Nuggets stay alive against Warriors

WASHINGTON – Nikola Jokic scored 37 points and the Denver Nuggets avoided being swept out of the NBA playoffs on Sunday, holding off the Golden State Warriors, 126-121.

The 27-year-old Serbian, last season’s NBA Most Valuable Player, also delivered eight rebounds and six assists as the Nuggets pulled within 3-1 in their best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series to force a fifth game on Wednesday at San Francisco.

The defending champion Milwaukee Bucks and the Eastern Conference top seed Miami Heat pushed their series leads to 3-1 with lopsided victories.

The Bucks routed the Chicago Bulls, 119-95, and the Heat dominated the Atlanta Hawks, 110-86.

The upstart New Orleans Pelicans, last team to clinch their playoff spot, beat the West’s top seed Phoenix Suns, 118-103, to knot their series two games apiece.

Jokic acknowledged that the Nuggets were determined to avoid a sweep on their home floor against the Warriors.

“We put up the fight,” Jokic said. “We didn’t want to get swept. We have more pride in ourselves.”

After Stephen Curry nailed a long jumper to give Golden State a 121-119 lead with 1:21 to play, Jokic made a layup, Monte Morris sank a go-ahead jumper with 33 seconds remaining and, after a steal by Austin Rivers, Jokic fired a pass to Will Barton for the deciding corner three-pointer with 8.3 seconds remaining.

No team in NBA history has overcome a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series, but Jokic says the Nuggets have the spirit to make history.

“We’ve really got our second wind, so why not?” he said.

In the 2020 playoffs played in the coronavirus bubble, the Nuggets became the first team to rally from 3-1 down in a series twice in the same post-season.