Nikola Jokić Postgame Press Conference vs. OKC 🎙️ Game 4 | 2025 NBA Playoffs

Nikola Jokić Postgame Press Conference vs. OKC 🎙️ Game 4 | 2025 NBA Playoffs

Nicola, uh, obviously you’re one of the most efficient players that we’ve seen play the game. What in your mind is kind of the root cause of the of your shooting struggles over these last few games? And, you know, what can you do to maybe generate better looks for yourself? I mean, it’s a little bit of everything. You know, they’re playing really good defense on me. They’re really into my body, handsy, physical. Um, and some I I think I missed like two, three open looks tonight. So, it’s a little bit of everything, you know. They’re shrinking the ball. They’re shrinking the floor for me. They’re having guy behind the defender. So, it’s a little bit of everything, you know. So, it’s I need to do a better job, of course, but it’s part of the game. Nicole, a team scored eight points in the first quarter. Just how much effort do you think it took to dig out from under that and and get you guys back into the game? And do you think you had had anything left for the rest of the game? I mean, I think uh they scored 17, so our defense was kind of good, too, you know, but we I think we had open looks. We just couldn’t uh um Okay, some some of them are local open looks. They were physical, of course. Uh and you know, it’s like I said, it’s part of the game, you know, we we we took it and uh at the second quarter, we scored 28 points. So, it’s it was a good good uh kind of half for it was in the end, it was a good half for us. We were down by I think five after all of that or six. Uh could you talk about just how up and down the fourth quarter was and what Shay was able to do to kind of win the game for Oklahoma City in Yeah, I mean of course uh we were we were trying to give him different looks. He’s he’s a he’s a great player. Uh um we we didn’t do enough uh like we did first game maybe helping CB or whoever or Russ or whoever’s on the ball just to give him a little bit of extra attention let’s say like that and uh make him think about make make him think about a little bit more. Uh but Shay is amazing player he was he was really good tonight and he was he was one of the reason why they won the game. Nola, what kind of impact do you think, Noola, what kind of impact do you think the short rest had on the game tonight? I mean, not much to be honest in my opinion because uh when I play, I don’t think about that. So, not not a lot against you right now with with just a different double team at you and how much is it affecting your shooting? I mean, I just it’s everything. It’s a little bit everything, you know. It’s they’re physical, they’re handsy, they’re coming, they’re really they’re good with help and sometimes I just cannot make a shot. Uh so it’s a little bit of everything right now. So like I I think I had like a hook um at four quarter I had a open hook. I missed two free throws big two free throws I missed. We were down four if I made it. We were down two one possession game. So they score after there. So, it’s a six points two possession game or even more. So, like I think we had the chances. We had a lot of we just didn’t we didn’t basically we didn’t make make shots. What was the uh breakdown on the 5-second call inbounds there? Yeah, that was a big big play. I think three minutes is it three minutes to go. We can inbound the ball. Uh it’s it’s literally everybody we that cannot happen. That was a big big moment, you know. It just cannot happen. Nola, how are you feeling about the series so far? How are you feeling about how you guys have played and how are you feeling about your guys’ chances to come out of the series? I mean, I think we are four and four in the club global in the in the in the in the in the in the whole season against them. So, uh we need to give ourselves a chance. We need to play physical. We need to be more physical with them, aggressive. And, uh, of course, they’re favorites. They’re they’re playing amazing. They they won six, seven, how many games? so on. Uh but uh we we we need to give ourselves a chance to to to be close and to be like up and uh to to to just to give us ourselves a chance to win a game. Nola with with over here with the angles that you see as a facilitator. Is there something unique about what Oklahoma City is is doing to kind of get in passing lanes with their ability to kind of recover in certain windows or cut off cuts that you guys that you normally see? Yeah. Uh, of course it’s it’s a playoffs and it’s um it’s a physical game. Uh, they’re really good at play not just not just playing passing whenever with dribble they’re coming to tip the ball from from behind in transition. They are playing pass. They’re not they’re not getting back. They’re going to steal the ball, you know. So, um, even the passing ladies, they’re playing the passing list. They are not afraid to um even if they go even if they go back door, they know the chat is going to be there. So, they’re really good team, you know. And there is a reason why they lost to only 12 how many games? 14. Where do you feel like you guys are at just with the different zone looks that you’ve been throwing at them and and just how you’ve executed those throughout the series? It was good. I mean, they scored 92 points. You know, I think our defense is not something that uh how to say like we we are fighting, you know. It’s I I think that’s not a problem. I think the shooting was tonight was a uh we shot 31% from the field. So, it’s really hard to win against that team if you don’t shoot the ball. Well, thank you guys. Pleasure.

Hear what Nikola Jokić had to say after our loss against Oklahoma City for Game Four of the Western Conference Semifinals.

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Nikola Jokić Postgame Press Conference vs. OKC 🎙️ Game 4 | 2025 NBA Playoffs