By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
With the Denver Nuggets eliminated from the 2025 NBA Playoffs presented by Google, Nikola Jokic quickly set his sights on a possible participation in the Eurobasket 2025 with the senior national team of Serbia.
“I think the Olympics made me even better. Playing for your country, with other rules, with different players,” he talked about the impact of the Olympic Games 2024 and winning a bronze medal in Paris on his 2024-25 journey with the Denver Nuggets.
“I need to decide. There is a EuroBasket,” he added on the summer tournament, scheduled between August 27 and September 14, “I need to talk with the coaches and some of the main players. And we will see. But for now, for the next couple of days, there will be a lot of beer probably.”
In Group A of the preliminary round, the team guided by Svetislav Pesic is set to face Estonia, Portugal, Latvia, Czechia, and Turkiye in Riga. Ranking first through fourth would clinch a berth in the knockout stage.
“I told him not to play”
On Game 7 of a best-of-seven series versus the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Semifinals, Aaron Gordon played through pain due to a partial tear in his left hamstring, while Jamal Murray dealt with an illness, and Russell Westbrook with a right hand sprain.
“I told him not to play,” revealed Jokic, talking about 29-year-old Gordon, “You can injure yourself even worse. You can see that he was struggling, hard to move, this and that. But he went out there to fight with us. We can just appreciate it.”
“A tough spot”
Late in the 2024-25 Regular Season, David Adelman took over as the interim head coach of the Nuggets, replacing Michael Malone.
“It was a tough spot to be. He had like three games to change some things. I think he changed the energy. I think the guys were woken up a little bit. The guys were having more energy. He made us believe in something. We played good. We played a seven-game series against probably the best team in the NBA. We had an opportunity. We had chances. I think he did a really good job,” said Jokic.
“Crush for the guys,” mentioned the 41-year-old tactician, reacting to the season-ending blowout loss in Paycom Center on NBA Sundays, “The effort they gave to get to this position, to have this opportunity today, to have the start that we wanted, and then to go sideways so quickly.”
Photo Credit: FIBA