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'What an awful NBA night', quips Adelman of Jokic's frustrations

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David Adelman quipped about Nikola Jokic's "awful NBA night" as he backed the Denver Nuggets star to get back to his best in Game 4 against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Jokic had something of an off-night against the Thunder on Friday, though still played his part in a 113-104 overtime victory that saw the Nuggets take a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference semifinal series.

Jokic had eight turnovers and failed with 17 of his 25 shots, missing all of his 10 3-point attempts, yet still finished with 20 points, 16 rebounds and six assists.

And Denver interim coach Adelman took a light-hearted approach to the Nuggets' talisman's frustrations.

"I mean, 20, 16 and 6, what an awful NBA night," Adelman chuckled.

"I'm sure he's frustrated," when you're so efficient, maybe arguably one of the most efficient players to ever play any sport.

"Yeah, I get it. I get why he's frustrated. But Game 4 is going to come, and he's going to touch it a million times. I hope he shoots it all the time."

Jokic was not the only star performer to have a below-par game on Friday, as the Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander went 7-for-22 on shooting and finished with 18 points.

Jamal Murray led the Nuggets with 27 points, while Aaron Gordon contributed 22 and Michael Porter Jr chipped in with 21.

"It's obviously lousy to lose," Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said.

"But you can take a lot away, and we want to be a team that's improving through the series.

I thought we did a lot of good things, [we] did a lot of good things on [Jokic]. It was a really hard-fought game by both teams. It wasn't an easy game for anybody.

"Losses always sting, especially in the playoffs, but what I would say is we are in the process of becoming a great team, and we've checked a lot of boxes in that process.

"One thing that it takes to be a great team is you get taken to the limit in the playoffs, and you've got a rise to the challenges that you're confronted with."