Denver Nuggets talisman Nikola Jokic returned to his best as he scored 44 points against Oklahoma City Thunder. But his performance went in vain as the Nuggets suffered a 112-105 loss on Tuesday to trail by 3-2 in the Western Conference semifinals series.

Jokic was 17-of-25 from the field in Game 5, including 5-of-7 from 3-point range and received praise from team’s interim coach.

“Nikola played incredible,” Nuggets interim coach David Adelman said. “I thought our effort was incredible, but we can play a lot better. I think it’s in these guys that if we create the open shots we created tonight, we’re going to have games where guys make shots behind it. … If we can complement 17-of-25, 44 points with some other guys finding a rhythm out there, we’re very capable of doing special things. And that includes Thursday [in Game 6], and that includes the weekend if we can get back here.”

The Serbian admitted they didn’t capitalise on the open looks and felt it was the major difference.

“It’s not like we turned the ball over,” Jokic said. “I think we had the open looks. We just didn’t score in those moments. I think we had the looks that we wanted to have.”

“They were still doing what they’re doing,” Jokic said regarding the Thunder’s top-ranked defense. “The ball was going in.”

Adelman said Jokic had better foot movement and got his confidence after nailing the first few shots.

“He had better legs,” Adelman said. “The face-up jump shot always gets him going. He makes one of those early, and he made the touch shots around the rim that seemed like they haven’t been going his way lately, which is surprising because he’s been so good at them for so long. Once he saw those go in, it just kind of unleashed everything else.”

The sixth game of the series, which will be a must-win contest for the Nuggets, will be played on Thursday.