The Denver Nuggets stayed alive Monday night, and the Minnesota Timberwolves almost lost another key player in the first round of the playoffs.
Nikola Jokić and the No. 3-seeded Nuggets took advantage of the undermanned No. 6 Timberwolves, winning 125-113 in Game 5 at Ball Arena to cut it to a 3-2 series deficit.
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With the Timberwolves already without Anthony Edwards (knee) and Donte DiVincenzo (Achilles), Naz Reid went down after appearing to roll his ankle in the third quarter. It was in that quarter that the Nuggets, playing without Aaron Gordon (calf) for the second time in the first round, ran away with it, building a 25-point lead en route to snapping a three-game losing streak.
Jokić finished with a triple-double, 27 points, 12 rebounds and 16 assists. Jamal Murray added 24 points, and Spencer Jones had 20 points.
Reid returned in the fourth quarter, but the Timberwolves will be without Edwards and DiVincenzo in Game 6 at home Thursday. Edwards, who suffered a hyperextension and bone bruise in his left knee in Game 4, is considered week to week. The team’s leading scorer hasn’t been ruled out for the rest of the playoffs.
Julius Randle led Minnesota with 27 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Ayo Dosunmu, the Wolves’ hero of Sunday’s Game 4, had 18 points.
Here are some takeaways from Game 5.
An unlikely hero for Denver
Their season on the line amid a series of disappointments, the Nuggets needed something special from somebody. Anybody.
They got it Monday in Game 5 when the least expensive player on the roster — Jones — erupted for 20 points to breathe life back into the Nuggets.
Coach David Adelman said before the game it would be “all hands on deck” for Denver, but Jones had to be among the most unlikely candidates to rescue the Nuggets. He started the season as a two-way player and was converted to an NBA contract on Feb. 19. Undrafted out of Stanford, he made his mark on the Nuggets mostly on defense while starting 37 games of his 64 games. His 20 points were nearly four times his season average (5.5 points) and eight off his career high scored in a December loss to the Dallas Mavericks.
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On Monday, while starting for the injured Gordon, Jones spearheaded the Nuggets’ breakaway third quarter, when they outscored Minnesota 37-24 to extend a 60-51 halftime lead to 97-75 entering the fourth. Jones had 11 of his 20 points in the quarter, which included 3 of 3 on 3-pointers. All told, Jones went 7 of 9 from the field, 4 of 5 from 3-point range and added three rebounds, three steals and three blocks.
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Now, with two days off before Game 6 in Minneapolis, the Nuggets suddenly have all the momentum. Gordon, who has been limited with a sore calf, will have four days off from the last time he played in Game 4. Meanwhile, the wounded Timberwolves — already down Edwards and DiVincenzo — lost super sub Naz Reid in the third quarter to an ankle injury.
Jones was the headliner of the desperation crew that Adelman sent out for Game 5. Point guard Tyus Jones made his first non-garbage time appearance and provided an early spark, and center Jonas Valančiūnas added nine points.
But it was Spencer Jones, who is making $623,967 this season — less than the $673,469 Nikola Jokić makes for one game — who stepped up in the season’s most critical game to keep the season alive. — Jason Quick
McDaniels’ struggles
It was a rough night for Jaden McDaniels, the chief provocateur in this series.
Booed every time he touched the ball by the Ball Arena crowd, McDaniels picked up two fouls in the first two minutes of the game to go to the bench early. He scored 13 points, was 0-for-3 from 3-point range and committed four turnovers.
With Edwards and DiVincenzo both out for the series with injuries, the Wolves need McDaniels to be a true two-way threat if they are going to close out the Nuggets.
He has been at the center of attention ever since he called out Denver’s defense after a win in Game 2. He stirred the pot again at the end of Game 4 when he scored a layup in the final seconds of a comfortable Wolves victory. That prompted Jokić to streak across the court and confront him, touching off a fracas between the two teams before they went to the locker room. Jokić and Randle were fined for their roles in the confrontation.
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There was another dustup in the third quarter, when McDaniels wrapped up Jokić around the neck on a drive to the basket after a foul on Murray, a move Jokić took exception to. In the fourth, McDaniels and Valančiūnas got into it and received double technical fouls for an extended bleep-talking session.
This time, the Nuggets were the ones doing the taunting. Christian Braun threw down a big dunk in transition in the third quarter, then pointed at McDaniels all the way down the court, drawing a technical foul.
The Ball Arena crowd serenaded McDaniels with “JADEN SUCKS!” chants in the fourth quarter.
You give and you get. — Jon Krawczynski
A thinner pack
The Wolves found out exactly what life without Edwards and DiVincenzo will be like on offense. It’s a much more challenging road.
There was much less room for them to work with on Monday without two of their best floor spacers. The Nuggets had struggled mightily to close the driving lanes, but they were able to hang back and pack the paint without having to worry about getting beaten by 3s from Edwards and DiVincenzo.
The Timberwolves had a hard time adjusting. They turned the ball over 14 times in the first half and 25 times for the game, neutralizing their strong shooting from 3. It also prevented them from getting on top of the Nuggets early. Despite all of the turnovers, they were only down five points late in the second quarter. Take care of the ball, and the lead is theirs, and the Nuggets may have started to get really nervous.
Instead, the Wolves provided little threat and it trickled over to the defensive end. Denver was able to be more aggressive, getting in the gaps and jumping passing lanes, and Minnesota just kept giving the ball away over and over again.
The Nuggets scored 35 points off the Wolves’ mistakes, fueling an offense that was held under 100 points in the previous two games.
The Wolves came into Game 5 averaging just 12 turnovers in the series. — Krawczynski