"Jamal is incredible, but Jokic..." Adelman Praises His Dream Duo: He's Special! /VIDEO/

Yes, patience is a virtue. You know, he obviously wanted to shoot, but they adjusted. I think that's the key thing. We were scoring points in that quarter because of how they were guarding him. They were double-teaming him. As the game progressed, I think he did a great job reading where the defense was positioned to find space for himself. So, you just have to do what's best for the team. He always does that, and the right thing was to find open space and our center, who is probably the best passer in the game today. He was doing the right things for his teammates. Another special night for Jamal; he's had so many of them. I truly hope that an All-NBA selection is a given, not a topic for debate.

I mean, Jamal's shot selection was incredible. So many tough shots off the dribble. We've talked about his progress over the years in that area, with both hands. Then, his ability to finish at the rim – obviously, with 10 made twos, nine threes, and six free throws. He's so efficient in every sense. I mean, 53 points on 28 shots is a fantastic number. And of course, Jokic creating offense by utilizing all the attention Jamal was drawing. He had assists early, mostly in transition. We had 27 fast-break points. But I think a lot of the assists late came after double-teams. Murray was making the right decisions; there were a lot of "hockey assists" from him. And Jok, as always, he's special at finding the right man. Offensively, a truly special night from those two guys. Also, I think the others hit crucial shots in this crazy game. Bruce hit a big three, Payton hit a big three, which we needed. Julian hit an important three to get us back to, I believe, a 10-point lead. Many different people were scoring off plays from those two. An incredible night. They've had special individual performances in Denver, but remember when they do it together – like those triple-double performances from both in the Finals. And tonight was truly special. I mean, 53 points from your point guard and 23 points with 21 rebounds and 19 assists from your center... Those are simply unreal numbers from the best tandem in the NBA.

–Yes, I think for some reason this year we've had trouble keeping Dallas at bay. Williams was getting into the paint, Naaji, all those guys. They just dictated the tempo. When they got within one point, there was that feeling of: "We need to wake up," because until then we had been playing basket for basket, as we had been scoring too easily all night. That's a dangerous zone, that style of play, because you think you'll just keep hitting shots, and then suddenly three or four possessions happen where you miss open shots you created yourself. The game moves on, possessions pile up. Credit to them, they spread the floor from side to side, giving Christie a couple of open shots in transition after drives and kick-outs. So, there are definitely things we need to tighten up after reviewing the film. Still, I'm very proud – we've been playing these late national TV games for three weeks now, we got back last night, or rather this morning, at four o'clock. I'm proud that we found a way to win. As you said, they got within one, and we've had moments this year where that would turn into us being down five or six points, and we'd be in trouble. This was different. The guys hit crucial shots, we played precisely down the stretch, and we made enough defensive stops to win the game. That's the only thing that matters now. I don't know who won the Minnesota-Houston game, but wins are key right now. Winning the game, any way you can, is all that counts. We need to stay in that race and secure the best possible position for the playoffs.