By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic saved the best for last to lift his team to a 134 – 132 double-overtime win over the Utah Jazz.
Jokic had 28 out of his team-high 31 points after the break and scored 10 of them in the first extra period, including the layup that forced the second overtime.
It was one of the many times that Jokic has come up big in crunch-time situations throughout his NBA career so far. His explanation for delivering down the stretch? Zero pressure.
“Because there is no pressure,” Jokic, who finished with also 11 rebounds and seven assists, said on being clutch. “It’s 3, 2, 1 and you need to shoot it. I cannot think about it. Should I pass… go and set a screen. I just don’t think and just shoot it. It’s easier.
The Nuggets are next facing Western Conference top-seeded team Los Angeles Lakers. When asked if this match serves as a kind of test for the Nuggets’ strength ahead of the playoffs, Jokic said that for now he and his teammates don’t think about postseason for now.
“We aren’t thinking about that ourselves,” Jokic said. “We have a game against the Lakers, a game Clippers, against Utah. Tough games to prepare ourselves and the coach to prepare everybody… I think that’s what we’re looking forward to. As a matchup, it’s a regular-season game and they are first… Just to have a good game, a tough game against the best team in the West is going to be really helpful for us.”