Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokić praised interim head coach David Adelman after the team suffered a 125-93 defeat against the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 7 of their second-round playoff series.

I told him not to play,” revealed Nikola Jokic, talking about 29-year-old Aaron Gordon, “You can injure yourself even worse. You can see that he was struggling, hard to move, this and that. But

Jokic played 37 minutes against the Thunder on Sunday. The three-time MVP finished with 20 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. He was outrebounded by Aaron Gordon, who had 11 boards despite playing with a Grade 2 left hamstring injury.