INDIANAPOLIS — Nikola Jokic is still fighting one battle with the referees every night.
He has vowed not to waste his energy arguing with them anymore, but he just can’t resist an opportunity to take advantage of rulebook minutiae. And so he forges onward in the fight for one single continuation call.
“Eventually,” Nuggets coach David Adelman said, “maybe he’ll get that call.”
He’s been spurned by the refs in multiple cities this week already. Detecting a defender’s hand where it’s not supposed to be, he exploits its compromised position by drawing contact with a rip-through into his shooting form, or some rushed version of it.