It has been a gruelling postseason for the Nuggets. Their first challenge was to overcome the Clippers in a thrilling seven-game series. They somehow pulled it off to advance to the next round. But there was no time to celebrate, as they were immediately thrown into the next challenge — the OKC Thunder. Once again, Nikola Jokic and Co. are being put to the test, and things are unfortunately not going in their favor.

Last night, they blew a double-digit lead to lose the game, going down 3-2 in the series. Following the tough loss, interim head coach David Adelman claimed that fatigue and late game pressure played a huge role in the eventual outcome, “You can say it’s fatigue, I think shot quality too. I thought early in the quarter we did get really good shots. They didn’t fall and then late the pressure got to us. We were up against the clock a lot.”

Even after their lead slipped away, the Nuggets had a chance to seal the game when Jokic tied the score at 103-103 with a clutch three-pointer. But they could not capitalize and the Thunder went on a 9-2 run to close it out. Many also questioned Adelman’s decision to play Jokic for the entire fourth quarter, not giving him enough rest to regain his energy. Turns out, the head coach had a discussion with The Joker about it during the game, “Yeah, it was my decision. You know, I had a conversation with him. He felt good. And I was going back and forth with it, with the four timeouts, that was a big factor for me.”

Considering the timeouts Adelman had left, he believed that Jokic would get ample rest even if he does not sub out. So, he decided to keep the three-time MVP in, “I felt comfortable with that. It felt like the momentum of the game was going our way and he was very sure of himself. Wanted to play through him… Keeping a guy out there that was 17 to 25 was extremely efficient, 5 of 7 from three at 44, 15 and 5. So, it was a decision that I made to leave him out there.”

The coach seems to have no regrets, at least for now, “I do not regret it right now after a loss, but if I go back and watch the tape, maybe I’ll have a different opinion tomorrow.” However, Adelman relying on Jokic for the entire fourth quarter raises massive concern about the supporting cast’s inability to share the scoring load with him. Even if the Nuggets somehow get past the Thunder, the overreliance on Jokic could haunt them going forward. And Adelman is expecting better from his guys on Thursday.

David Adelman takes accountability for Nuggets’ fatigue as he assures confidence for Game 6

Well, Jokic did everything he could to help his team win, finishing with 44 points and fifteen rebounds. Unfortunately, that was not enough to get the job done. The rest of the cast failed to show up during crunch time, which led to the Nuggets’ eventual downfall.

But Adelman is not blaming the team. Instead, he took accountability for their fatigue, “If it is fatigue, that’s on me. You know, I’m deciding who’s gonna run it, who’s gonna be out there. So, if guys are tired or had tired legs, that’s the decisions I’m making.”

He continued, “We didn’t have enough at the end and the shot creation that when we did make it, it felt like every time we had a chance to go back up 12 or get back up 14, we wouldn’t make the shot. They’d run out and make a basket or score in transition. So, it compounded itself.” He made it clear that relying on one player is not going to get the job done against the top seeded West team. “We had great performance from Nikola. Just you know have to have a few other guys have a game, which we can do in Game 6. Have full confidence in our guys.” Adelman added.

Hopefully, this confidence will translate to execution in Game 6 because it’s a win or go home situation for the Nuggets. And if the remaining 11 players cannot come through to carry the load with Jokic, their season will end on Thursday. Do you believe they can live up to Adelman’s expectations and force Game 7?