OKLAHOMA CITY — In the immediate aftermath of a Game 5 defeat that might sting for an entire offseason, Nuggets interim coach David Adelman didn’t regret playing Nikola Jokic the entire second half but acknowledged that “I’ll doubt myself” about the decision later.
The Nuggets led 90-81 with 10 minutes to go in an eventual 112-105 loss to the Thunder, falling behind 3-2 in a dramatic second-round playoff series.
Jokic skipped his usual rest stint at the start of the fourth quarter and played the last 32 minutes of game time.
“It was my decision. I had a conversation with him. He felt good. And I was going back and forth with it,” Adelman said. “With the four timeouts (left), that was a big factor for me. … I felt like the momentum of the game was going our way. And he was very sure of himself. (We) wanted to play through him. I’ll look back on it. I’ll doubt myself, because we lost the game.”
Jokic amassed 44 points and 15 rebounds on a masterful 17-for-25 shooting night that included 13 fourth-quarter points. But the Nuggets scored only 19 as a team in the final frame, going more than seven minutes without a field goal at one point while Oklahoma City assembled an 11-2 game-tying run. During the drought, Jokic attempted only two shots from the floor, as well as four free throws.
“You don’t think about that when you play,” he said of the choice to skip his rest minutes. “I felt good, and I talked to DA, and he told me, ‘If you want to stay in, stay in.’ And I don’t know, did that change whatever (happened)? I think we had good looks. We had everything. We just didn’t make it.”
The Nuggets have now lost three of their last four playoff games when Jokic has not rested in the fourth quarter — including their infamous Game 7 collapse against the Timberwolves last year. Minnesota erased a 20-point deficit in the second half of a game in which former coach Michael Malone later admitted he “ran our players into the ground.”
But this time, it was Denver’s supporting cast that struggled as a crucial game slipped away. Aside from Jokic’s 4-for-6 fourth quarter, the rest of the team combined to miss 14 of 15 shots. Adelman also played Jamal Murray the full 12 minutes, and he went 1 for 6.
“I don’t use that (excuse),” Murray said. “I play better when I’m tired. So I’ve gotta go get the ball and do something.”
Meanwhile, the Thunder received contributions across the board. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was the closer he’s meant to be. Jalen Williams’ only basket of the fourth was the game-winning 3-pointer. Lu Dort ignited the comeback with a flurry of 3s. Isaiah Hartenstein converted tying and go-ahead buckets in the last four minutes. OKC shot 10 of 18 in the quarter.
Gilgeous-Alexander finished the night at 38 minutes. Williams played 37. After those two, nobody for the Thunder logged more than 34.
Denver had three players over 42.
“If it is fatigue, that’s on me,” Adelman said. “I’m deciding who’s gonna run it, who’s gonna be out there. So if guys are tired or had tired legs, that’s the decisions I’m making. I liked the group we had. We had a good rhythm there going to the fourth, and I thought we sustained it early. … We didn’t have enough at the end.”
Starting with Game 6 on Thursday, the Nuggets need to win their second and third elimination games of the postseason to reach the Western Conference Finals. A grinning Murray said he was “very confident” that Denver would stretch the second-round series to a Game 7 back in Oklahoma City. “I always am,” he said.
But the Nuggets will be fighting uphill against a depth disadvantage. Twice in a row, they have been unable to close out the younger and more inexperienced Thunder. After taking a 2-1 series lead, Denver held a lead of eight or more points in the fourth quarter of consecutive losses.
“That’s the thing. We’re playing a good game,” Murray said. “I just think we let it slip away at the end. Our rotations just weren’t on point to end the game. We may have scored, and they were coming back, and we’re calling two different defenses. You just mess up, and rotations may not be there. So it’s a rough one. It’s a rough one.”
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Originally Published: May 14, 2025 at 2:03 AM MDT
