The Los Angeles Clippers extended the series after beating the Denver Nuggets 111-105 on Thursday night. Attention will turn to the win-or-go-home Game 7 on Saturday night, but Nuggets coach David Adelman was more focused on the lack of foul calls for his team’s superstar player, Nikola Jokić.
The MVP finalist finished the night with 25 points, eight assists and seven rebounds, but attempted only two free throws — something Adelman felt was far too low.
“Nikola gets fouled a lot,” Adelman said. “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. They put smalls on him. Those smalls were allowed to do whatever they want, so I’m really excited for Saturday that we’re going to be able to do the same thing with their best players, because if that’s the physicality we’re allowed to play with, we’ll react to it, and we will go there in Game 7.”
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James Herbert
That statement could get Adelman his first fine as a head coach for criticizing the officials. But he does have a point. In Game 6, there were a few times when players got away with some extra physicality when they guarded Jokić.
You can see it on this play, where Norman Powell hooks his arm into Jokić’s space as he goes up for a shot. The rest of Jokić’s teammates had their arms up as if to say, “Where’s the foul call?” but there was no whistle blown.
A few possessions later, as Jokić was driving toward the rim with Ivica Zubac guarding him, it looked like Zubac caught contact with Jokić’s arm, which would normally be a foul call. Jokić even thought so himself as he looked around to the officials for a whistle.
But the physicality across the league in the postseason has been elevated, and the officials are letting guys get away with some things that would’ve otherwise been called fouls in the regular season. We’ll have to see if Adelman’s comments impact how Game 7 is officiated. But if it doesn’t, then we may be in for a chippy contest as the Nuggets will likely level up their physicality to match the Clippers.
