DENVER (AP) — Nikola Jokic snapped out of his prolonged funk with a triple-double, Spencer Jones provided a key spark and the Denver Nuggets staved off elimination with a chippy 125-113 win over the injury-riddled Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 5 of their playoff series Monday night.
Jokic had 27 points, 16 assists and 12 rebounds for Denver, which trimmed its deficit to 3-2 in the best-of-seven series. Jamal Murray scored 24 points and Jones added
20.
Jokic posted his 23rd playoff triple-double, third on the career list, as the Nuggets stopped a three-game skid and played the way they did most of the regular season in securing the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference.
Game 6 is Thursday night in Minneapolis.
The Timberwolves, who trailed by 27 before cutting the margin to 10 in the fourth quarter, were without their starting backcourt of Anthony Edwards (hyperextended left knee) and Donte DiVincenzo (ruptured right Achilles), both of whom got hurt in Game 4, and they briefly lost center Naz Reid to a rolled right ankle late in the third quarter Monday night.
DiVincenzo underwent surgery Sunday, and Edwards is out indefinitely — but an MRI confirmed the absence of structural damage, meaning he could return to action if the Timberwolves advance.
Julius Randle led Minnesota with 27 points and Game 4 star Ayo Dosunmu added 18. Rudy Gobert, whose defense was the story of this series through four games, was finally neutralized and scored his only bucket with 20 seconds remaining in the third quarter with the Wolves trailing by 25.
Reid went down after Tim Hardaway Jr. crashed into him and stepped on his right foot. Reid was out for several minutes and didn’t appear to be moving well when he returned to the game.
The Nuggets need to win the next two games to become just the 14th of 299 teams facing a 3-1 deficit to come back to win an NBA playoff series. Denver was the last team to accomplish the feat, doing it twice in the bubble in 2020, against the Jazz and Lakers.
The Nuggets jumped out to an early lead as the Wolves committed 14 first-half turnovers, including nine in the first quarter. Jokic swished a 29-foot 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Denver a 60-51 halftime lead.
Jones, who scored 11 points in the first four games of the series, had 11 in a six-minute stretch in the fourth quarter when the Nuggets pulled away. He sank a trio of 3-pointers and added a breakaway dunk that prompted a Minnesota timeout.
Jaden McDaniels, whose meaningless layup in the final seconds of Game 4 drew the wrath of Jokic and led to a dustup that resulted in ejections and fines and only added more fuel to an already-heated playoff rivalry, picked up two quick fouls and took a seat at the 9:44 mark of the first quarter. He scored 13.
The Nuggets weren’t at full strength themselves as forwards Aaron Gordon (calf) and Peyton Watson (hamstring) sat out Game 5.
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba
