Nuggets go home for match 7 against Spurs

The second-ranked Nuggets will face Damian Lillard and the third-ranked Portland Trail Blazers in the opening game on Monday night in Denver. To qualify for the second round, the Nuggets have taken advantage of the All-Star center Nikola Jokic's shine, which is booming on the playoffs scene.

In the first game, Jokic became the fourth player to win a triple-double in his first playoff game. And Saturday, he finished the series by winning the first triple-double in a seventh game since the 2016 LeBron James final with 21 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists.

"And win," Jokic said of his performance citing the most important statistic for him. "I mean, I think the team is waiting for me to do something, so I'm just going to try and play my best possible basketball, so is that something for which I live? No, they are very good statistics. "

After watching Jokic averaging 23.1 points, 12.1 rebounds and 9.1 assists in the series, Popovich was running out of ways to describe Jokic's rising star.

"He is beautiful, beautiful," said Popovich. "I'm going to stop there."

Unfortunately for Popovich, his team had an unusual failure to perform in the final seconds after an inspired return. The Spurs started the seventh game scoring 10 to 45 (22.2%) in the first half. In the first quarter, Spurs starters scored only two of the Spurs' 13 points. According to ESPN Stats & Information, this is the lowest cumulative point count from the first quarter of a playoff game in the last 20 months of post-season.

"Tonight was a strange match," said Popovich, who is in the final season of his contract and has not answered questions about his future. "I thought both teams had put the basketball back in the first half and I'm surprised people are staying."

The sold out crowd of 19,725 people was filled with anxiety when the Nuggets shot 29.2 percent in the fourth quarter, allowing the Spurs to come back almost from a 67-50 deficit. Bryn Forbes reduced the lead to 88-86 on a dunk with 52.2 seconds to go, but Murray, who was injured in the leg and shoulder, drained the jumper with one leg over Aldridge.

After DeRozan – who had 19 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists – was blocked, the Spurs did not make a mistake to stop the clock and send the Nuggets on the free throw line to extend the game. . Instead, Aldridge stood in the defensive position at the top of the key and did not hear Popovich, who was screaming from the sidelines and waving with his arms to try to hurt him. The Spurs teammates also shouted for committing a foul.

"Well, obviously, he did not hear anyone, because he did not make a mistake," Popovich said.

Aldridge says, "I did not hear it, the crowd was noisy, it missed me, that's all."

Leader Patty Mills had a brief opportunity to commit a foul, but has not already done so with five players. This allowed Denver to milk the clock at 4.9 seconds before Murray (23 points) beat the shot clock with a missed jumper. By the time the Spurs started to rebound, there were only a few seconds left.

Then Denver coach Michael Malone told Nuggets President and Governor Josh Kroenke that he remembered the day he was Nuggets, how empty the Pepsi Center was. .

"You looked in the stands, it was the night of witness protection," Malone said about the Nuggets arena in recent years. "There was no one here … Really … seeing where we've been in four years, being a team that won a seventh home game and going into the second round for the first time in a while, is unbelievable.

"It's almost surreal sometimes."