At the end of the regular season, the Nuggets finished sixth in the West, and as the Warriors retained the third place in the West through a wave of winning streaks in the regular season, the two teams faced a battle in the first round of the playoffs of the season. In the first game of the two-side series, the Nuggets were still able to compete with their opponents in the first quarter, but with the Crazy Performance of the Warriors on the offensive end of the second quarter and the third quarter, the Warriors had established a 20-point lead in the third quarter, and most of the final quarter was reduced to garbage time.
In this campaign, Jokic, who has been hailed as an MVP hit this season, once again played an outstanding performance, scoring 25 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals on 12-of-25 shooting in 34.6 minutes of playing time, all three of which were the highest in the team. In the first quarter of the game, Jokic has been full of fire to cut 8 points, and in the second quarter, there are 6 points and 4 rebounds in the second quarter. In the third quarter of the game, although Jokic personally cut 9 points, but helplessly two fists to defeat four hands, the team in this quarter of the full line rout, the point difference was also stretched to more than 20 points. In the final garbage time, Jokic scored just two points in 6 minutes.
Although Rio Keic once again cut excellent data in this game, from the perspective of the whole game, the Warriors' targeted defense also played a good role in restricting it, especially Green, as the best defensive player, did a very good job of defending Jokic in this game, making Jokic uncomfortable on the offensive end. In a post-match interview, Jokic also talked about this, saying: "Green defended very well, but I had to play better myself, at least those simple shots and layups I had to score." At the same time, Jokic also expressed dissatisfaction with the referee's decision.
When asked about the decision for the match, Jokic said: "If I answer this question, I will be fined, so I will not answer. Judging from Jokic's performance of wanting to talk and stop, he was actually very dissatisfied with the penalty in this campaign, but because he was afraid of the league's punishment, he did not elaborate. In fact, although the Warriors won the game by a big score, the referee's decision in this game made many fans angry. According to statistics, the Warriors team won as many as 29 free throw opportunities and hit 21 of them, while the Nuggets team only stood on the free throw line 13 times, hitting 10 of them, and the difference between the two sides in terms of free throw scores alone was 21 points.
In the free throw comparison between the main players of the two sides, the gap is also very obvious. Poole, the Warriors' highest-scoring player in the game, personally got 8 free throw opportunities, scored 30 points in the whole game, and the number of free throws by one person is almost equal to that of the entire Nuggets. The Nuggets' player who has received the most free throws in this game is Gordon, but he has only received 3 free throw opportunities in the game. Jokic, who made 25 shots in the game and 18 shots in the penalty area, only got 2 free throw opportunities, while he was blown 4 fouls, which is an important reason why Jokic is very puzzled.
In addition to the blowing penalties for the main players, there was also a highly controversial scene in this campaign. By the fourth quarter, there were about 10 minutes left in the game, and the Warriors still led by 16 points at 92:76. In one of the Warriors' offenses, Bjelica broke through to the inside line, and Cousins, who was defending on the inside, was quick in his eyes, standing in the opponent's forward route in advance to prepare for an offensive foul, and Bjlitsa did knock Cousins to the ground, but the referee did not show any indication. After being knocked down, Cousins was so frustrated that he missed the rebound he was trying to win.
When the Warriors grabbed the offensive rebound to organize the offense again, the grumpy Cousins couldn't bear it and pointed directly at the referee to express his dissatisfaction, and the referee naturally refused to let go, blowing up Cousins' technical foul. After being whistled for his first technical foul, Cousins was very puzzled and read words to the referee in his mouth, continuing to express his anger with garbage, in which case the referee again blew Cousins' technical foul, who was also expelled for eating two consecutive technical fouls. While Cousins sprayed the referee at fault, Cousins was so visibly knocked to the ground and the referee didn't say anything, which was also a microcosm of the Nuggets' treatment in this game.
The reason why there is such a large deviation in the judgment is inseparable from the following points. First of all, after all, this campaign is played at the home of the Warriors, and as the first game of the playoffs, the referees naturally hope to help the Warriors get off to the top. Secondly, the Warriors' defensive players led by Green are actually very smart on the defensive end, and on the defensive end, when they make the opponent very uncomfortable, they often use small actions that are not easy for the referee to avoid the referee's eyes, such as pulling the jersey and other small tricks. As Nuggets coach Malone put it: "Jokic made 25 shots and only got 2 free throws, his jersey is often pulled, so we have to see how the opponent defends him." ”
In the end, the Nuggets received so many fouls in this campaign have a lot to do with their mentality, since the second quarter of the game, they have been in a passive situation of lagging behind, and in the third quarter of the game began to fall behind to more than 20 points difference, in the Warriors home manic atmosphere, the Nuggets mentality will naturally be greatly affected, which also led to a lot of their defensive actions will be relatively large. For the unfavorable judgment of this game, Jokic does not dare to express too many views, after all, the current league's remarks on the players can be described as very strict, in the case of being on the playoff stage, Jokic does not dare to have too much mistake.
While the penalty was clearly bad for the Nuggets, it was undeniable that it was part of the game. The Nuggets also had quite a few things they didn't do well enough in this game, and the Warriors' defense of Jokic through pinch attacks also had a miraculous effect. However, this is only the first game of the series, the Nuggets do not have to be too frustrated, in the next game, how to crack the Warriors' current defense, and play their own characteristics on the offensive end, is what they need to consider.