PORTLAND – As demoralizing and crushing as Friday’s historic four-overtime playoff loss was for the Nuggets, it wasn’t dispiriting enough for to bypass a chance at a joke.
After 65 minutes on the floor, his tank long past empty, Jokic ambled up to the postgame podium still as affable as always.
“They always talking about I’m not in shape,” Jokic said. “I’m in really good shape. I don’t know what they’re talking about. Even when I came here, I was just maybe a little bit … chubby?”
His concession drew a few snickers.
“There’s no difference right now,” he deadpanned.
After the Blazers’ riveting 140-137 win over the Nuggets in Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals that saw Jokic miss just one second of play from the second half through the four overtime sessions, Denver’s hefty star may never have a better argument about what type of shape he’s in. The next time someone questions his stamina, he need only show them the eye-popping numbers that Game 3 yielded, which was just the second four overtime postseason game in NBA history. Jokic had 33 points, 18 rebounds and 14 assists.
His overtime performance – 1 for 5, three points, five assists, three turnovers – wasn’t the stuff of legends. That didn’t mean he ever asked to come out.
“To be honest, in that moment, in that time, you don’t even think about how much minutes you’re playing,” Jokic said. “I mean, I’m not going to go out in overtime. … You just want to give yourself everything you’ve got in that moment.”
Nuggets coach Michael Malone tried playing mind tricks on his 280-pound center.
“Even going into the third, fourth overtime, I just said, you’re not tired, you’re not tired,” Malone said. “And (he) was phenomenal. I’ve never been a part of a game like this. Four overtimes that really both teams deserved to win.”
In this team’s first playoff run together, which has already revealed plenty about their character, it’s impossible to know the toll a game like Friday’s will take on a young locker room.
Malone offered a hint when pressed about the recovery time ahead of Sunday’s Game 4.
“They have the same turnaround,” he snapped, defiantly. “Those guys played a lot of minutes as well.”
His point is valid. The Blazers’ Damian Lillard, C.J. McCollum and Enes Kanter all played at least 56 minutes.
Later Malone was asked about any decisions he might’ve regretted, besides the admission that he played Jokic too long.
“I left everything out on that floor,” Malone said. “We’ll watch film and see what we can do better but as far as regrets go, I have zero.”
Once reporters entered the locker room, Nuggets point guard offered another reminder of the resiliency of this team. Rather than dwell on his costly turnovers (Murray had four of his team’s 21), Murray seemed to relish the stage that Game 3 provided.
“We don’t have those games often, so you try to take advantage of those games you want to win,” Murray said. “Those games that those losses hurt the most. So we gotta bounce back. Both teams, great effort. Lot of people watching that game, lot of fun to play. It was one of those historic games that didn’t go our way.”
After battling for 55 minutes and hoisting 32 shots on a bruised leg, part of Murray’s takeaway was that the game, aside from the result, was fun. This wasn’t a team ready to wallow in pity afterward.
“Take a night, but we’ve got a game coming up, too,” Murray said.
The most poignant message came from Nuggets veteran , who despite getting relegated to the bench in the first round series against San Antonio and shooting just 4-of-14 over the first two games of the series, led all of Denver’s scorers in the overtime sessions with 12 points.
Barton admitted the loss stung. He said it would stick with him until the Nuggets take the court again on Sunday. He even started filtering through missed opportunities, recalibrating how he wished he would’ve defended Rodney Hood in the fourth overtime session, when Hood hit a back-breaking three late.
But by no means did he give the impression that the Nuggets were deflated.
“I wouldn’t say defeated,” Barton said. “Guys were just disappointed that we lost. But defeated? No, we’ve been down 2-1 and won a series. Defeated? Definitely not. Disappointed. We felt like that was our game, we felt like we had it, and we lost it. Thatap all.”
