Attention, attention, the best is back! After a month-long absence due to injury, Nikola Jokić returned to the court tonight. And of course – he dominated it. The Clippers fell in Denver after a convincing performance in which there were no signs of injury on the Serbian ace: 122–109!
Coach Adelman did not spare Jokara, keeping him on the floor for almost 25 minutes, which speaks volumes that the injury is in the past and that there is no concern about how Nikola’s knee will respond to exertion.
And he responded with a brilliant performance, scoring more than a point per minute in that time, recording 31 points, with excellent shooting of 11–8 (3–2 from three), along with 12 rebounds, 5 assists, and as many as three steals. Everything is, therefore, the same as before…
In the whole story of Jokić’s absence from the court, a good—and somewhat unexpected—thing is that the Nuggets, although devastated by injuries, did not collapse and become cannon fodder for other clubs, but, despite a few losses, still managed to preserve 3rd place in the West and have one win more and one loss fewer than second-placed San Antonio.
It should be noted that tonight good performances for the home team were delivered by Tim Hardaway, who scored 24 points, Murray was solid as usual with 22 (9 ast, 4 reb), and Watson was also solid with 21 (3 reb, 4 ast).
On the defeated Clippers, better than the others were Hartden with 25 points (9 ast, 5 reb), Lenasrd with 21 (6 ast, 3 reb), and Collins with 18 (6 reb, 4 ast). The captain of the Serbian national team, Bogdan Bogdanbović, did not play in this match.
In their next game on Sunday, the Nuggets host Oklahoma in a big derby, where they should show their teeth and make it clear to the currently dominant Thunder that they will not easily allow them to defend the title won last year.
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Source: Antonije KOvačević Foto: Sporting News