By John Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Nikola Jokic sank a career-high 43 points, but the Denver Nuggets were defeated by the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday at the AT&T Center. The 24-year-old Serbian big added 12 boards, nine assists, two steals and one rejection to his tally in Game 6 of the NBA Playoffs opening round series. Game 7 will be played at the Pepsi Center on Saturday.
“They got a couple of offensive rebounds and scored a couple of threes. Their energy was very good at that moment” Jokic said after the match commenting on the beginning of the fourth quarter and the Texans’ decisive run.
On Game 7, he admitted: “I don’t know, it’s my first Game 7. It’s probably going to be even tougher than this one” and added “We are playing at home. We need to give our best, whatever we need to do to get the win.”
Asked about his personal-best 43 points, the Joker clarified: “The most important thing is the team and win the game. My performance was probably the best of my career, but it wasn’t enough.”
Austrian Jakob Poeltl of the Spurs said on Jokic: “He played great tonight, he did his thing, that’s for sure, but I think we answered that with a team effort. We had a lot of guys coming in and putting up big points and contributing in different ways.”