Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokić put up strong numbers in the team’s Game 6 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday night, but David Adelman thought the three-time MVP deserved more. The Nuggets head coach called out officials for missing fouls against Jokić in the loss.
Following the game, Adelman said the Clippers got away with putting smaller defenders on Jokić and playing a physical game to try and stop him. Jokić had just two free-throw attempts in the contest, which Adelman called “absolutely crazy.”
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His full post-game comments read:
“Nikola gets fouled a lot. I’m not sure what was happening tonight, but for him to shoot two free throws with the amount of contact that was going on out there was absolutely crazy. They put smalls on him. Those smalls were allowed to do whatever they want, so I’m really excited for Saturday that we’re going to be able to do the same thing with their best players, because if that’s the physicality we’re allowed to play with, we’ll react to it, and we will go there in Game 7.”
While getting to the free-throw line more would have boosted Jokić’s stats, the center still managed a good performance in Game 6. He led the Nuggets with 25 points, and added eight assists and seven rebounds in the loss.
But most of those numbers came in the first half. The Clippers limited Jokić to five points, two rebounds and four assists in the second half of the contest. Those second-half struggles may have been the difference in the Nuggets’ 111-106 loss.
Given those struggles, and Jokić’s inability to get to the line, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Adelman lobbied for his star player to get more calls. And while the Clippers had more free-throw attempts — 15 to 9 — in the game, officials generally kept the whistles to a minimum. A total of 31 fouls were called in the contest.
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By comparison, 45 fouls were called in the New York Knicks’ 116-113 win over the Detroit Pistons on Thursday night. Wednesday’s games produced similar numbers, as 49 fouls were called in the Houston Rockets’ 131-116 win over the Golden State Warriors and 48 fouls were called as the Minnesota Timberwolves eliminated the Los Angeles Lakers.
That variability makes it difficult to know how officials will act in Game 7. Adelman was clearly trying to send a message by saying the Nuggets would bully Clippers players in Game 7. In doing so, he put it on the refs to set the tone early in Saturday’s contest.
If Adelman’s comments influence the refs to call more fouls, Jokić should find himself at the free-throw line more often. That’s only going to help the Nuggets as the team fights to keep its postseason hopes alive in Game 7.
