Nikola Jokic found his seat on the bench and bellowed at the rafters of his building, the one he has transformed into a temple that worships him.
The agony of his missed buzzer-beater opportunity was doubled by the grim fact that he would have to play through his struggles for another five minutes.
The Nuggets had his back.
Despite Jokic’s 8-for-25 night, his team scored the first seven points of overtime and stormed to a 113-104 Game 3 victory over the top-seeded Thunder on Friday. Oklahoma City was held to just two points in the extra period after Clutch Player of the Year apparent snub Aaron Gordon drained a game-tying corner 3-pointer with 26.7 seconds to go in regulation.
Jokic struggled like he never has before. Wearing a shooting sleeve over the right elbow that has irritated him for weeks, he missed all 10 shots beyond the arc. His turnovers equaled or eclipsed his assists for the third consecutive game. That happened four times in the regular season.
Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. did everything within their power to pick up the slack. Murray went for 27 points on 19 shots, plus eight assists and four steals. His perfect pocket pass to Jokic created a floater that put Denver back ahead by seven late in overtime, snuffing any Thunder comeback dreams. Porter repented for a rough start to the series by scoring 21 points on 5-of-6 outside shooting.
The Nuggets won despite giving up 17 offensive boards and securing only five of their own. The most painful they allowed occurred with a 99-97 lead. Jalen Williams punished them, burying a go-ahead 3-pointer with just inside of two minutes to play in regulation.
Williams was astounding in the absence of a Shai Gilgeous-Alexander MVP statement game. The Thunder’s second option imposed his will and amassed 32 points. SGA was contained to 18 on a 7-for-22 night. The Thunder won the paint, 56-32. That Denver prevailed anyway was almost as astounding as its Game 1 win.
Jokic’s first half was perhaps the worst of his playoff career. He picked up two early fouls, impacting his capacity to take risks with his hands at the defensive end. He loitered a little too far from the basket and missed jumpers. His 2-for-9 shooting clip was accompanied by five turnovers and just one assist. He didn’t clean up a single Nuggets miss, while Oklahoma City compiled nine offensive rebounds.
On Denver’s final possession of the half, he was charged with a double-dribble, sending him to the bench arguing his innocence while a defensive sub replaced him.
So the Nuggets tried to force him into a rhythm after halftime by calling their first play to generate a 15-footer off the catch. Jokic knocked it down. But it was a faux turning point. By the time he missed an uncontested layup during a wacky third quarter — failing to reward one of Murray’s many exquisite passes — it was clear he was going through it.
So was the Thunder, fortunately for Jokic. So was everybody. In one sequence to summarize them all, Porter, Westbrook and Alex Caruso missed consecutive layups. An ornery Ball Arena audience erupted when its team somehow grasped a 71-69 lead. Then Caruso suddenly turned sniper — he shot 35.3% from 3 this season — and briefly reestablished Oklahoma City’s cushion. It led 83-80 at the end of the frame. The non-Jokic minutes were not the looming threat; the non-Murray minutes were.
Murray operated and facilitated with more precision than he did in OKC, even when he or a teammate didn’t cash in on his creation. His handle was crafty. His finishing was gnarly, never more so than when he banked a topsy-turvy layup late in the third.
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“You know what’s funny? I think it might be the 3-point line,” Adelman said. “I really do. I think it’s the great equalizer right now in our game. I also think that’s why you see more blowouts in the playoffs, because there’s teams that can get hot and make 20. … You get out of control very quickly. And I don’t know why, but I feel like this generation of players — maybe it’s the way they grew up, playing AAU and traveling all over the place and playing, they’re less likely to feel as much anxiety on the road.”
Instead, the Thunder got tight. Isaiah Hartenstein missed badly on his usually automatic push shot. Perimeter players dribbled into crowds. The team missed six of seven shots in overtime.
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