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The Western Conference Semifinals are proving to be a tightly-contested affair, as many experts and analysts thought it would be.
On Friday night, the Nuggets and Trail Blazers played in an epic four-overtime thriller, resulting in a 140-137 Game 3 victory for Portland.
Nuggets big man Nikola Jokic logged an incredible 65 minutes in the loss, scoring 33 points on 13-of-25 shooting from the field (4-of-7 from beyond the arc), 18 rebounds, 14 assists, two blocks and one steal.
Most players would need a break to recover after such a long outing, but Jokic felt good heading into Sunday's Game 4 matchup, despite the fact that it was less than 48 hours removed from Friday's quadruple overtime loss. In fact, Jokic managed to rack up a triple-double on Sunday (21 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists), and the Nuggets tied the series at two games apiece.
Via Sam Amick of The Athletic:
“We just said to (ourselves), ‘If we win today, then the last game doesn’t really matter that much,” Jokic said after Game 4. “Yes, we played four overtimes (in Game 3). Yeah, it was exhausting, (but) we want to make it so the last game doesn’t really matter.’
“For me, I eat good (on Saturday), I watch a TV show, then I eat good again, sleep, and – to be honest I didn’t even think about that game the whole day, so … ”
Jokic noted that he and his teammates didn't want to use the length of Game 3 as an excuse in Game 4:
“I think it’s not quitting,” Jokic said. “We have a lot of competitive guys who don’t want to lose. I think we kind of don’t want to lose more than we like to win, so I mean – which is weird. And we just didn’t want to have an excuse that we lost because of four overtimes and because we were tired. We just go out there and play 100 percent.”
The Nuggets and Blazers will meet for Game 5 on Tuesday night. Tip-off inside the Pepsi Center is set for 10:30 p.m. ET.
Let's see if Jokic can maintain his high level of play.
