{"id":581802,"date":"2026-02-04T12:29:38","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T12:29:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/581802\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T12:29:38","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T12:29:38","slug":"david-adelman-blasts-refs-calling-different-game-for-nikola-jokic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/581802\/","title":{"rendered":"David Adelman blasts refs calling &#8216;different game&#8217; for Nikola Jokic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-path-to-node=\"0\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/nba\/denver-nuggets\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Denver Nuggets<\/a> are finding out the hard way that life on the road in the NBA often <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/nba\/denver-nuggets\/nuggets-news-jonas-valanciunas-flagrant-foul-mma-pistons-isaiah-stewart\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">comes with some questionable whistles.<\/a> Following a gritty 124-121 loss to the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday night, Nuggets acting head coach <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/tag\/david-adelman\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">David Adelman<\/a> didn&#8217;t hold back, calling out a perceived officiating double standard that left three-time MVP <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/nba\/players\/9a2908b3\/nikola-jokic\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Nikola Jokic<\/a> out in the cold.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"1\">Adelman\u2019s frustration <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/BennettDurando\/status\/2018904773571793080?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">boiled over<\/a> when comparing the treatment of <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/nba\/nba-stories\/nba-mvp-monday-top-5-unchanged-nikola-jokic-injury-return\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the league\u2019s elite big men<\/a> to its star guards. \u201cThe frustrating thing about these games is Cunningham shoots 11 free throws. Jamal shoots 13. Jokic shoots 3,\u201d Adelman told reporters after the game. \u201cIt&#8217;s like a totally different game. I&#8217;m trying to figure it out. So it&#8217;s just two different basketball games going on with the bigs and the smalls.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"2\">The numbers from the box score certainly highlight the disparity. <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/nba\/denver-nuggets\/nuggets-news-jamal-murray-massive-ovation-following-all-star-nod\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">While Jamal Murray was aggressive<\/a>, leading Denver with 32 points and eight assists while going 12-of-13 from the charity stripe, Nikola Jokic struggled to get the same respect. The \u201cJoker\u201d finished with 24 points, 15 rebounds, and four assists, but he only visited the free-throw line three times despite battling in the paint for 33 minutes.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"3\">On the other side, <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/nba\/detroit-pistons\/pistons-news-cade-cunningham-connects-jalen-duren-inbounds-slam-dunk\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cade Cunningham orchestrated<\/a> a balanced Detroit Pistons attack, finishing with 29 points and 10 assists. Detroit never trailed in the contest, torching the Nuggets&#8217; defense early to build a massive 69-50 lead by halftime.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"3\">Denver mounted a furious fourth-quarter comeback, outscoring the Pistons 41-31 in the final frame, but the hole was simply too deep. A late triple from Tobias Harris and clutch free-throw shooting in the closing seconds allowed Detroit to secure the win and a season sweep over the Nuggets.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"4\">For the Denver Nuggets (33-18), the loss is a tough pill to swallow as they continue to navigate a physical Western Conference. If they want to get back into the win column, they&#8217;ll need to find a way to thrive even when the whistles aren&#8217;t going their way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Denver Nuggets are finding out the hard way that life on the road in the NBA often&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":581803,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3781],"tags":[7,250,301,187,3943,6,253,302],"class_list":{"0":"post-581802","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-nuggets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-david-adelman","10":"tag-denver","11":"tag-denver-nuggets","12":"tag-denvernuggets","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-nikola-jokic","15":"tag-nuggets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116012372742770866","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=581802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/581803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=581802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=581802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=581802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}