By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
In a possible preview of the 2024 NBA Finals, the Denver Nuggets finished the two-game regular-season series versus the Boston Celtics with two wins. Orchestrating the second triumph on Thursday, Nikola Jokic was brilliant once more.
The Joker posted his 20th triple-double of the 2023-24 Regular Season.
“He’s just an incredible basketball player,” commented Latvian Kristaps Porzingis after matching up with the Serbian superstar of the Nuggets in Ball Arena, “Some things I learned from him today, actually. He’s just so smart, so crafty, so many things you don’t see that he does on the floor that helps that team win. It’s incredible. Whenever you overhelp just a little bit, he’ll find Gordon, he’ll find all these guys. It speaks to how valuable he is for them and what he does for them. Really hard to stop.”
“A couple of tricks that he does,” he added on what he learned, “I’ll leave it at that.”
“They’re a really good team, and they have basically an answer for everything. Matchup-wise, defense-wise, offense-wise. They are a really well-built team, and they’re playing really good. That’s why they’re the best team in the NBA right now,” Jokic described the C’s, “It’s a great team.”
The NBA standings leaders were forced down to 48-14, while the Nuggets jumped to 43-20, one game away from the top seed of the Western Conference.
“This was a big game. We wanted to win this one. It stings. It stings real bad,” admitted Porzingis.