The defending champion against the best team of the season. This poster between the Nuggets and the Celtics looked like a preview of the Finals. And like on January 19, Denver got the better of Boston, carried by a great Nikola Jokic, author of 32 points on 11/19 shooting, 12 rebounds and 11 assists. He estimated after the match that Boston had “ answer to everything, that’s why they are number one in the league”. The leader of the Eastern Conference was however able to realize the progress he still needs to make to avoid being punished by the Serb.
Nikola Jokic, however, started his match without forcing himself offensively with only three shots attempted after a quarter and a half. The pivot gradually took the measure of the Celtics, scoring 13 points in the second quarter to widen the Nuggets' lead, before imposing his paw everywhere in “money time”. At the conclusion as well as at the finish, the “Joker” dominated, despite the different alternatives offered by Joe Mazzulla.
“ I think our players did a really good job changing matchups and defense types. We made a few stops, we had the ball to go in front with 40 seconds to go » tempered the Boston technician.
Jaylen Brown thinks he should have defended more on Nikola Jokic
The leader of the Rockies franchise has often given the impression of being able to do what he wants, whether it is one-on-one with Kristaps Porzingis, with a smaller player like Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown or Jrue Holiday. , or even on two-handed takes.
“ Jokic is a monster close to the rim, so we tried different defenses on him, individually, with someone helping late on his movements… » summarizes Jaylen Brown, before regretting not having been sent to the front line more frequently. “ I think I should have defended him a little more, a little more often. I would have liked to have had those opportunities, to push him away from the basket and take away the lay-up positions that they may have had. We still had the opportunity to win this match. »
It took the talent of Nikola Jokic and his reading of the game to make the difference. The two-handed catches sent by the Celtics notably allowed Aaron Gordon to be the X factor of the fourth quarter.
The pivot caught in a pincer movement, the strong winger several times found himself alone to cut towards the circle, to take advantage of his friend's caviars or to be present for the offensive rebound. And it was on a pass out of nowhere that the Serb found “AG” in the alley-oop 20 seconds from the end to take a two possession lead and a definitive gap.
“A large margin of progress to emerge from this match”
“ He is just an exceptional basketball player » salutes Kristaps Porzingis. “ I learned some things from him today actually. He's so smart, so smart, he does so many things on the floor that you don't see that help his team win. It's incredible. As soon as you come in a little too much to help, he's going to find Gordon, he's going to find all his guys. That says a lot about how valuable he is to them. »
“ It was a big match, which we really wanted to win. It really hurts » continued the Latvian interior. “ But there is a lot of room for improvement to be made from this match. It will not always fall on our side, we will not always have perfect matches. But I learned some of the tricks Jokic can do. »
From now on, if he wishes to demonstrate it, he will have to wait at least until June 6, the date of the start of the Finals…
