Nuggets’ David Adelman shoulders blame for key 5-second violation: ‘That’s inexcusable’

Perhaps it was David Adelman s fault The glue-fingered Alex Caruso and Oklahoma City launched a surprise trap attack on Denver out of a timeout the championship hanging on a fourth-quarter pendulum and the Nuggets interim HC didn t plan for a press-break alignment to squirm their way free Perhaps it was Michael Porter Jr s fault Adelman mentioned the hobbled wing postgame was the next man who was supposed to flash and flash he did But Porter s cut toward the baseline didn t remotely shake a sliding Jalen Williams Perhaps it was Christian Braun s fault He stated as much postgame He was the inbounder after all and his meander up and down the out-of-bounds baseline identified no organized target Nikola Jokic summed it up best after the -second violation that might ve just tilted a playoff series It s really everybody the Nuggets center commented postgame That cannot happen For three games the Nuggets had somehow stiff-armed the Thunder to the traveler seat and placed themselves behind the wheel thanks to late-game execution Adelman had largely out-coached Oklahoma City s Mark Daigneault in a battle of younger basketball minds as the Thunder flubbed Meeting One on a series of last-second fouls But Denver s much-ballyhooed veteran advantage vanished at Ball Arena Sunday afternoon The Nuggets came out of a timeout in the fourth quarter of a three-point contest and couldn t even inbound the ball Oklahoma City s sudden press forced the turnover Closer Shai Gilgeous-Alexander buried a soft turnaround seven seconds later for an - lead sealing a two-possession advantage down the stretch of a championship where bulk possessions clanked off iron Related Articles Nuggets go cold at wrong time drop Meeting to OKC Thunder at home Nuggets-Thunder Championship three-pointers Broncos Sean Payton and George Paton witness offensive atrocity PHOTOS Denver Nuggets lose to OKC Thunder in Meeting of second-round NBA Playoffs series Is OKC Thunder s playoff inexperience giving Nuggets an upper hand David Adelman weighs in With Nikola Jokic the worst competitor on the court Nuggets find way to beat Thunder anyway Even as inbounder Braun took expressive accountability postgame though noting he shouldn t have taken the inbound until Denver was organized Adelman shouldered a majority of the blame You can t have a mental mistake like that with four and a half minutes to go Adelman stated postgame And I ll take the hit If I come out of a timeout maybe I have to set up a press-break alignment first to get into our execution on the other end Because that cannot happen That s inexcusable Blame the -hour turnaround between Games and dead-legging the jumpers of a Nuggets unit that had already braved a gauntlet in Los Angeles Blame the atrocious shooting out of the gate an avert-your-eyes -of- from the field in the first quarter But Denver largely fumbled a crucial Battle down the stretch its championship savvy serving no use in a fourth quarter outscored - People can say it s a tired mistake Adelman continued of the -second call That s not That s an execution mistake and that s on me Want more Nuggets news Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis