The NBA playoffs continue with the Timberwolves traveling to take on the Nuggets on the road today. In the end, they won 106-99 against the Nuggets. In this game, Timberwolves star Edwards scored 43 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists, shooting 17 of 29. Towns chipped in 20 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists, and although Jokic had 32 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists on the Nuggets' side, he still couldn't help the team win. Porter Jr. had 20 points and six rebounds.
The Timberwolves imposed a very tight defense on the Nuggets today, resulting in the Nuggets not scoring to 100 points in the game today. And they did a very good job of limiting Murray, who didn't score a point in the first half today, and only scored 17 points on 6-of-14 shooting. Today, the Nuggets' starting five are all negative. Even today's game, the Timberwolves' tight defense forced Jokic to change his style of play.
Jokic shot a lot of outside shots today, making a total of nine from beyond the three-point line, which was rarely seen before. But Jokic didn't shoot well from the outside today, shooting just 2-of-9. Jokic's massive outside shots proved that he was being consumed too much on the inside, so he had to step outside in search of something easier. Today, the Timberwolves have three players who take turns to consume Jokic: Gobert, Towns and Reed. So Jokic may have to face a huge amount of attrition every game in this series, which is obviously a big test of his physical strength.
The Nuggets, on the other hand, didn't have a single player who could contain Edwards. Edwards was in demand for a number of Nuggets defenders today. So judging from the overall lineup of both sides, the Timberwolves are a team that has both offense and defense. And the Nuggets can't match the Timberwolves in terms of outside firepower. Even when it comes to critical moments, Edwards can step up and solve the problem. On the Nuggets side, Murray couldn't step up and help the team score, and that's the difference between the two teams. Overall, in terms of superstar quality, Murray is clearly not comparable to Edwards.
So even Zhuge Malone was helpless on the sidelines. Because this Timberwolves team is really strong in their overall defensive ability, Malone knows very well that this team can't win on Jokic alone, so someone else has to step up and help Jokic decompress. But Murray doesn't look able to get away from the Timberwolves' defense, so this series is destined to be difficult. They have very little rotation, and the second team is not as strong as the Timberwolves. The Nuggets are in big trouble in the truest sense of the word.