{"id":702897,"date":"2026-04-07T08:08:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T08:08:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/702897\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T08:08:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T08:08:20","slug":"jokic-cryptic-on-timeout-message-backs-coach-malone-for-ncaa-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/702897\/","title":{"rendered":"Jokic cryptic on timeout message, backs coach Malone for NCAA success"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Johnny Askounis\/ info@eurohoops.net<\/a><\/p>\n

Nikola Jokic failed to secure the win at the end of regulation, missing both a jump hook and a follow-up tip-in as time expired, but the Denver Nuggets<\/a> went on to secure a 137-132 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers<\/a> in overtime.<\/p>\n

The Serbian superstar finished with 35 points on 15-of-31 field goals, 14 rebounds, 13 assists, five steals, and two blocks in 43 minutes, recording his 33rd triple-double of the 2025-26 NBA Regular Season.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on the missed opportunity to end the game earlier, the 31-year-old center admitted to a rare moment of hesitation. \u201cEverything was perfect until the execution. I guess I wanted to steal a couple more seconds, and maybe I was overthinking it. I missed not easy ones, but something I am confident I can make it,\u201d he said during his postgame press conference.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

After overcoming a 16-point fourth-quarter deficit, the victory at Ball Arena on Monday was the ninth in a row and moved them to 51-28 and third place in the Western Conference.<\/p>\n

The Sombor native noted that the momentum shifted once the defense tightened. \u201cWhen we started contesting and making them work for it, they kind of started missing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

During a heated timeout that preceded the comeback, Jokic was seen animatedly addressing his teammates, though he remained humble about the specifics of his message. \u201cI really don\u2019t know what I said. I said a lot of stuff. I know what you think, but I don\u2019t know what I was saying. Probably something about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Beyond his on-court performance, he offered praise for his former coach, Michael Malone, who is transitioning to the NCAA to lead North Carolina.<\/a> \u201cI am happy for him,\u201d mentioned Jokic. \u201cProbably a little bit different because he was coaching in the NBA for about 15 years. He definitely has the poise and the brain to do it. I think he\u2019s going to do a very good job, because he can actually have time to coach the guys and teach them how to play the game the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The contest featured several more European contributors, including Lithuania\u2019s Jonas Valanciunas, who provided 14 points on 6-of-7 field goals, three rebounds, and one assist in ten minutes off the bench for the team coached by David Adelman.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

For the Blazers<\/a>, Belgian starter Toumani Camara reached 30 points on 10-of-16 field goals with five rebounds and one steal in 30 minutes, while fellow starter, Israeli forward Deni Avdija, tallied 26 points, seven assists, four rebounds, one block, and one steal in 40 minutes. French reserve Sidy Cissoko was held to one rebound in eight minutes, and Czech guard Vit Krejci remained sidelined with a left calf contusion.<\/p>\n

Read the latest News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Johnny Askounis\/ info@eurohoops.net Nikola Jokic failed to secure the win at the end of regulation, missing both…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":702898,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3781],"tags":[7,301,187,3943,6,302],"class_list":{"0":"post-702897","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-nuggets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-denver","10":"tag-denver-nuggets","11":"tag-denvernuggets","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-nuggets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116362405740387754","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702897","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=702897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/702898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=702897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=702897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=702897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}