The Denver Nuggets needed a second win on the road to even up their series with the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday night at Target Center in Minneapolis. They did just that, behind Nikola Jokic, Aaron Gordon and Jamal Murray.
The Nuggets did something they hadn’t done in their first three games with the Timberwolves and that was shoot well in the first half, outscoring Minnesota 29-24 in the first quarter and 35-25 in the second and while Denver was seemingly in control of the first half, the Timberwolves started to claw their way back into the game pulling to within 7, cutting Denver’s double digit lead.
Fortunately for the Nuggets, Minnesota coughed up a couple of costly turnovers in the last thirty seconds of the game that the Nuggets took advantage of by hitting two threes and layup from Michael Porter Jr. (MPJ).
The last three came from Jamal Murray immediately after MPJ’s layup when Minnesota guard, Nickeil Alexander-Walker tried to quickly inbound the ball with just under two seconds left in hopes of giving the Timberwolves a last second shot before the half, but his pass went over the head of the intended receiver and into the hands of Jamal Murray who ducked an opponent and tossed up the Hail Mary three with precision. “Nothing crazy. It felt good from the moment it left my hand,” said Murray.
Despite Murray’s excellent play in Sunday’s win, he wasn’t even the top Nugget of the night, and neither was Nikola Jokic. That title goes to none other than Nuggets for- ward, Aaron Gordon. Gordon was on the floor for 41 minutes (leading all Nuggets) and chalked up 27 points (missing only one shot on the night), 6 assists, 7 rebounds and was Nikola’s release valve when he was getting double and triple teamed.
Nikola who lead all Nuggets in points had 35 points, 7 assists and 7 rebounds, playing 39 minutes. Denver’s bench accounted for 30 of Denver’s 115 points and outplayed Minnesota’s bench all night.
With the Nuggets tying up the series the focus now returns to Ball Arena where the Nuggets dropped their first two games to the Timberwolves earlier this month.
NBA fans and talking heads from coast to coast all but counted the Nuggets out after losing their fist two games at home but how quickly the narrative has once again changed. Coach Michael Malone said it beast, “What I found is Rudy T is right, man. ‘Never underestimate the heart of a champion.’”
Denver will face the Timberwolves in Denver at Ball Arena for game five (results of game not available at the time of this writing) before heading out to Minnesota for game six hopefully for the Nuggets to close out the series.
In other sports the Colorado Avalanche lost 5-1 to the Dallas Stars on Monday night at Ball Arena. Denver’s loss was salt to the wound after it was announced early in the day that Colorado Avalanche forward, Valeri Nichushkin was suspended six months for failing a drug test. Valeri will enter the NHL Player Assistance Program for the second time in 2024.
Nichushkin was whisked away from a Seattle hotel by Colorado Avalanche security during the playoffs last season during the Avalanche, Kraken series. The whole incident was kept well under wraps and very little info was released to the press. Nichushkin entered the NHL Players Assistant Program back on January 15th after sev- eral alcohol-related incidents including one at a Las Vegas hotel when Colorado was playing the Golden Knights. Nichushkin was flown back to Denver and entered the program shortly there after.
The Avs are on the brink of elimination and now face the difficult reality of losing their top scorer for the playoffs for the second year in a row. Game 5 is set for 6 p.m. in Dallas on Wednesday.
