{"id":642603,"date":"2026-05-01T11:23:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T11:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/642603\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T11:23:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T11:23:08","slug":"jokic-still-wants-to-be-nuggets-forever-after-early-playoff-exit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/642603\/","title":{"rendered":"Jokic still wants to be ‘Nuggets forever’ after early playoff exit"},"content":{"rendered":"

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) \u2014 Three years after Nikola Jokic<\/a> led the Denver Nuggets to the NBA<\/a> championship, the peak looked awfully distant for the team from the Mile High City and the three-time MVP award winner.<\/p>\n

Ousted in six games by the Minnesota Timberwolves in their first-round series<\/a>, the Nuggets trudged into the offseason with plenty of questions to answer about their ability to remain a true title contender in the stacked Western Conference. For the first time in four years, the Nuggets failed to make it to May. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe just lost in the first round, so I think we are far away,\u201d said Jokic, who had 28 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds in the 110-98 loss to the Timberwolves on Thursday night.<\/p>\n

Four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert deftly neutralized Jokic during the series, even dominating him at times with his long arms, relentless effort and superb positioning. <\/p>\n

Jokic found some rhythm and spark in the last two games, but his sidekick Jamal Murray had a rough series. The first-time All-Star, who played in 75 games during the regular season for his most in eight years, was similarly smothered by Timberwolves villain Jaden McDaniels. Murray went just 4 for 17 from the floor and with a game-worst minus-18 rating.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I get the looks that I need, they don\u2019t go down,\u201d Murray said. \u201cSo that\u2019s the frustrating part, not showing up when my team needed me the most tonight. I feel like if I would\u2019ve played a little bit better we would\u2019ve had that game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Missing forwards Aaron Gordon to a calf injury for three of the six games and Peyton Watson for the whole series to a hamstring strain sure didn\u2019t help. Cameron Johnson made a late push from the 3-point line, pitching in 27 points in Game 5, but there wasn\u2019t enough production beyond Jokic and Murray in this series for the Nuggets to advance, even against a Timberwolves team that was severely short-handed<\/a> in the backcourt. And their pick-and-roll synergy was largely absent too.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were missing a bunch of guys tonight, and they still won. So did we need them? Definitely, but if they are not here, we cannot think, \u2018If, if, if, if,\u2019\u201d Jokic said.<\/p>\n

After leading the league in offensive rating during the regular season and being held under 100 points only twice, the Nuggets failed to hit triple digits against the feisty Timberwolves three times in the series.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a miss-or-make league. We couldn\u2019t make any shots,\u201d Jokic said. \u201cI\u2019m confident in my and Jamal\u2019s two-man game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jokic, who will enter his 12th season in the league in 2026-27, can sign another maximum contract extension this summer. He didn\u2019t hesitate when asked about his interest in reupping his commitment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still want to be Nuggets forever,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Coach David Adelman doesn\u2019t have the same security, after finishing his first full year on the job. Might changes be in the works in Denver?<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not my decision,\u201d Jokic said. \u201cDefinitely, if we were in Serbia, we would all be fired.\u201d<\/p>\n

But in all seriousness, the Joker doubled down on his support of Adelman.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not his fault we couldn\u2019t rebound. It\u2019s not his fault we couldn\u2019t catch the ball very well. There is nothing to blame David Adelman. It was all us,\u201d Jokic said.<\/p>\n

The Nuggets closed the regular season on a 12-game winning streak.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery disappointing end to the season. I\u2019m the head coach. I take responsibility for things that didn\u2019t go well here,\u201d Adelman said.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/NBA<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MINNEAPOLIS (AP) \u2014 Three years after Nikola Jokic led the Denver Nuggets to the NBA championship, the peak…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":642604,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[3891,64,63,45197,89842,3912,3896,1662,62609,3901,5387,5665,9287,590,31647,2656,3906,3909,85,42154],"class_list":["post-642603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-aaron-gordon","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cameron-johnson","tag-co-state-wire","tag-colorado","tag-david-adelman","tag-denver-nuggets","tag-jaden-mcdaniels","tag-jamal-murray","tag-minnesota","tag-minnesota-timberwolves","tag-mn-state-wire","tag-nba","tag-nba-basketball","tag-nba-finals","tag-nikola-jokic","tag-peyton-watson","tag-sports","tag-sports-transactions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=642603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/642604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}