PORTLAND – The Nuggets were up five points with less than two minutes remaining in regulation in Friday’s four-overtime Game 3 thriller against Portland. They also had chances to win the Western Conference semifinal at the end of the first and third overtimes.
The emotional investment the Nuggets made in their Game 3 loss, not to mention the physical toll the marathon contest took, was why coach Michael Malone wanted his team to “get away from it” on Saturday.
He didn’t want them poring over clips and dwelling on missed chances ahead of Sunday’s Game 4.
“Not sit here and watch 30 clips and talk about all these things,” Malone said of Saturday’s full off day. “We can do that tomorrow morning.”
According to Malone, center was in “good spirits” after his yeoman effort in Game 3. In 65 minutes, Jokic was nearly indomitable, scoring 33 points, snatching 18 rebounds and dishing 14 assists. Fatigue looked like it exacted a toll on him throughout the overtime sessions when he threw several careless passes.
“’Listen, the sun comes up,’” Malone said. “We were pushed to our limits last night, but a lot of times the human body is capable of remarkable things when pushed to their limits. Nikola looks good, he’s in good spirits, and surprisingly enough, he said he feels great. Obviously we’ll see how he wakes up tomorrow morning.”
From Denver’s perspective, one of the unsung heroes of Game 3 was reserve . He hadn’t scored a point entering the fourth quarter before knocking down two clutch 3-pointers to help send the game to overtime. Barton then logged a team-high 12 points and snagged several clutch rebounds throughout the extra sessions.
“I could’ve played another five overtimes,” Barton said afterward. “You just gave so much. Itap a little emotionally draining. All you keep thinking about is, ‘Man, we gave it everything and we came up short.’ You start thinking about that play and this play and that play.”
That sentiment is exactly why Malone wanted his players to detach on Saturday.
On a conference call with reporters, Malone struck a similar tone as the one he had in the postgame news conference late Friday night. Despite the grueling loss, the Nuggets weren’t resigned or defeated.
“This is the playoffs, this is the Western Conference semifinals,” Malone said. “There’s only eight teams still playing in the NBA, and we’re one of them. We have a great opportunity tomorrow to take control of the series. As disappointing as last nightap loss was, we’re in the same situation we were in against San Antonio. Lost Game 3, we were able to win Game 4 and bring it back to Denver and thatap our plan.”
