A slow, savage smile swept across Nikola Jokic’s face.
Tired of getting scratched and clawed at the hands of the feisty Timberwolves, Jokic grinned at officials knowing his dramatic Game 5 triple-double was fostered amid the physicality of postseason basketball. Jokic bullied Minnesota’s frontcourt for five consecutive points with under a minute left to seize Tuesday’s contest and oust the Timberwolves into a long, cold offseason. The Nuggets’ 112-109 victory sealed the series, 4-1, and secured a second-round playoff series that could start as early as Saturday.
Minnesota had one last long shot after Jokic missed a free throw with 3.4 seconds left. When Anthony Edwards’ 3-pointer to tie the game at the buzzer hit back-rim, thanks to a fantastic contest by Bruce Brown, red, yellow, and blue confetti poured from the ceiling at Ball Arena.
Jokic finished with 28 points, 17 rebounds and 12 assists. His dominance was apparent despite an uncharacteristic 8-of-29 shooting night. He was serenaded by “M-V-P” chants on the postgame court.
“He’s unrelenting,” said Nuggets coach Michael Malone, who awarded Jokic the Defensive Player of the Game for his energy in blitzing Edwards during the second half.
Jamal Murray poured in 35 points, including five 3-pointers, to carry the offense while Jokic and Michael Porter Jr. struggled to find a rhythm.
He arrived quickly at his postgame press conference.
“I want to go to sleep,” Murray joked.
But with zero points through three quarters, Porter came alive in the fourth, burying two gigantic 3-pointers. In 39 minutes, Porter also snatched 10 boards.
Edwards led the T-Wolves with 29 points. After his errant 3-pointer at the buzzer, he sprinted off the court in disgust. Minnesota center Karl-Anthony Towns scored 26 points but fouled out late.
Murray began to percolate moments into the third quarter. He buried a circus layup that drew a foul, followed by a baseline jumper and then sunk a corner 3-pointer to jolt the crowd. But Edwards kept matching him. He played gutsy, two-way basketball, sparking the T-Wolves’ rebuttal with clutch baskets and a soaring defensive swat.
Even though the Nuggets’ stars, outside of Murray, struggled with their shot, Minnesota showed a desperate, impressive resolve. Jokic finally found something with two 3-pointers and a second-chance bucket to stoke the crowd in the third quarter. By the end of the third quarter he had another triple double.
At Tuesday morning’s shootaround, Porter took some ownership over his inconsistent offense.
“I (gotta) just move more off the ball,” he said. “I mean, it’s not all on my teammates getting me involved, it’s also on me trying to loosen myself up, get out in transition and just play with a high level of energy.”
His play was one concerning aspect, but Nuggets coach Michael Malone spotted numerous others in auditing what went wrong in a Game 4 loss.
“We were late into the offense, we were playing in short clock situations way too much, they extended us way down the floor, we did not own our spots, we did not work to catch the ball in scoring areas, we didn’t screen well enough,” Malone said prior to the game. “After watching the film, I thought our offense really put our defense at a disadvantage. … We have to be cleaner, better, sharper, more physical, and execute for much better shots. A lot of the shots that we took were just as bad as a turnover. That fuels their break.”
For most of the first half, Denver’s offense was disjointed or lethargic. With little movement, the Nuggets made themselves easy to guard. Well into the second quarter, it looked like they were sleep-walking through an elimination game. The T-Wolves were, unquestionably, the more physical, more assertive time, and Denver got itself into trouble dribbling into traffic.
Once down 15 in the first half, it felt like a minor miracle that the Nuggets course corrected to engineer a 48-47 lead at the break. To do that, they defended, fought for 50/50 balls and hit the glass. All three categories had a direct correlation to winning throughout the regular season.
While Denver’s offense struggled, uncharacteristically missing numerous wide-open 3-pointers, Murray did the lion’s share of the work. He poured in 16 points in the first half, including a late 3-pointer from the top of the arc to give Denver a slight lead.
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Nikola Jokic’s Game 5 triple-double ousts T-Wolves as Nuggets advance to second round - The Denver Post
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