Respect the opponent, Nuggets coach understands why the Thunder s future makes other NBA teams "worry"

Why Nuggets head coach David Adelman thinks the Thunder’s future will be great, despite their lack of experience in the playoffs.

Denver - Denver Nuggets head coach David Adelman revealed that he believes there are similarities between Oklahoma City Thunder All-Stars Shea Gilgers-Alexander and Jaylen Williams and Nuggets' Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray. Despite poor shooting performance in Game 3, Thunder head coach Mark Degueno believes Gilgers Alexander will rebound, and Adelman thinks so.

Adelman saw the same desire as Jokic and Murray in the young, talented but inexperienced Thunder All-Star group, all chasing the 2023 NBA championship. So he ignored Gilgers Alexander and Williams, which was just their second playoff game to play side by side.

"We were young, too. We handled well, and so did they. That's why they won so many games and they rarely played close games because they completely defeated their opponents throughout the season," Adelman said. "If I coached a team, I would rather play games that were close than 55 games that were only 4 points away. So, experience is helpful, but the scary thing is that the more experience they have accumulated in these games, the better they will perform. Just like we played with Nikola and Jamal years ago."

Nuggets head coach David Adelman reviewed Jokic and Murray's youth.

"This is the most surprising thing in our first round against the San Antonio Spurs and the second round against the Portland Trail Blazers, that's the two players were so handy at the end of the game. Very quickly," Adelman added. "They don't have the feeling of 'oh, they're learning how to play these games', they're ready, and I see that in those two players."

Jaylen Williams talks about the number of shots in the last minute of the Thunder game in Game 3

Thunder All-Star Jaylen Williams talks about the number of shots in the last minute of the game in Game 3

. After scoring a team-high 32 points on 11 of 21 shots, many people wonder why he didn't get more ball rights.

Williams quickly refuted this statement at the post-match media meeting.

"When you have the best NBA finisher, you'll have him show up where you want him to get, and you can shoot," Williams said. "If I wanted to force it, of course. But there are other talented players on our team. I don't even remember taking one shot in that game. I made two mistakes. So, I mean, that's all a chance to score. It's good for everyone else. I've had a chance to score. I'll never sit here and complain about touching the ball or something. I have a lot of possession."

Thunders hope to tie the series 2-2 in Game 4 on Sunday.