{"id":83968,"date":"2021-06-12T06:25:44","date_gmt":"2021-06-12T06:25:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=83968"},"modified":"2021-06-12T07:06:01","modified_gmt":"2021-06-12T07:06:01","slug":"nuggets-in-dreaded-hole-despite-insane-jokic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=83968","title":{"rendered":"Nuggets in dreaded hole despite 'insane' Jokic"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Phoenix Suns<\/a> have one foot in the Western Conference Finals after taking a commanding 3-0 lead despite an insane performance from newly-crowned NBA MVP Nikola Jokic.<\/p>\n

Devin Booker and Suns spoiled Jokic's MVP celebration with a 116-102 victory over the Denver Nuggets<\/a> in Game 3 that put the reeling Nuggets on the brink of a quick second-round exit.<\/p>\n

<\/strong>MORE NBA NEWS: <\/strong>Ben Simmons silences chants in Game 3 win over Atlanta<\/a><\/p>\n

Booker scored 28 points and teamed with Chris Paul<\/a> to lead a steady offensive onslaught that countered Jokic's gaudy triple-double of 32 points, 20 rebounds and 10 assists.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m frustrated with myself because I missed shots,\u201d said Jokic, who shot just 13 for 29.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t play on top of my game, especially shooting wise. It would be much easier for us if I started making shots. Of course, they\u2019re making it tough for me to make shots.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Nikola<\/p>\n

Jokic has been matched up with former No.1 pick Deandre Ayton throughout the series and Ayton was left stunned by the Serbians final stat line from the contest.<\/p>\n

"Jokic had – he had 20 rebounds!" Ayton exclaimed.<\/p>\n

"10 offensive rebounds, 10 – that's inane. Yeah, that's insane, and 10 assists. I did not know that, that's amazing. Yep, he the MVP."<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/msinger\/status\/1403582344414461954<\/a><\/p>\n

Despite Jokic's heroics, Denver did not get enough from his teammates, with back-up guard Monte Morris the Nuggets' next best scorer with 21 points.<\/p>\n

Paul continued to show he has overcome the nagging shoulder injury that hampered him in the first round, finishing with 27 points, eight assists and three steals for the Suns, who pulled away after halftime for the third straight time. All five of Phoenix's starters scored in double figures.<\/p>\n

\"Chris<\/p>\n

They are a win away from their first trip to the Western Conference Finals since 2009-10 \u2014 which was the last time Phoenix made the playoffs.<\/p>\n

The third-seeded Nuggets, who reached the conference finals last year, are on the brink of getting swept in a playoff series for the first time since the Lakers bounced them out of the first round in 2007-08.<\/p>\n

Jokic would be the first league MVP to be swept in a series since Magic Johnson in the 1980 NBA Playoffs if the Nuggets go down in Game 4 on Monday AEST.<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old dedicated his MVP award to his teammates during a raucous pregame ceremony that Nuggets coach Michael Malone had hoped would energize his team that's lost by 17, 25 and now 14 points.<\/p>\n

\"Nikola<\/p>\n

\u201cI just feel bad that we weren\u2019t able to pull out a win for them because they made this atmosphere electric,\u201d Malone said of the crowd of 18,277.<\/p>\n

Suns coach Monty Williams said his team was ready for the energy boost the big crowd supplied by serenading Jokic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe expected it,\u201d Williams said. "We respect what Jokic has done this season. We knew he was going to get the trophy. We were fighting a lot of things but because we have veteran guys who have been in a ton of situations \u2014 Chris (Paul) and Jae (Crowder) \u2014 those guys were galvanizing the guys before jump ball, like, \u2018Let\u2019s go, we\u2019re here for business.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t want to disrespect Jokic\u2019s moment. At the same time, we also came here to win a game. That\u2019s something we stressed for a while, being able to have poise in those moments. Whether it\u2019s an emotional fouling situation or something like tonight, which is a pretty unique situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Phoenix Suns have one foot in the Western Conference Finals after taking a commanding 3-0 lead despite an insane performance from newly-crowned NBA MVP […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83968"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=83968"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83970,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83968\/revisions\/83970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=83968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=83968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=83968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}