The Denver Nuggets walked away from Game 3 with a gritty 113-104 overtime win against the Oklahoma City Thunder—and a whole lot of questions. Sure, they took a 2-1 series lead, but their franchise star, Nikola Jokic, looked like he was trying to shoot a beach ball into a moving trash can. It was one of the worst shooting nights we’ve seen from the MVP in years—and you could feel his frustration bubbling.

Still, when it came time to talk, acting head coach David Adelman didn’t duck the questions. Instead, he peeled back the curtain on what was really going on behind the scenes, including Jokic’s mood and the locker room energy that carried Denver through a rollercoaster night.

Let’s start with the obvious: Jokic was off. Like, “Did someone swap his shoes with ski boots?” off. He shot just 8-of-25 from the field and clanked all 10 of his three-point attempts. And yet, with the game tied at 95 and a chance to win in regulation, the Nuggets dialed up a fadeaway corner three for him.

Yeah… that one didn’t go in either. “Any time you can run a game-winning play that’s a fallaway 3 for a guy who’s 0-10 from 3—you gotta do it,” joked The Ringer’s Bill Simmons on X, as fans across the NBA lit up their timelines wondering if Denver had momentarily lost their minds.

But Adelman? He had zero regrets. “The guy shoots 45% from three,” he reminded reporters. “He had an off night. If we would’ve lost this game, you’d ask why he was shooting so many threes. I’d say because he shoots 45% from three.”

Cold night or not, Jokic is still their guy. Let’s not sugarcoat it—Jokic was in a mood. Not full tantrum mode, but his body language after regulation said it all: head down, zero emotion, frustration written all over his face. For a player as calm and calculated as Joker, that’s loud.

So when Adelman was asked if Jokic was frustrated, he didn’t play coy. “I’m sure he’s frustrated,” he said. “When you’re that efficient—maybe arguably one of the most efficient players to ever play any sport—yeah, I get it.”

Still, Adelman made it clear that Jokic’s frustration wasn’t toxic—it was fuel. “He picks people up, and our team picks him up. The ball is coming to him regardless of the efficiency that night. He’s going to make plays. His defensive rebounding was really impactful tonight.”

In other words, he may have missed shots, but he didn’t disappear.

The supporting cast comes to Jokic’s rescue

While Jokic struggled, Denver’s supporting cast pulled off the ol’ switcheroo. Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr., and Aaron Gordon stepped up like they were auditioning to be the new core trio.

Murray dropped 27 and went full chaos agent in overtime, snagging back-to-back steals and slicing through OKC’s defense. Gordon added 22 and drained the game-tying three in regulation like he was born for it. And Porter Jr.? Five-of-six from deep despite a nagging shoulder injury. You’d never know it by the way he was splashing.

Together, they became the fifth Nuggets quartet in history to each drop 20+ in a playoff game—and maybe the first to do it while carrying their MVP on an off night.

You know what makes this team dangerous? It’s not just Jokic’s genius or Murray’s microwave scoring. It’s their culture. The next-man-up thing? It’s not just a cliché here.

“Our team right now, and I mean it, they’re picking each other up man by man,” Adelman said. “Zeke [Nnaji] gave us good energy. Peyton Watson had great energy. Stats don’t matter. It’s about giving everything you’ve got for the guy next to you.”

The Nuggets have fully leaned into their identity as a battle-tested, selfless squad. They’ve been through the fire, they’ve been doubted—and now, they’re finding new ways to win when the obvious ones aren’t clicking.

Let’s call it what it was: the Thunder should’ve won this game. Jokic was ice cold, Denver gave them extra possessions, and the offense was out of sync for long stretches. But OKC couldn’t put the game away, even after leading in the final seconds of regulation.

Instead, they ran into a version of the Nuggets that knows how to grind out a win—and that’s scary. Because if Denver can do this with Jokic looking human, what happens when he inevitably reboots?

Even when Jokic looks like he’s playing with oven mitts on, the Nuggets can still win playoff games. That’s the message Game 3 sent loud and clear. Adelman knows it. The locker room knows it. The Thunder definitely know it now. And with Game 4 looming, odds are Denver’s MVP isn’t staying cold for long.

Be afraid, Oklahoma. Be very afraid.