title of player of the game.
According to the statistics, that was Jokic, who finished the match with 28 points (11-19 shooting), 10 assists, and 9 rebounds, but the glory in such matches belongs to those who move on. And Jokic is moving on, but to Sombor, to enjoy his stable and heal his wounds among the horses.
The only one in a Denver jersey who could stand shoulder to shoulder with him tonight was Johnson, who scored 27 (8reb, 3ast), his highest this season, but it was insufficient. In the Colorado team, Murray particularly failed, scoring only 12 points with a disastrous 4-17 shooting performance.
For the winners, besides Shannon, the controversial McDaniels played excellently, as that clash with Jokic did not leave much of a mark on him. He scored 32 points, had 10 rebounds and 3 assists, and compensated for the absence of Edwards, DiVincenzo, and Dosunmu in the backcourt. Randle and Reed were solid with 18 and 16 points, respectively.
In the Western Conference semifinals, Minnesota goes against San Antonio, and it will certainly be an interesting match as the return of Edwards and Dosunmu to the court is expected.
Tonight, the matches Philadelphia-Boston 106-93 (3-3 in the series) and Atlanta-New York 89-140 (the Knicks moved on with 4-2) were also played.
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