Nikola Jokic's all-around brilliance wasted in Game 6 loss to Spurs

SAN ANTONIO — Nikola Jokic came to play in the first closeout game of his career. The Nuggets’ star center was in one of those zones where you could blindfold him 10 feet from the hoop, spin him around three times and he’d still find a way to flip in the shot.

Jokic was brilliant in Game 6 Thursday, but his efforts were wasted in a miserable defensive showing from his team. The Spurs came out red-hot. The Nuggets never figured out how to stop them.

San Antonio shot 57% as it got a 120-103 to win knot the first-round series at three games apiece and force a winner-take-all Game 7 Saturday in Denver.

Jokic finished with a new career-high 43 points (19-of-30 shooting), 12 rebounds and nine assists. He only had two turnover in 38 minutes. The Nuggets got little from their bench and allowed LaMarcus Aldridge (26 points), DeMar DeRozan (25 points) and Rudy Gay (19 points) to go off. Jokic’s 43 points is also the most a Nuggets player has scored in a playoff game in franchise history.

The game got away from Denver when Jokic went to the bench late in the third. It trailed by three when he went to get a breather. By the time he returned, the deficit was 13.

Denver couldn’t string together consecutive wins at AT&T Center after snapping its seven-year curse here in Game 5. Now a Game 7 on Saturday at Pepsi Center will determine if the Nuggets can advance in the postseason for the first time in a decade.