{"id":175817,"date":"2025-04-20T20:56:41","date_gmt":"2025-04-20T18:56:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/?p=175817"},"modified":"2025-04-20T20:56:42","modified_gmt":"2025-04-20T18:56:42","slug":"jokic-honest-in-victory-if-i-made-the-free-throw-we-wouldve-won-in-regulation-we-were-the-more-combative-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/jokic-honest-in-victory-if-i-made-the-free-throw-we-wouldve-won-in-regulation-we-were-the-more-combative-team\/","title":{"rendered":"JOKI\u0106 HONEST IN VICTORY: \u201cIf I made the free throw, we would\u2019ve won in regulation, we were the more combative team\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Denver Nuggets managed to defend home court and defeat the Los Angeles Clippers in the first game of the Western Conference quarterfinal series with a 112:110 win after overtime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The player most responsible for the Nuggets\u2019 victory was <strong>Nikola Joki\u0107<\/strong> with 29 points, nine rebounds, and 12 assists. He had the support of his teammates, which was crucial for Denver to keep its winning rhythm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Joki\u0107 spoke at the post-game press conference, first summarizing his impressions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;It was a tight, real playoff game. At times, neither we nor they could score. There was a lot of contact, but we found a way to win in overtime. I think we could have finished it in regulation, but I missed the free throw.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Clippers allowed <strong>Ivica Zubac<\/strong> to defend <strong>Joki\u0107<\/strong> one-on-one, but at times they also doubled the three-time league MVP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;That happens, and those are the adjustments during a game. The next game will be completely different. We\u2019re preparing for anything they might do.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was clearly visible that the Nuggets were the more combative team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We had many such situations. Russ missed a three-pointer, then stole the ball. Gordon had five offensive rebounds, and in key moments. That doesn\u2019t show up in the stats.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><mark style=\"background-color:#FFFFFF;color:#d21414\" class=\"has-inline-color\">FIND OUT MORE: <\/mark><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fserbiantimes%2Fposts%2Fpfbid0wkcaWw3ZWbagmPUPpEeXmKpY2GjPnj9qDjnjkD3dNH5Hj5UChdLCr2my28hKQnVxl&#038;show_text=true&#038;width=500\" width=\"500\" height=\"544\" style=\"border:none;overflow:hidden\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>At the end of the game, <strong>Joki\u0107<\/strong> had an interesting interaction with <strong>Jeff Van Gundy<\/strong>. The Clippers\u2019 assistant didn\u2019t want to give the ball to Nikola, and the two nearly got into a scuffle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;That\u2019s part of basketball today. It shouldn\u2019t happen because the NBA wants to speed up the game, inbounding the ball, and so on. That\u2019s what they said before the season. They told me I\u2019m not allowed to tie my laces to steal a few seconds, but apparently this is allowed.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On <strong>Russell Westbrook<\/strong>:<br>&#8220;He missed easy layups, but he was aggressive, grabbed offensive rebounds, played in transition. He hit a crucial three and then stole the ball at the end. That\u2019s him. He has the most confidence in this series. He\u2019s been with the Clippers, he\u2019s known Harden for a long time, and he knows what to do.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Joki\u0107<\/strong> and his crew now have a rest day, before Game 2 (Tuesday, 4:00 AM).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><mark style=\"background-color:#FFFFFF;color:#d21414\" class=\"has-inline-color\">MORE TOPICS:<\/mark><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/bloody-easter-1944-how-the-allied-bombing-shrouded-belgrade-in-mourning-photo-video\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">BLOODY EASTER 1944: How the Allied Bombing Shrouded Belgrade in Mourning! (PHOTO, VIDEO)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/order-of-saint-stephen-what-the-most-famous-serbian-chivalric-order-looked-like-during-the-reign-of-emperor-dusan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">ORDER OF SAINT STEPHEN: What the Most Famous Serbian Chivalric Order Looked Like During the Reign of Emperor Du\u0161an!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/shocking-testimony-the-war-diary-of-a-serbian-policeman-from-kosovo-in-1999-reveals-all-the-horrors-of-war\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">SHOCKING TESTIMONY: The war diary of a Serbian policeman from Kosovo in 1999 reveals all the horrors of war!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source<\/strong>: Mozzartsport, <strong>Foto<\/strong>: AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Denver Nuggets managed to defend home court and defeat the Los Angeles Clippers in the first game of the Western Conference quarterfinal series with a 112:110 win after overtime. The player most responsible for the Nuggets\u2019 victory was Nikola Joki\u0107 with 29 points, nine rebounds, and 12 assists. He had the support of his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2169,"featured_media":175818,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[2097,6180,2203,190,187,984],"class_list":["post-175817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport","tag-denver-nagetsi","tag-konferencija-za-medija","tag-mvp","tag-nba","tag-nba-liga","tag-nikola-jokic-3","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Serbiantimes.info EN","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2169"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175817"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":175851,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175817\/revisions\/175851"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}