San Antonio overcame a 43-point performance from Nuggets center Nikola Jokic and forced a decisive Game 7 with a 120-103 win Thursday night.
DeMar DeRozan (25 points) and LaMarcus Aldridge (26 points) led the way for the Spurs.
Jokic told reporters that he’s expecting an all-out war Saturday night.
Per The AP:
“They’ve been great at throwing a punch at us and running away with it,” DeRozan said. “We tried to sustain that and understand whatever they do we have to match it, be more aggressive, understand we have to keep our rhythm, being aggressive on both ends and we did that.”
Jokic scored 27 of his 43 points in the second half to post the third highest point total this postseason behind the 50 by Portland’s Damian Lillard and 45 from Golden State’s Kevin Durant. Jokic also finished with 12 rebounds and nine assists to fall an assist shy of his second triple double of the series.
Game 7 is Saturday in Denver, where the Nuggets had the league’s best home record during the regular season. The winner will face Portland.
“I don’t know, it’s my first Game 7,” Jokic said when asked what he expected in the finale. “It’s probably going to be even tougher than this one.”
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