MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Nikola Jokic had his seventh profession triple-double within the playoffs with 20 factors, 11 rebounds and 12 assists for the Denver Nuggets, who fended off the Minnesota Timberwolves 120-108 to take a 3-0 lead within the first-round NBA playoff collection Friday night time.
Michael Porter Jr. had 25 factors and 9 rebounds and Jamal Murray added 18 factors and 9 assists as Denver withstood one other dashing efficiency by Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards to ship a loud crowd of white-shirt-wearing followers house from one other irritating postseason loss.
Recreation 4 is right here Sunday night time.
Edwards scored 36 factors to boost his collection complete to 95, Karl-Anthony Cities had 27 factors after totaling solely 21 factors over the primary two video games and Rudy Gobert had 18 factors and 10 rebounds for the Wolves, however a defensive lapse right here and a rushed 3-pointer there was sufficient to seal their destiny in opposition to a well-rounded Nuggets staff that’s lastly wholesome sufficient for a run on the NBA finals.
Bruce Brown had 12 factors to guide Denver’s 29-10 edge in bench factors, and the Nuggets shot a hard-to-beat 57% from the sector.
With the Nuggets holding their first 2-0 lead in 9 playoff collection underneath Mike Malone, their message from the coach was to maintain the throttle on full and never give the underdog Wolves further confidence.
The Western Convention’s prime staff complied by capturing like its seeding relied on it and outjumping the Wolves for almost each lengthy rebound. The Nuggets had two 9-0 runs within the first half and will hardly do something incorrect, beginning the second quarter by making 12 of their first 16 pictures and constructing a 13-point lead.
Then Edwards, who had 41 factors in Recreation 2 for the franchise playoffs document, single-handedly introduced the Wolves again with the form of starburst solely gamers like him are able to.
After a lazy go by Cities was picked off by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Edwards hustled for the block and rapidly transformed a Euro-step layup on the opposite finish. The Wolves saved up the momentum and lower the result in 61-55 proper earlier than halftime. They had been nonetheless inside six factors on the finish of the third quarter.
The Wolves received their play-in sport right here every week in the past by going massive on the backs of Cities and Gobert, the unlikely pairing they created when former Nuggets president of basketball operations Tim Connelly bolted for a similar job in Minnesota and swung a blockbuster commerce for Gobert.
The Wolves attacked the basket higher than they did within the first two video games, and Cities drew Jokic’s fourth foul with 5:51 left within the third quarter, however the 7-foot Serb is simply too expert — and an excessive amount of of a load — to get beat that method.
The 2-time reigning NBA MVP led the league with 29 triple-doubles through the common season.
SCREEN SHOT
Wolves coach Chris Finch, requested earlier than the sport about Jokic’s affect on making house for Murray and his shot, took a refined swipe at how he feels Jokic — who has 14 fouls within the collection — is officiated.
“He does a extremely good job of screening, and shifting and screening on the identical time, these kinds of issues,” Finch stated in his finest deadpan.
Gobert made mild at his introductory information convention final summer season of Finch’s allegations of his unlawful screening with Utah.
TIP-INS
Nuggets: Caldwell-Pope had 11 of his 14 factors within the second quarter on 3-for-4 capturing from 3-point vary. … Murray, who went 10 for 20 from deep within the first two video games, was 1 for six.
Timberwolves: Cities, who shot 8 for 27 from the sector within the first two video games, went 10 for 17. He’s 5 for 16 from 3-point vary within the collection. … Nickeil Alexander-Walker was again within the beginning lineup. He had eight factors in 22 minutes.
