INGLEWOOD, Calif. — David Adelman needed to make a point before Game 7.
But he also knows Nikola Jokic might need to help himself more than he did in Game 6 if that point doesn’t get across.
“Nikola gets fouled a lot,” Denver’s interim coach said after a 111-105 loss to the Clippers on Thursday. “I’m not sure what was happening tonight, but for him to shoot two free throws with the amount of contact that was going on out there was absolutely crazy.”
The Nuggets are hosting a winner-take-all game Saturday in part because Jokic’s second half of Game 6 — a 2-for-9 shooting performance in Los Angeles that was stamped by Ivica Zubac’s fortitude against drives and post-ups.